Crescent bounce back to set up clash with PBC

Crescent Comp 31 St Clement’s 7: Last year’s beaten finalists and 2014 champions Crescent shook off the impact of a heavy defeat by CBC in the first round when running out 31-7 winners over St Clements in the Clayton Hotels Munster Schools Senior Cup at Thomond Park yesterday.

They now go forward to meet PBC in the quarter- finals and given the form of the two sides to date, will be regarded as outsiders in next week’s meeting. Crescent badly need the return after injury of a few key players even though skipper John Blake and Scott Leahy up front have the capacity to lift those around them.

They were helped on their way from the outset yesterday by a defensive error by Clements that saw scrum-half Mark Edwards grab a soft but well-taken try after only five minutes. Mark Shanahan added the points but Clements, to their credit, regrouped well only to suffer another setback on 25 minutes when number eight Blake crashed over beside the posts for Crescent. Once again Shanahan tapped over the conversion before Clements’ enjoyed their best spell with number eight Michael Kiely and Aidan Quinlivan to the forefront of a series of attacks which were rewarded with a fine try by Kiely converted by John Bateman.

With the strong, cold wind at their backs and leading by seven points, there was little doubt Crescent would prevail. They predictably dictated the trend for the most part and stretched their advantage after 10 minutes when Karl Moloney finished off an impressive diagonal run with a fine try Shanahan converted. Further tries followed from prop Conor Fitzgerald, who had a fine game, and winger Aaron Cosgrove although a 24 point deficit was harsh justice on Clements who were pressing hard until a Crescent counter attack resulted in a fifth try touched down by Aaron Cosgrove which put a slightly flattering appearance on the coreboard.

CRESCENT COMP:

T Duggan; M Shanahan, T O’Hora, B Fitzgerald, A Cosgrove; M Fenton, M Edwards; C Fitzgerald, J Henchy, T Connolly, B Kelly, S Leahy, J Gannon, K Moloney J Blake.

Replacements:

E O’Halloran, B Leahy, P McMullen, C McDonagh, D Feasey, F Coleman, J Hoffman, S Faloon, R Reynolds, W Nowak.

St CLEMENTS:

J Neville; A Barry, A Hehir capt, S Brosnahan, A Marshall; J Bateman, E Griffin; A Stacey, D Gleeson, C Clancy, A Quinlivan, D Mortell, D Cotter, E Haixaij, M Kiely.

Replacements:

A Ahern, D Daly- Conway, C Byrne, J Flynn, A Lloyd, C Donnelly, C O’Brien, S Wilmott, A Kiely, C Heelan.

Referee:

Michael Doyle (MAR).