Pres see off rivals Christians to retain McCarthy Cup

PBC 10 CBC 3: Presentation Brothers College retained their McCarthy Cup title with a deserved win over their city rivals Christian Brothers College at Musgrave Park yesterday.

This was a great game of rugby and both sides must be credited with the effort put in. The game ended in drama with Christians pounding the Pres line for a try but when the ball was knocked on, referee Bobby Anglim blew the final whistle, even though the touch judge had his flag out for foul play.

Either way, an equalising score for the Sydney Hill College would not have mattered, as no extra time was to be played and Pres would have won it on the first try rule.

Players to watch for the future were Pres winger Conor Morey and scrum-half Joe O’Leary while Christians out-half Mark O’Connor also caught the eye.

In an evenly open first half, Pres broke the deadlock on 20 minutes when O’Leary scored following a break from a scrum by Alex Kendellen. James Keohane expertly converted from the sideline.

Cian Whooley kicked a penalty for Christians four minutes before the interval.

The only score of the second half was a Keohane penalty midway through the half.

PBC:

R O’Neill; C Morey, J Mathieu, M Hyland, C Doyle; J Keohane, J O’Leary; C Morris, M Hayes, B Kingston; M O’Leary, M Giltinan; J Forde, R Foley, A Kendellen.

Replacements:

D Devlin, R O’Boyle, I O’Keeffe, D O’Halloran, A Walsh, T Cronin, J Holden, D Smith.

CBC:

C Whooley; L Murphy, P McAuliffe, H O’Riordan, A Cremin; M O’Connor, J Clarke; R Horgan, D Shanahan, A O’Regan; R Kelleher, B Kahn; R O’Sullivan, F McFlannchacha, M Donnelly.

Replacements:

A McDonald, L Healy, T Supplisson, A Treacy, P McBarron, J Kennefick, R Shalloe, C Fitzpatrick.

Referee:

B Anglim (MAR).