Munster Senior Schools Cup: Pres and Christians impress with powerful displays

It was another day of twists and turns in the Munster Senior Schools Cup

It was another day of twists and turns in the Munster Senior Schools Cup

Second half comebacks and massive first half leads were the order of the day in Wednesday's round of Munster Schools Senior Cup action.

The big two of CBC and Pres were in action in Cork while Castletroy and Glentstal played out a Limerick derby. St Munchin’s and a Munster CSP squad finished out the evening in busy program of games.

Castletroy got their Munster Senior Cup campaign back on track after last round’s defeat to Bandon Grammar with a muscular display against Limerick rivals Glenstal Abbey, where they came out 36-3 winners.

Two tries from Morgan alongside some excellent goal kicking by Gavin Rowsome put the game beyond doubt by the interval before another two Castletroy tries finished off the scoring.

A team with Castletroy’s size in the pack will always be difficult to put down as the tournament progresses.

Ardscoil Ris took an early lead in Wilton against the perennial Munster Senior Cup challengers Presentation Brothers College before ultimately falling to a 40-17 defeat.

For a while, the Limerick side looked like they could well cause something of a shock, even leading at half-time.

But the Pres response was fierce.

They scored 33 unanswered points in the second half and ran out easy winners as Ardscoil fell away under some relentless attacking pressure.

Pres will take some stopping in this year’s tournament and this strong second half performance will give them a lot of confidence heading into the rest of the tournament.

Also impressing were Pres’ arch-rivals Christians, who were 23-17 winners over Rockwell College.

Like Pres, CBC had something of a first half shock. After 25 minutes, CBC trailed their Cashel rivals 17-0 at the Sports Complex in Lansdowne and looked in serious trouble. A Coleman try five minutes before the half gave them something to work with heading into the dressing room at half time but they’d need a fair effort to overhaul an impressive Rockwell side who started incredibly well.

A try by the powerful David Novak brought the score back within range for Christians but the game sat on a knife edge for the next 20 minutes or more.

The score stayed 17-15 until late in the half before a Daire Burke penalty with three minutes to go edged Christians in front for the first time. A late try by Evan Cahill Murphy sealed the massive comeback win.

In the evening game, St Munchin’s College were 48-31 winners over Munster CSP.

A massively entertaining game in Dooradoyle between the pair saw Munchin’s race into a massive 27-0 lead after just 11 minutes as Munster CSP struggled to get any kind of grip on the game.

St Munchins preyed on every single error during a high scoring encounter, scoring six breakaway tries, most from long range. Despite that early setback, Munster CSP got themselves back into the game, managing to put up a respectable score with Dylan Hicks at fly-half and Eoghan Smith in the centre standing out for them on a difficult evening.