Castleknock College have beat Belvedere College and are the first team through to the semi-final stages of the Leinster Senior Schools Cup. Castleknock edged the tie 15-14 with thanks to a 64th minute penalty from Louis McDonough.
🔊 SOUND ON
The moment @CKCRugby sealed their place in the @bankofireland @leinsterrugby Schools Senior Cup semi final 👏
🎥 We spoke with Castleknock’s Adrian Flavin following his side’s 15 – 14 win over @Belvederecolleg 🙌 pic.twitter.com/1FZwSXkSBa
— Premier Sports 📺 (@PremierSportsTV) February 10, 2020
It was Castleknock who made a bright start to this game. They made some big carries early on with Ian Birmingham impressive at number 8. He was held just short of the line after a well worked line-out. However, tighthead Ben Griffin was on hand to stretch for the line to make it 5-0 on the scoreboard. McDonough kept pinning back Belvedere in their own half. Belvedere were giving away needless penalties. Moreover, Birmingham once again went close to getting a try. It again came from the line-out. However, he was held up, but Castleknock kept the pressure on and Griffin was on hand to get his second try of the day.
However, Belvedere didn’t really threaten Castleknock until around the 20th minute. Eoin MacAdaimh breaking away but it came to nothing. Sargeant also broke through the Castleknock defence but he tackled well by Conor Delaney. That man MacAdaimh went close late in the half but once again the Castleknock defence held firm. Alex Watson and Conor Duggan bundling him into touch.
Belvedere began the second half well and much better than the opening half. They got a try inside the opening 2 minutes of the half. Darragh Coan did well making a good run to just short of the line, however, centre Peter O’Farrell was on hand to finish off the move. Double try scorer Griffin was sin binned just before the hour mark. Belvedere took advantage of having the extra man and Sargeant went over.
Belvedere leading 14-12 after Tormey’s conversion . However, just a couple of minutes later Castleknock took the lead from a penalty which ended up been the winning score. The penalty came after Belvedere players went off their feet in the ruck. McDonough stepped up to kick the resulting penalty between the posts. They managed to hold onto the one point till the final whistle to book their place in the Leinster Senior Schools cup semi-finals.
Scorers – Belvedere College: P O’Farrell, J Sargent try each, J Tormey two cons; St Vincent’s Castleknock College: B Griffin two tries, L McDonough con, pen.
Belvedere College: Daniel Hawkshaw; James Dillon (Joshua Maher 68), Jed Tormey, Peter O’Farrell, Eoin MacAdaimh (Will Finnegan 47); Finn McCarrick, Jack MacNeice (capt) (Patrick O’Farrell 68); Jonathan Sargent, Cal Marrey, Hugh Flood; Eoghan Murphy, Darragh Coan; Jonathan Ross, Zander Hayden (Daniel O’Driscoll h-t), Hugo McPeake (Ben McCabe 47).
St Vincent’s Castleknock College: Conor Delaney; Alex Watson, Fionn Gibbons, Conor Dunne (Will Hennessy 38), Jake Rooney; Louis McDonough (capt), Conor Duggan (Conor Mahon 63); Ben Bislin (Gearóid Quinn 65), Alex Creedon, Ben Griffin; Luke Callinan (James Duffy 65), Stephen Callinan; Fergus Stanley, Ciaran McCarrick, Ian Birmingham (Ethan Keogh 61-65).
