THERE WILL BE two Cork-Limerick semi-finals in the Munster Schools Senior Cup after Presentation Brothers College and Crescent College Comprehensive emerged with varying degrees of difficulty from their respective quarter-finals earlier today.

Pres of Cork will face the highly fancied Treaty men St Munchin’s College in the last four after a 52-8 victory over Tipp’s Rockwell College at Musgrave Park this afternoon while, at Thomond Park, champions Crescent held off the challenge of their fellow Limerick school Ardscoil Rís on a 23-18 scoreline to book a semi-final with Cork’s Christian Brothers College in two week’s time.

Pres racked up eight tries in all, with captain and number eight Rory O’Shaughnessy and inside centre James O’Leary each scoring braces before the half-hour mark to completely take the game away from Rockwell.

Underage Cork GAA star Ben O’Connor also dotted down and added six conversions, while Alex Alderson, Luke Sisk-O’Mahony and John Wiggington-Barrett all joined O’Connor on the second-half scoreboard to book PBC’s progression to the last four.

Andrew Wall posted a reply for Rockwell amid a late flurry of Pres tries, with out-half Kian O’Reilly also kicking a first-half penalty.

Pres, for whom this was a backdoor game after cross-city rivals Christians inched past them on a more direct route to the semis, will face a highly talented Munchin’s side in a fortnight’s time for a place in the final.

The winners will face either 31-time winners Christians or reigning champs Crescent, the latter of whom remain on course for a 13th title after overcoming a fierce challenge by county neighbours Ardscoil at Thomond.

Ardscoil led 12-10 at the break, tries by Joe Costello and Alan Fitzgerald giving them a slight advantage at the turnaround after Mark Fitzgerald had pointed the way for Crescent with an early score.

Comp turned the game on its head, however, through the boot of right-wing kicker Eoin O’Callaghan and a try by Joe McEnery. They led 20-12 inside 10 minutes of the restart.

Ardscoil out-half Aaron Byrnes kicked two penalties to reduce the deficit to two points with 15 minutes remaining. They knocked on the door but their task was made altogether more difficult entering the final five when skipper Luke Murphy was sent off by referee George Clancy for a dangerous tackle after the whistle.

O’Callaghan consequently poked Crescent five ahead with three to go and, while they too would finish with 14 after replacement Cormac Quinn was sin-binned, a couple of late set-piece errors by Ardscoil’s dictated that their hunt for a first ever Senior Cup title goes on.

Scorers for Presentation Brothers College:

Tries: R O’Shaughnessy (2), J O’Leary (2), A Alderson, B O’Connor, D Foley, L Sisk O’Mahony

Cons: B O’Connor (6)

Scorers for Rockwell College:

Tries: A Wall

Pens: K O’Reilly

PRESENTATION BROTHERS COLLEGE: B O’Connor, J Wixted, G O’Leary Kareem, J O’Leary, T Coughlan, H Murphy, L Tuohy; M Minogue, M O’Sullivan, T McCarthy, D Noonan, C Murphy, F Roussel, A Alderson, R O’Shaughnessy (Captain)

Replacements: M Dillon, P Wall, G O’Keeffe, A Davenport, O Squires, O Nangle, S Kelleher, J Wigginton-Barrett, L Sisk-O’Mahony, D Foley

ROCKWELL COLLEGE: C Neville, Muiri Lambe, Z O’Loughlin, C McAuliffe, M Carey, K O’Reilly, W Bermingham; B Everard, R O’Connor, C Carroll, C Bowen, R Kerry, T O’Dea, A Harold Barry, J Ryan (Captain).

Replacements: R McKevitt, D Crotty Casey, A Wall, M Hayes, M Blake, R Kelly, S Leahy, R Powell, M McCarthy, F O’Grady.

Referee: Shane Kierans (MAR).

Scorers for Crescent College Comprehensive:

Tries: Mark Fitzgerald, Joe McEnery

Conversions: Eoin O’Callaghan (2) 

Pens: Eoin O’Callaghan (3) 

Scorers for Ardscoil Rís:

Tries: Joe Costello, Alan Fitzgerald 

Conversion: Aaron Brynes 

Pens: Aaron Brynes (2)

CRESCENT COLLEGE COMPREHENSIVE: J O’Dwyer; E O’Callaghan, J McEnery, B Gallagher, S Morrissey; R Godfrey, M Lyons; M Fitzgerald, C Clery, D O’Dwyer; J Somers, S Magee, F Casserly, A Ahearne, C Kelly (Captain).

Replacements: J Byrne, A McNamara, C Lanigan Ryan, C Ryan, J Power, C Fenton, C Quinn, M O’Mara, E Bennett, M Molloy.

ARDSCOIL RÍS: H Cowton, J Dillon, S Brown, A Roche, A Fitzgerald; A Brynes, E Crowe; J Costello, A McNamara, E Calvey, M Danaher, S Connolly, S Gleeson, A Kennedy, L Murphy (Captain).

Replacements: D Glennon, J Koura, K McNamara, A Shawyer, K Shadaiobvich, C McCarthy, M O’Donoghue, A Jordan, O Quinlivan, C Dowling.

Referee: G Clancy (MAR).