REACTION
Early scores key to victory
By Daire Walsh
NEWBRIDGE College coach Niall Smullen believes an early scoring burst was the key factor in his side’s Leinster Schools Senior Cup opening round victory against Presentation College, Bray last Wednesday (31 January).
Luke Maloney and Karmon Fitzgerald tries helped the south Kildare boys to establish a 12-0 lead in the first-quarter, and Smullen felt that was vital against an inexperienced outfit.
“One of our goals was to score early, and to build pressure. Pres are a fantastic team, but this is their first time in the Cup in seven years. Little like us last year, they were a little bit caught in the lights,” Smullen stated after the game in Donnybrook.
“We were lucky we got the lead, because if we’d given them a chance, they’re a very good team. They could have capitalised, but by getting that 12 and then that 19-0 lead, it gave us a little bit of leeway to be able to relax and play our game.”
And play their game they did, as further scores from Cian Prendergast, Fitzgerald and Robert Scully secured a commanding 36-0 triumph for Newbridge.
Prendergast delivered a barnstorming performance from the second-row, where he was joined by the equally abrasive Dylan Morrissey. In addition to captaining Newbridge, Pendergast is also the on-field leader for the Leinster U18s.
However, in spite of his representative honours at provincial level, Smullen sees him as the ideal team player.
“Superb player. He’s got all the accolades, playing with Leinster and stuff like this, but he’s all about the team. He leads, but it’s not about him. It’s about the team and squad, and the whole school. He’s a fantastic player to have in the squad.”
Following consecutive first-round losses to Cistercian College Roscrea and St Mary’s College, there was enormous pressure on Newbridge in the build-up to this game. After a couple of difficult years in the Senior Cup, Smullen was delighted to see the team’s hard work pay off.
“This bunch of lads, they’ve had two tough years. They’ve had bad experiences, and thankfully today they had a good experience on it. They deserve it, they’ve worked hard. We’ve incorporated new groups together and it’s kind of like two years hard work paying off.
“This is my fourth season with the school. We’ve had a semi-final and two first round losses, so we really needed to kick on this year. This year was a big year for us, so now we’re in that quarter-final and a little bit of pressure is off us now. Hopefully we can relax and enjoy it, and you never know what might happen.”
Last Friday’s draw in Old Wesley RFC has pitted Newbridge against defending champions Belvedere College in the last-eight. The Great Denmark Street school are chasing a third successive Senior Cup crown, and will be hot favourites to book a semi-final spot.
Smullen wasn’t aware of their would-be opponents in the direct aftermath of Wednesday’s win, but was already prepared to embrace the underdog tag.
“Blackrock, Michael’s, Clongowes, Belvo. You can’t look past them to winning a Cup. We’re not thinking about winning the Cup. We’re thinking about who do we get in the next round and do we have a chance of winning? And in a Cup there’ll be a chance against anybody.
“Obviously it’s going to be tough, but once you’re in a Cup game, anything can happen. More than likely, we’ll be one of the underdogs going into the next round. But we’ll enjoy that too. We’ll embrace that tag and see what happens,” Smullen added.