Blower spark of brilliance wins it for CBC

CBC 5 Árd Scoil Rís 0

Winger Gavin Blower’s neat steal of a bouncing ball from his opposite number, Mark Cosgrove, just 15 minutes into the match led to a fine try and ultimately secured a semi-final spot for the Cork outfit.

In truth, CBC probably did just enough over the 70 minutes to deserve a semi-final clash with the winners of the St Munchins-Rockwell quarter-final next Sunday, but they will have to lift their game to another level if they hope to make the final next month.

The Cork side were the more cohesive of the two teams and, even though Ard Scoil Ris had plenty of possession throughout, they never looked like making enough use of it to overcome a Christians’ team which defended doggedly and never looked like losing their early lead.

Christians were the quicker of the two teams into their stride and their early pressure was rewarded with a kickable penalty which out-half Peter O’Sullivan missed.

A period of forward-dominated play ensued which would ultimately characterise the whole game, and it was O’Sullivan who eventually broke it with a deep kick into space for Blower to chase down.

The winger did better than that. With Cosgrove favourite to collect the ball and clear it, Blower did not give up and managed to steal it from the Ard Scoil Rís player before making an unchallenged dash to the line, scoring in the corner.

O’Sullivan failed to convert and with just 15 minutes gone there was every reason to suspect that the Limerick outfit had plenty of time to get back into the match.

It was not to be, however, as they consistently took the wrong options when in possession and all too frequently depended on back-row moves orchestrated by their captain and number eight, Dave Sherry, which were always rebuffed by their opposite numbers, whose captain and number eight Don Keogh was always prominent.

Sherry had a chance to reduce the deficit in the 32nd minute with a penalty more or less in front of the posts, but he put it left and wide to leave the score at 5-0 at the break.

The second half was notable more for a flurry of substitutions on both sides than any outstanding play, and it was only when they finally realised they were running out of time that Ard Scoil Rís got any sort of a running game going in an attempt to trouble the Christians’ defence.

However it was too little too late and they could not claw back the necessary try in the face of a Christians rearguard which withstood everything that was thrown at them.

CBC: K. Doyle; G. Blower, F. Chesne, I. Dineen, S. Donovan; P. O’Sullivan, C. Nolan; K. O’Donoghue, D. Nathan, R. O’Neill; K. Essex, R. Gee; S. O’Sullivan, C. Liston, D. Keogh (Capt). Subs: J. Erangey for Essex; S. Archer for O’Donoghue; J. Noonan for Liston; P. Murphy for Gee; T. Martin for Nolan.

ÁRD SCOIL RÍS: G. Finucane; C. Coady, R. Brock, R. Ryan, M. Cosgrove; N. Sheehan, K. Payne; A. Airey, D. Kilcoyne, B. Rowley; S. Daly, J. Keogh; M. Sherry, C. Lang, D. Sherry (Capt). Subs: D. Kennedy for Lang; G. Murphy for Kilcoyne; S. Hogan for Keogh; B. Canty for Coady; D. Horan for Daly.

Referee: R. Coughlan.