Neil Lucey hails Ian Casey’s crucial role for CBC

One major hurdle behind them, Christian Brothers College, Cork will have more than a passing interest in today’s second Munster Schools Senior Cup semi-final at Thomond Park between Crescent Comprehensive and Castletroy College.

Breathing a big sigh of relief after overseeing a 13-12 victory over arch rivals Presentation Brothers College yesterday, CBC head coach Neil Lucey declared that nothing comes easy in this competition.

“It was typical Pres-Christians really, wasn’t it? There was always going to be just a score in it, not that good for the heart. I suppose we had a purple patch at the start of the second half but in fairness to Pres, they just don’t give up, they never do, they were there right to the final whistle.

“When you’re playing Pres you know that you can never give it up either, they’ll always be there and they were again today.”

Lucey paid tribute to his left winger Ian Casey, who stopped what could easily have been a crucial Pres try shortly after the restart: “I would rate that one as a very important tackle, and another important moment was Declan Barry’s turnover right at the end. It’s a 23-man game nowadays and everyone that comes on the pitch is relied on to contribute; they all proved their worth today and it was needed.”

With the road to Limerick ahead of him today, Lucey has no preconceived ideas as to whom he would prefer his side to meet in the final, but he thinks it might well be Crescent, whom Christians beat in a preliminary round before the Limerick side went on to pick up two wins through the back door.

“I have no preferences really, it’s going to be another hard-fought game, pretty similar to today I would say, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is going to be a Christians-Crescent final.”

As Pres retreated to lick their wounds, coach Brian McMahon could only reflect on what might have been: “It was another one of those games when we could say the ball didn’t hop our way, but I suppose we didn’t take our chances in the first half and we gave them too many penalties; discipline counts for a lot in tight games like this.

“That’s just the way it goes, we figured it was going to come down to a bounce of the ball.”