McKeon’s late penalty ends Terenure run
Scott Deasy initially looked to have won it for the home side when his penalty in the 80th minute put Lansdowne 12-10 up.
That was the first score of an error-strewn second-half played in incessant rain but Terenure thought they had preserved their winning start to the season when James Thornton landed a long-range penalty on 83 minutes to put his side back in front.
But McKeon was presented with the chance to win it in the 87th minute and he held his nerve admirably from 40 metres.
Terenure had gone into the break 10-9 in front having survived the disintegration of their scrum on a number of occasions and a knock on from the home side with the line inches away.
Hooker Robert Smyth scored the only try of the game when he drove over following a line-out and Thornton’s penalty put Terenure 7-3 up on 17 minutes.
Deasy responded with a couple of penalties before Terenure lost their second centre of the game when substitute William Devane was forced off after the break.
The away side never truly had control of the game and survived a late onslaught and another knock on from the home side to seemingly hold on for the win.
But injury time brought all the drama and McKeon inflicted Terenure’s first defeat since February 2013.
Scorers for Lansdowne: Pens: Deasy 3, McKeon 2
Scorers for Terenure College: Tries: Smyth Cons: Thornton Pens: Thornton 2
S Deasy; J Coleman, T Farrell, T Daly, E Quinn; C McKeon, A Griggs, I Prenderville, D Donnellan, A Boland, S Gardiner, J McSwiney, J O’Brien, A Conneely, R Boucher.
Replacements: P O’Driscoll for Griggs 45, J Dilger for Conneely 71, E Torrie for Quinn 74.
I Hanley; J O’Donoghue, S O’Neill, C Quigley, H Moore, J Thornton, K O’Neill, G Hamilton, R Smyth, C McCormick, F Walsh, J Dever, R Duke, J O’Neill, K McCoy.
Replacements: W Devane for Quigley 4, R Harrison for Hamilton 24, M O’Neill for Devane 56, K Buckley for Smyth 68, K O’Dwyer for Dever 80.
Gary Conway.
