Munster Senior Cup

Ardscoil Ris 17

Glenstal Abbey 13

MUNSTER SENIOR CUP favourites Ardscoil Ris endured an early scare against Glenstal Abbey in today’s first round, but managed to force the win.

Two Jack Stafford penalties had put Glenstal into a 6 – 0 lead after 22 minutes. From there, though, Ardscoil’s dominant scrum would set the platform for number eight Kelvin Brown to narrow the gap and the boot of David O’Mahony propelled them into a 10 – 6 half-time lead.

O’Mahony had another conversion sent his way shortly after the restart after Stephen Fotzgerald grounded a score immediately after the resumption.

However, with Ardscoil expected to cruise from there, Glenstal continued to battle and with 20 minutes remaining they forced the errors that let to a Matt Ryan try with Stafford slotting the conversion to make this quarter-final a four-point game again.

That, though, would be as close as the underdogs would get. Stafford was unable to narrow the gap with a penalty and his side were left needing a try and found themselves held at arm’s length by Ardscoil.

©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

With the draw for the second round of quarter-finals being made after the Rosbrien game, Ardscoil’s reward for digging out this win is a home tie against CBC.

Here’s the draw in full (Ties to be played the week of February 10)

Ardscoil v CBC

Crescent V PBC

Castletroy v Glenstal

St Munchin’s v Rockwell

Connacht Senior Cup

Sligo Grammar School 17

Marist College 6

In the day’s big game in Connacht, Sligo Grammar inflicted a big setback on Marist College’s bid for three-in-a-row with a win to seal top spot in Pool B.

Marist are bidding for three in a row, but could find themselves with a difficult semi-final draw after registering just two first half penalties in this clash.

With wins claimed from their two earlier fixtures without a ball being kicked, Sligo’s fresher legs proved valuable in the end as a second half try added to four earlier penalties put them 11 points clear of the Athlone school.

Here’s the rest of our Senior Cup coverage from across the four provinces