Roscrea denied after 17 minutes of injury-time

Roscrea must feel aggrieved by the 17 minutes of injury-time played before St Michael’s fly-half Ross Byrne landed an equalising penalty to send this Leinster Schools Senior Cup first round tie to a replay at Maynooth yesterday.

Rarely do the underdogs triumph in a replay, but this is what last year’s beaten finalists will have to do if they are to progress from an afternoon on which their players and coaches showed remarkable restraint in what could have turned into an explosive situation at the final whistle.

Early on, Byrne and Cirain Gaffney swapped penalties in a scrappy opening quarter. Then, Ireland Schools centre Rory O’Loughlin latched onto a stray pass to sprint 60 metres for the opening try in the 27th minute which Byrne converted from the left.