Pres lift Munster Junior Cup and complete Schools double
MAKE MINE A DOUBLE: Frankie Óg Sheahan the PBC Captain celebrates withhis team after his sides victory over Ardscoil Rís in the Munster Schools Boys Junior Cup final at Thomond Park, Limerick. Picture Dan Linehan
Presentation Brothers Cork annexed a 31st Munster Schools Junior Cup title, running out 12-point winners over Limerick’s Ardscoil Rís at Thomond Park on Wednesday.
The defending champions were deserving winners having school dominated the opening half in terms of possession, territory and overall control.
On Shannonside, there had been several downpours during the day, including in the early part of this contest, which made for challenging ball handling and an unexpected number of errors from these two quality sides.
Pres led 13-3 at half-time thanks to Frankie Og Sheahan. Ardscoil, who were chasing a third ever title at this level, and a first since 2005, failed to reach their top performance. They had been superb in their semi-final win over Limerick rivals, Castletroy College, but the conditions and the strength of opponent didn’t allow a repeat.
The sides traded penalties in the opening exchanges, Daniel Murphy from the 22m for PBC while James Butler landed a similar effort from their first notable foray into the opposition half.
Frankie Og Sheahan, son of former Munster prop Frankie, notched the opening try on 28 minutes. After a sixth penalty was awarded by referee John Lillis, the Cork school kicked to the corner. A good lineout maul brought them close to the whitewash, with the scrum-half sniping over from close range near the posts.
The extras from full back Daniel Murphy put them in a strong position.
There was a kick in the Ardscoil play when they got back to within a score. After a great break from scrum-half Ollie Desmond, the City school got their only try when Butler found Leo Connolly, who finished with quality.
But they were unable to add to their tally. Instead, the Pres bench contributed the killer score. Sé Clarke, who started the semi-final, had to wait for his opportunity off the bench. He took it, when racing onto his own chip over the defence, to run in under the posts.
The extras from the impressive Murphy helped further cement their place on top of the roll of honour.
L Connolly.
J Butler.
F Og Sheahan, S Clarke
D Murphy (2).
D Murphy (2).
F Sheehan Williams; D O’Connell, L Connolly, A Kelly, D Quirke; J Butler, O Desmond; J Kelly, D Salmon, L Brown, L Costello, D O’Flaherty, J Rafferty, B Morrissey, D Leyden.
J Hartigan, J Das, M Collins, C Cantillon, B O’Loughlin, C O’Doherty, C Ryan, L O’Flanagan, A Fennell, J Thorne.
D Murphy, B O’Callaghan, D Mellerick,E Dooley, L Neenan, O Healy, F Og Sheahan ©; D Sheehy, J Healy, F O’Sullivan, O Dillon, C Bruhn, C McLoughlin, C Bohan, T Murray.
R Twomey, R Cahill, S O’Leary, D Ryan, M Fitzgerald, O Healy, D O’Leary, C Hill, M Brown, S Clarke.
J Lillis (MAR).
