St Mary's College seal Leinster Senior Cup berth for first time since 2008

Josh Kelly of St Mary’s College on his way to scoring his side's second try, despite the challenge of Alvaro Swords of Terenure College. Pic: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

Leinster Schools Senior Cup semi-final: St Mary’s College 17 Terenure College 10 

St Mary’s College produced an exceptional second-half display against Terenure College at Energia Park in Donnybrook on Tuesday to book their place in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup decider for the first time since 2008.

Close neighbours of their opponents on Dublin’s southside, 2025 runners-up Terenure had squeezed in front on 13 minutes when fly-half Gareth Morgan convincingly slotted a penalty between the posts.

Mary’s were presented with an opportunity to level matters moments later, but Paul Neary’s own effort from just inside the opposition half floated short of the target.

While both teams displayed plenty of attacking intent throughout the first half, strong defence at either end of the pitch ensured Morgan’s place-kick was the sole difference between the sides at the interval.

This left Mary’s very much in the reckoning for a first final appearance in 18 years, but their quest for success got that extra bit tougher when Terenure centre Niall Fallon superbly raced through a defensive gap on his way to claiming an outstanding converted try a little under two minutes after the resumption.

Yet a determined Mary’s subsequently reduced their 10-point deficit when winger Nicolas Sheehan touched down in fine style on 44 minutes and the Rathmines school completely turned the contest on its head when full-back Josh Kelly got on the end of Neary’s chipped kick to score his side’s second try at the beginning of the final-quarter.

Terenure lost flanker Arran Boehm to the sin-bin just before falling behind and with Neary knocking over a long-range penalty to supplement his earlier brace of conversions, their bid for a second consecutive showpiece outing was now in serious doubt.

Terenure did their utmost to swing the pendulum back in their favour during a frenetic conclusion, but Mary’s dug deep and will now take on defending champions Blackrock College in the competition’s forthcoming final.

Scorers for St Mary’s College: Tries: N Sheehan, J Kelly Cons: P Neary 2 Pens: P Neary.

Scorers for Terenure College: Tries: N Fallon Cons: G Morgan Pens: G Morgan.

ST MARY’S COLLEGE: J Kelly; C Maguire, C Cantwell, D Tourish, N Sheehan; P Neary, J Fogarty; T Quigley, J Christle, D Kenny; E Farrell, J Whitty (M Egan 55); E Brady, A McGauran, S Thornton (R Flaherty 55).

TERENURE COLLEGE: G O’Sullivan; E Balamash, N Fallon, A Swords, S Gavin (A Smyth 55); G Morgan, T Smyth; P Kelly, L Zelman (R Balamash 55), R O’Brien; J Mooney, L McNiff; O O’Leary, A Boehm, M Smyth (R Meade 62).

Referee: R Jenkinson (LRR).