LEINSTER SCHOOLS JUNIOR LEAGUE DIVISION 1A SEMI-FINAL
Newbridge College well beaten by Pres Bray
NEWBRIDGE COLLEGE……………………..08
PRESENTATION COLLEGE, BRAY…………24
By Daire Walsh
NEWBRIDGE College’s Leinster Schools Junior League Division 1A campaign came to an end at the hands of an impressive Presentation College, Bray side at Energia Park last Wednesday afternoon.
Despite making an encouraging start to the contest, Dave Brew’s charges ultimately were second best to their north Wicklow counterparts. Sam Bourke, Finn Brien and Senan Rogan all crossed over for Pres Bray, who will now face Dublin’s Gonzaga College in a forthcoming showpiece.
There was no doubting the commitment of Newbridge throughout, however, and winger Adam Larkin-Smithers grabbed a try during an encouraging end to the action.
Excellent approach play earned them a shot at goal in the ninth-minute. From a distance of 30 metres – at an acute angle on the left-hand side – the lively Andrew Carroll made no mistake off his right boot. Newbridge were hoping to use this as the catalyst for a dominant performance.
Instead, it served as a wake-up call for Pres Bray, who convincingly swept aside the challenge of St Andrew’s in the last-eight. They had recorded six straight wins in advance of this fixture and after forging a prolonged maul move just past the first-quarter mark, tighthead prop Bourke powered through for the maiden try of the proceedings.
Fly-half Jack Murphy – son of Ireland kicking and skills coach, Richie – expertly dissected the posts off the ensuing conversion to edge Pres Bray into a four-point lead. Having forced their opponents on the back-foot in the early exchanges, Newbridge increasingly found themselves under the cosh in defence.
They breathed a sigh of relief on 23 minutes as a pass out wide towards Rogan was deemed to have gone forward. Yet, it was only a temporary respite for the Lilywhite outfit.
Another powerful attacking sequence on the left ended with Brien dotting down past the whitewash for Pres Bray’s second converted try of the half. To Newbridge’s credit, they didn’t allow their heads to drop and Larkin-Smithers made a break for the try-line in the closing seconds of the opening period.
However, he was forced into touch in the nick of time – keeping their deficit at 14-3 for the interval. While they weren’t out of contention just yet, their task became more difficult when Pres Bray amassed 10 unanswered points shortly after the resumption.
Supplementing a superb Murphy place-kick on the 10-metre line, Rogan touched down in the right-corner at the end of an intricate attack. Murphy added the bonuses to bring his personal haul up to nine points and, in the process, leave Newbridge with a mountain to scale.
They fought to address this balance in the final-quarter, but the Pres Bray defence became more impenetrable as the minutes developed. That was until a Pres sin-binning created extra space in attack for Newbridge.
Larkin-Smithers took advantage of this temporary numerical deficiency, sprinting over for an unconverted score on 53 minutes. Carroll’s resulting bonus strike drifted past the target and once they were restored to a full compliment, Pres Bray were effective in closing out the game.
NEWBRIDGE COLLEGE: Michael Collins; Adam Larkin-Smithers, John Collins, Tadhg Brophy, Andrew Carroll; Paddy Taylor, Ciaran Mangan; Shane Davitt, John Sheedy, Daniel Walsh; Samuel Watson, Shane Treacy; Ruairi Byrne, Ronan McGroary, Harry Farrell.
Replacements: Rory Kenny, Christopher Jennings, Cian Cosgrave, Patrick Forde, Ruairi Munnelly, Stephen Menton, Hugh Hamilton, Julian Zebedee.
PRESENTATION COLLEGE, BRAY: Darragh O’Sullivan; Senan Rogan, Finn Treacy, Lorcan Smith, Dylan Henry; Jack Murphy, Conor Bourke; Jack McDonald, Finn Brien, Sam Bourke; Zach Kirby, Adam Tighe; Barra Lupton Smith, Cormac McGrath, Ross Mackey.
Replacements: Sam Fitzsimmons, Billy Corrigan, Callum Tully, Max Egleston, James Healy, Cian Eddy, James McDonald, Jack Clarke.