St Munchins march into Munster Schools Junior Cup semis with statement win over Pres
MUNCHIN MARCH: St Munchin's Aaron Cowhey stretches to ground the ball during the Munster Schools Junior Cup clash against Presentation Brothers College in Virgin Media Park. Picture Chani Anderson.
St Munchin’s scored a major win over PBC to progress straight through to the Munster Schools Junior Cup semi-finals while the three-in-a-row champions must go the back-door route.
Pres were the only school to come through the group stage with a perfect record but Munchin’s got the better of them at Virgin Media Park by running in five tries, including a pair from Alex Fennell.
PBC started well, with Matthew McCarthy and David Nolan producing a couple of promising line breaks, but it was Munchin’s who struck first after seven minutes.
The industrious Sam McGlynn drove forward to put the visitors on the front foot before Fennell barged through a gap on the halfway line.
The centre had plenty left to do but his jinking feet saw him swerve past three would-be tacklers for a 50-metre run-in.
Donnacha McKenna slotted the conversion before mopping up a dangerous kick ahead from Callum Harrington on his own goalline.
Their second try had Ronan O’Brien’s fingerprints all over it although Dara Giltinane took the honours.
O’Brien snatched an overthrown line-out near his own 22 and set off on a foot race to reach the opposition 22, where he drew a penalty.
He also claimed the subsequent line-out in the corner and though their maul was stopped short, Giltinane picked off the base and leapt over the line. McKenna’s conversion missed from out wide to leave it 12-0.
That was the first of three tries to originate from the Munchin’s maul.
However, they conceded four penalties in the space of the next five minutes to land themselves in difficulty.
Hamza Awaga brilliantly held up Daniel Lim to deny the initial charge but tighthead-prop Lim wouldn’t be stopped from a tap-and-go penalty moments later. Nolan’s conversion left the half-time deficit at 12-7.
Pres were level within four minutes of the restart. James Herrick’s superb offload returned the ball to influential full-back McCarthy, who burst through to touch down in the corner. Nolan couldn’t convert from the touchline.
Munchin’s had been warned over their penalty count but it was Pres scrum-half George Hook who was ultimately sent to the sin-bin after a high tackle.
The Limerick school advanced through some up-the-jumper rugby until Sam Frost perfectly timed a pass for Darragh Mullane to go swan-diving over the line.
McKenna added the extra pair for a seven-point lead with a dozen minutes to play and he soon pinned Pres back with a massive 50-22 kick.
The teams were back to 15-a-side as Munchin’s eventually crossed in the 55th minute. Stephen Bissette’s agile line-out take set up the maul and McGlynn drove over with support from Aaron Cowhey.
Another superb line-out grab from Bissette set up the final try. From the maul, Frost switched to point of attack back down the blindside and Fennell raced away to the corner.
Neither of the latter tries were converted but it mattered little as Munchin’s marched on with a statement 17-point win.
D Lim, M McCarthy
D Nolan.
A Fennell 2, D Giltinane, D Mullane, S McGlynn
D McKenna 2.
M McCarthy; C Harrington (D Barry 60), C O’Dowd (P O’Sullivan 60), H Geary, J Herrick (J Murphy 49); D Nolan (capt), G Hook (C Browne 60); B Lynch (S Sexton 60), O O’Keefe (D Buckley 60), D Lim; S Byrd (M Jezkovs 52), O McMahon (D Cross 59); B O’Leary (M Connolly 60), L Robertson (D McSweeney 49), R Dillon (O McMahon 60).
D Mullane; A Murphy, A Fennell, E McNamara (J O’Callaghan 39), D Burton; D McKenna, S Frost (A Kenny 60); H Awaga (R Ward 21-31) (E Stokes 57), S McGlynn, E Stokes (R Sheehy-McGrath 21-31) (N O’Connor 53); R O’Brien, S Williamson (A Cowhey 31); D Giltinane (D Meaney 49), S Bissette, B Meagher.
P Jackman, J Goode, J McDonagh.
S Donaldson (MAR).
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