Rockwell College 28-18 St Munchin’s College

ROCKWELL COLLEGE OVERCAME St Munchin’s College with a 28-18 win in an entertaining first round of the Munster Schools Senior Cup at Clanwilliam Park today.

The 26-time champions’ smart use of possession and strong bench ultimately swung it in their favour.

Munchins started brightly, Jason Kiely landing an early penalty for the Limerick school after some high-throttle attacking led by their pack.

Rockwell’s gritty defence meant that despite little early possession they made it to the 20-minute mark on level terms, a good kick-chase and subsequent Jake Flannery penalty getting them on the scoreboard at 3-3.

The contest’s first try came from a lineout maul with Rockwell captain Kevin Kelly touching down in the corner.

Soon afterwards the Rockwell back line finally got to show its worth as a flowing move resulted in Christopher Egan sending his back three partner Ryan O’Sullivan clear in the corner, with Flannery adding the extras to make it 15-3.

Munchins responded immediately with a Luke Costello break penetrating the determined Rockwell defence, though Kiely missed the conversion to leave it 15-8 at half time.

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Munchins started brightly after the restart, Shane Kelly finishing off a flowing move which came after a well-orchestrated lineout and strong pick-and-go carrying. Kiely had the chance to draw the sides level with his conversion but was off target again.

Munchins conceded a yellow card and a penalty soon after, which Flannery duly converted to nudge Rockwell into an 18-13 lead.

But an extended period of Munchins pressure ultimately culminated in a yellow card for Flannery and a try for just-introduced Tyrone O’Halloran to bring the sides level.

It was as close as Munchins got. A spectacular individual try from Padraig Leamy immediately reasserted Rockwell’s lead before Flannery added another penalty in the dying minutes to send his side 10 points clear and through to the quarter-final.

Scorers for Rockwell: Tries: Kevin Kelly, Ryan O’Sullivan, Padraig Leamy. Conversions: Jake Flannery, Ryan O’Sullivan. Penalties: Jake Flannery (3)

St Munchin’s: Tries: Luke Costello, Shane Kelly, Tyrone O’Halloran. Penalty: Jason Kiely.

Rockwell College

15. Ryan O’Sullivan
14. Christopher Egan
13. Padraig Leamy
12. Andrew Daly
11. Joe McCormack
10. Jake Flannery (sin-bin 59’)
9. Oisin Mangan

1. Kevin Kelly (capt)
2. James O’Meara
3. Brendan Ryan
4. Christopher Farrell
5. Conall Kennedy (sin-bin 7’)
6. Patrick Murchan
7. Jack Harney
8. Ciaran Ryan

Replacements:

16. Darragh Molloy
17. Niall O’Hanrahan
18. Tom Russell
19. Coman Ryan
20. Harry Tobin
21. Joseph O’Connor
22. Fionn Kiely
23. Michael McMahon
24. Conor Forrest
25. Sean Cotter

St Munchin’s College

15. Rob Clancy
14. Luke Costello
13. Gary Quilligan
12. Eoghan Carr
11. Shane Murphy
10. Jason Kiely
9. Evan Maher (sin-bin 47’)

1. Mark O’Driscoll
2. Darren Radcliffe
3. Gary McCoy
4. Paddy Kelly
5. Kealon McMahon (capt)
6. Mark Crowe
7. Jake Murphy
8. Shane Kelly

Replacements:

16. Evan Sheahan-O’Donnell
17. Karl Mullane
18. Keith Hyland
19. Shane Ryan/Jack Forde
20. Riann O’Dwyer
21. James Larkin
22. Jordan Curry
23. Jude Pendijito
24. Tyrone O’Halloran
25. Tom Harrington

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