CISTERCIAN COLLEGE ROSCREA have made history and claimed the Leinster Schools’ Senior Cup for the first time by beating Belvedere College 18-11 in an absorbing final at the RDS.
A try from winger Daniel Keane was a second-half turning point but the shooting accuracy of captain Tim Foley proved a big difference too.
The opening period was tight but the Dublin college dominated the early exchanges and they took the lead within the opening ten minutes when scrum-half Hugh O’Sullivan made a superb sniping run and then found winger Sean Long who touched down.
Still, Roscrea responded well and after Foley landed a penalty to cut the deficit, it was the much-heralded number eight Dan Trayors who grabbed a try for the underdogs after a 5m scrum had Belvedere under pressure, though Foley missed the subsequent conversion.
But Belvedere ensured the sides were level at the break when Conor Jennings made up for an earlier penalty miss and slotted a later kick between the posts. 8-8 at the interval, everything was perfectly poised.
Again it was the side from the capital that began brightly and they got their just rewards for the early pressure when Jennings knocked over his second penalty of the afternoon to push them three points in front.
Roscrea, however, weren’t going to stumble under the spotlight and when full-back Tim Carroll broke superbly, it was Keane who followed in support and raced to the line to give his side a four-point advantage with less then twenty minutes to go.
The pressure continued from the guests and when an attempted drop-goal was blocked, play was brought back for a penalty. Up stepped Foley once again and stretched Roscrea’s lead to seven points.
A converted try behind, Belvedere mounted a spirited siege on the Roscrea line and came within inches of grabbing an all-important score. But the Midlands’ outfit stood firm, dug in their heels and offered up some immense defensive work.
In the build-up to the game, Roscrea coach Pieter Swanepoel said that his team needed to change history. And at the fifth time of asking, they’ve managed to do just that.
Why do Dublin championship games be played mid week?Can’t be ideal for lads working
It’s a big rush to get them sorted cause the Leinster club championship is starting.
It’s midweek because all the other championships are on at the same time, Senior, B championship, inters junior and in both codes. It’s as complicated as a school timetable, you can’t have clashes because one club can be in more than one championship etc. It’s all squashed in but not the easiest thing to remedy but saying that all the junior and inter championships should be done and dusted during the summer, don’t understand the delay
Its an absolute disgrace that a county semi final was played at 8.15pm on a wednesday night..if the county board want to promote the game, they are making a poor hand of it.
The clubs don’t help at times. Hurling championship Games where held up for lads who were on the county football bench. In some cases these guys didn’t even play hurling when the next round eventually went ahead.
I don’t know of any other county that plays club championship matches midweek.
Fixing the final for Halloween and at the same time as the Rugby World Cup Final is surely not a smart decision either.
Won’t make a difference for me, Ireland are out, hurling would be more exciting
Cuala v Judes, big day for both clubs, cuala haven’t won since 1994 and Judes have never won as far as i know. Nice to see! Boden and Crokes have dominated for the last number of years and a change is comin!