Dogged Munchin’s break Pres hearts

St Munchin’s College 7 Presentation Brothers College 3

Though not a game for the purist, in bitterly cold conditions, Keith Earls' second-half try was indeed special, as was his team's brave and courageous defence under unremitting PBC pressure.

The Cork college dominated up to 80% of possession but were frustrated in their attempts to unlock an impregnable Munchin's defence, and three points was a poor return.

As in both semi-finals, the final was shrouded in controversy when Pres were denied what seemed a legitimate try in the 58th minute. Scrum half Shane Costigan looked to have crossed the line but the referee said he was unsighted and instead awarded Pres a five-metre scrum. The Pres coaching staff were convinced - as was Costigan - that he crossed the line.

This controversy was a prelude to a period of sustained Pres pressure that continued right through to the 69th minute. After three successive scrum-five situations the Cork college failed to register a try that would have put them back in the lead. Jeff Power and Andrew O'Driscoll both made it over the line but were held up by some heroic Munchin's tacklers, where Shane Hassett, James O'Neill and Tom Burke starred.

"Whereas I'm disappointed that the try wasn't given because we felt he (Costigan) was a foot over the line, I think we'd be fooling ourselves if we said that alone is responsible for our defeat," said Pres coach Don Buckley afterwards.

"I'm bitterly disappointed. For the amount of ball we had, we had loads of chances but we didn't take them."

Munchin's coach John Broderick has now led the Corbally school to three titles since taking over the reins in 2000. He attributed this win to his side's character and to endless hours on the training pitch, repelling the sort of pressure Pres mounted.

"We'd seen them do that particular ploy close to the opposition line, picking close into rucks, and worked on it for the past two weeks. We got a lot of our past pupils out from last year's senior team, played against U-20 teams from Shannon and Garryowen and asked them to do this for long periods to attack us like that, and it paid off today."

From the beginning, Pres established good momentum off their lineout but twice inside five minutes were penalised for accidental off-sides close to the Munchin's line. Still the Mardyke college's movement was sprightly behind the pack, with Brian Dennehy and Tim Kenneally regularly crossing the gain-line. Their early pressure was rewarded with a 10th-minute penalty.

However Jeff Power failed to connect sweetly.

Munchin's first foray inside the Pres half came in the 14th minute when Paul Rowley set James O'Neill away on a 20-yard break but Pres forced a turnover and minutes later did the same from a Munchin's lineout.

Pres looked comfortable recycling ball and retaining possession in the contact area, and, in the 28th minute, Dennehy made an excellent line-break off a three-quarter move. Munchin's were penalised at the breakdown and Jeff Power made no mistake, this time from close range.

It remained 3-0 until half time but it took a something special to re-ignite Munchin's game and nine minutes after the restart the spark was provided by Richard Mullane. The out half showed a good turn of pace out of his own 22 to deliver a sweet pass to Eamonn Broderick who scythed through the Pres midfield in a darting 30-yard run. Keith Earls came up outside him to take the try-scoring pass and complete a sublime move. Ger Slattery added the difficult conversion.

Munchin's controlled possession for the next 10 minutes, varying their points of attack and using Mullane, Slattery and Earls to clear their lines to touch.

However a break by Kenneally inside the Munchin's half, when he was awarded a penalty for a high tackle, set off a bizarre chain of events. Scott Deasy played for touch and from the ensuing lineout, the ball was mauled to within one metre of the Munchin's line.

After three recycles, Costigan stole around the fringes and looked to have touched down but it was not to be. Pres crossed the line twice more but Munchin's defence was heroic and, though there was 11 minutes of injury time, Pres could not get inside scoring territory.

ST MUNCHIN'S: J O'Dwyer; J Organ, K Earls, E Broderick, G O'Hanlon; R Mullane, P Rowley; D Hogan, G Slattery (capt), T Burke; C McNamara, J Griffin; L Og Murphy, J O'Neill, S Hassett.

PBC: J Power; B Derham, B Dennehy (capt) T Kenneally, K Buckley; S Deasy, S

Costigan; N McCarthy, A O'Driscoll, M Kearney; M Kenefick, R McCarthy; N Barry, R Love, R Allen .

Referee: D Moloney (MAR).