Clancy kicks Blackrock to Leinster senior cup glory in tight battle with Terenure

Blackrock College 14
Terenure College 9

Daire Walsh reports from Tallaght Stadium

PADDY CLANCY KICKED three crucial second-half penalties as defending champions Blackrock College squeezed past a formidable challenge from Terenure College to earn their 72nd Leinster Schools Senior Cup title.

Playing in the somewhat novel venue of the Tallaght Stadium due to the ongoing redevelopment of the RDS Arena, Terenure (playing in their first senior cup decider since 2009) lead by a single point at the midway stage after Gareth Morgan had responded to an early try from ‘Rock hooker Harry O’Neill with two penalties of his own.

Try-scoring opportunities were largely at a premium during a second half that was dominated by some excellent defensive work from both teams, but Clancy’s prowess from the kicking tee eventually got Blackrock over the line.

While Terenure found themselves inside the opposition half on a couple of occasions during the early exchanges, it was ‘Rock who ultimately drew first blood with a little under seven minutes gone on the clock. The lineout had proven to be a significant attacking weapon for Justin Vanstone’s outfit en route to this showpiece affair and after out-half Clancy kicked a penalty to touch, O’Neill rounded off the ensuing maul move for his third try in this year’s competition.

Yet Clancy’s sole bonus strike of the game drifted past the target and with fly-half Morgan expertly splitting the posts from a penalty at a left-hand angle, 10-time champions Terenure were just two points in arrears on the first-quarter mark.

Sean Skehan’s side kept Blackrock on the back foot for an extended spell in the wake of this score and when referee Robbie Jenkinson awarded another penalty within kickable range on 27 minutes – this time from a central position – Morgan once again found the range to edge Terenure into the lead.

Having started the contest with a maul try, ‘Rock elected to kick another brace of penalties to touch in the closing stages of the opening period. Terenure were penalised for a lineout infringement from the first of these set-piece moves, but they subsequently stole the ball off another O’Neill delivery moments later.

This helped to ensure that ‘Nure brought a slender 6-5 cushion into the dressing rooms at the end of an intense first half of action. While this had their vocal supporters dreaming of a first Senior Cup crown in 22 years, Blackrock quickly regained the initiative on the resumption with a 42nd-minute penalty from Clancy.

The same player added another successful effort off the kicking tee on the stroke of 50 minutes – from an awkward angle on the right-hand side – before Terenure displayed their attacking intent just shy of the third quarter.

Some strong surges from influential skipper Ben Blaney and inside centre Alvaro Swords had them within inches of the post, and it looked like the latter was about to be awarded a try when he made a break for the left corner on 52 minutes. It was ultimately ruled out after the match officials penalised Terenure flanker Michael Smyth for being in the front of the ball carrier, but the play was eventually brought back for Morgan to coolly convert his third penalty of the tie.

This left the tie delicately poised heading into a tension-filled final quarter, but the dependable Clancy restored Blackrock’s five-point advantage with another penalty seven minutes from the end of normal time.

Terenure pushed hard for a game-changing try after Clancy had dropped an ambitious long-range place kick short, but almost four minutes into stoppage time, Blackrock forced a knock on to ultimately seal another memorable Senior Cup triumph.

Blackrock College scorers:

Tries – Harry O’Neill

Conversions – Paddy Clancy [0/1]

Penalties – Paddy Clancy [3/4]

Terenure College scorers:

Penalties – Gareth Morgan [3/3]

BLACKROCK COLLEGE: Joe Reddan; James Browne, Johnny O’Sullivan, Bernard White, Aiden Vetjens; Paddy Clancy, Albert Lindner (Luke Coffey ’63); Ben Guerin (Lorcan Golden ’70), Harry O’Neill, Sami Bishti; Geoffrey Wall, Artur Smykovskiy; Michael Walsh, Michael O’Sullivan, Brian Walsh.

TERENURE COLLEGE: Geoff O’Sullivan; Ethan Balamash, Michael Kennedy Alvaro Swords, Benedict Dohnal (Niall Fallon ‘67); Gareth Morgan, Jamie Coleman; Pearse Kelly (Evan McMonagle ’45), Leo Zelman (Cian Hyland ‘60), Adam Cooper; Luke McNiff, Frank Maher; Josh Mooney (Senan Gavin ’57), Michael Smyth, Ben Blaney.

Referee: Robbie Jenkinson (Leinster Rugby Referees).