CBC show 'heart and spirit' to pip Glenstal Abbey at the death

The Cork side live to fight another day in the Munster Schools Senior Cup.

CBC supporters cheer on their team at Virgin Media Park on Thursday. Picture: Larry Cummins

Munster Schools Senior Cup round 2: CBC 29 Glenstal Abbey 28 

There were heads in hands on both sides at the final whistle of this Munster Schools Senior Cup cliff-hanger.

It was a case of sheer heartbreak for Glenstal Abbey at losing a nine-point cushion. On the CBC side, there was utter disbelief at getting out of jail. After an afternoon of high emotions at Virgin Media Park, the champions live on.

Conor Mulvihill will hardly have kicked such a high-tarriff, pressure-packed conversion in his life. Out by the East Terrace touchline, he faced into a gusting wind which blew diagonally in from his left and towards the opposition posts. There were eight minutes of stoppage time on the clock. The final whistle would be sounded after this kick, bringing with it instant victory or defeat.

Those huddling from the rain in the West Stand knew it was good as soon as the fly-half started punching the air.

“Even though Conor has nailed those types of kicks before – I remember Bowen Shield and Barry Cup finals last year where he kicked winning goals from the 10 – I don't think he's ever nailed a kick like that with the conditions the way they were,” said Christians head coach Dave Lee.

“I was just hoping that there was going to be time on the clock to play after that kick, but it turned out we didn't need that.

“When we went two scores behind, it was hard to see it against that wind, how hard it was to get up the field.

“The way we did it and the way the lads showed so much heart and spirit was very heartening.” 

The holders looked down and out when trailing by nine points as late as the 65th minute. However, a Mulvihill penalty put them within range and with the clock showing 77 minutes and a man advantage, Tom Kelly touched down at the back of the Christians maul.

The Sidney Hill school, who also had two tries from Sam Healy, advance to an away quarter-final against the winners of Crescent College Comprehensive and St Munchin’s. Despite the best efforts of Seán Roche, Hugo McGowan, and Oisín Rowan, Glenstal bow out.

Playing with the wind, Christians struck the first blow. From an attacking scrum, captain Dave Mac Coitir bounced off a couple of defenders, and they spread the ball wide for Mal O’Leary to dive low into the corner. Mulvihill’s conversion missed to the left, as did a subsequent penalty effort.

Glenstal capitalised on a Christians knock-on to snatch a 14th-minute lead. From their own half, Roche dashed down the left flank and produced a marvellous offload to release Rory O’Neill. The second-row finished in style with a swan dive over the line. Rowan’s conversion made it 7-5.

That lead survived a scare from the powerful Christians maul. Somehow, against the advancing pack, Caden Smith got under the ball before Daniel Guiney could touch down.

Buoyed by that reprieve, Glenstal produced a disguised line-out routine for Aengus O’Loughlin to ghost straight through a gap and vault over the line. Again, Rowan nailed the conversion into the wind for 14-5.

Mulvihill’s 50-22 kick enabled Christians to reload their dangerous maul. It was stopped, but they eventually muscled over through Healy. Mulvihill added the extras.

Glenstal had to weather two further Christians mauls to hold that 14-12 lead into the break.

Now backed by the wind, the Limerick school resumed with a sustained period of phase play. Scrum-half McGowan identified the space in behind and exploited it with a sublime outside-of-the-boot kick, which was gobbled up by Roche for their third try. Rowan used the wind to draw in the conversion for a nine-point cushion.

Christians clawed their way back into contention, led by a line break from Jack O’Callaghan, before Healy barrelled over for his second try, which Mulvihill converted.

On the hour mark, Glenstal re-established their advantage. John Kennedy stole an opposition line-out and fly-half Patrick Peters made it count by handing off the final defender. He was engulfed by his celebrating teammates before Rowan tapped over the extras; 28-19.

An offside penalty allowed Mulvihill to close within touching distance. David Goode’s brilliant tackling was a feature of the final minutes, but Peters was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, and Glenstal then knocked on off their own scrum. Once Christians won the penalty to go for the corner, their maul couldn’t be stopped.

Scorers: CBC: Tries: M O’Leary, S Healy 2, T Kelly; Cons: C Mulvihill 3; Pen: C Mulvihill. 

Glenstal Abbey: Tries: R O’Neill, A O’Loughlin, S Roche, P Peters; Cons: O Rowan 4.

CBC: A O’Shea (D Barry 49); M O’Leary (A O’Shea 62), C Taylor, C McKinnie, J Martin (E O’Sullivan 35+2); C Mulvihill, D O’Connell; S Fitzpatrick (C Murphy 63), D Guiney (T Kelly 62), K Manley (M Murray 70); H McCarthy (M Manning 49), D Mac Coitir (capt); R O’Sullivan, J O’Callaghan, S Healy (R McElwain 57-62).

GLENSTAL ABBEY: O Rowan; D Goode, J Kerr (capt), T Buckley (S Connolly 35+2-h-t, 41), S Roche; P Peters, H McGowan; C Smith, Harry Heagney, Hugh Heagney; F Cooke (E Biggins 35+3), R O’Neill (J Kennedy 42); C Mugan (D McCarthy 57), L O’Connor, A O’Loughlin (H McGuirk 65).

Referee: P Sheehan (MAR).