CBC strike in eighth minute of stoppage time after Munster Schools Senior Cup classic
James Martin with possession for CBC as Charlie Mugan and Hugo McGowan of Glenstal Abbey look to stop his attack in the Pinergy Munster Schools Senior Rugby Cup clash at Virgin Media Park. Picture: Larry Cummins
Conor Mulvihill’s nerveless touchline conversion into the gusting wind saved CBC’s Munster Schools Senior Cup title defence by pickpocketing a dejected Glenstal Abbey in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
The reigning champions looked down and out when trailing by nine points as late as the 65th minute. However, a Mulvihill penalty put them within range and with the clock showing 77 minutes and a man advantage, Tom Kelly touched down at the back of the Christians maul.
The Sidney Hill school, who also had two tries from Sam Healy, advance to a quarter-final against the winners of Crescent College Comprehensive and St Munchin’s. Despite the best efforts of Seán Roche, Hugo McGowan, and Oisín Rowan, Glenstal bow out.
The visitors to Virgin Media Park were the first to threaten, despite playing into a strong wind. McGowan’s kick forced a retreating James Martin to carry over his own goalline. But from the five-metre attacking scrum, Martin and Caleb McKinnie combined for a smashing hit to turn over possession.
Instead, it was first blood to Christians in the seventh minute. From an attacking scrum, captain Dave Mac Coitir bounced off a couple of defenders. With Glenstal on the backfoot, they spread the ball wide through Aidan O’Shea for Mal O’Leary to dive low into the corner.
Mulvihill’s conversion missed to the left, as did a subsequent penalty effort.
Glenstal capitalised on a Christians’ knock-on to snatch a 14th-minute lead. From their own half, they went to Roche on the left flank. The vice-captain dashed forward and produced a marvellous offload to release Rory O’Neill. The second-row finished in style with a swan dive over the line. Rowan’s conversion made it 7-5.
That lead survived a scare from the powerful Christians maul. Somehow, against the advancing pack, Caden Smith got under the ball before Daniel Guiney could touch down.
Buoyed by that reprieve, a couple of penalties allowed Glenstal to gain territory close to the opposition line. From there, they produced a disguised line-out routine for Aengus O’Loughlin to ghost straight through a gap and vault over the line. Again, Rowan nailed the conversion into the wind for 14-5 after 27 minutes.
Mulvihill’s 50-22 kick enabled Christians to reload their dangerous maul. It was stopped, legally, but a subsequent infringement granted another penalty. Within three phases of the tap-and-go, Healy muscled over. Mulvihill added the extras.
Glenstal had to weather two further Christians mauls to hold that 14-12 lead into the break.
Now backed by the wind, the Limerick school resumed with a sustained period of phase play to build pressure. Scrum-half McGowan identified the space in behind and exploited it with a sublime outside-of-the-boot kick, which was gobbled up by Roche for their third try. Rowan used the wind to draw in the conversion for a nine-point cushion.
Christians clawed their way back into contention, led by a line break from Jack O’Callaghan. David Goode’s tackle initially prevented the score, but Healy barrelled over for his second try, which Mulvihill converted.
On the hour mark, Glenstal re-established their advantage. John Kennedy stole an opposition line-out and fly-half Patrick Peters made it count with a line break and hand-off to beat the final defender. He was engulfed by his celebrating teammates before Rowan tapped over the extras; 28-19.
An offside penalty allowed Mulvihill to close within touching distance with five minutes of regulation time remaining.
Goode’s brilliant tackling was a feature of the final minutes, but Peters was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on and Glenstal then knocked on off their own scrum. Once Christians won the penalty to go for the corner, their maul couldn’t be stopped.
Tries: M O’Leary, S Healy 2, T Kelly; Cons: C Mulvihill 3; Pen: C Mulvihill.
Tries: R O’Neill, A O’Loughlin, S Roche, P Peters; Cons: O Rowan 4.
A O’Shea (D Barry 49); M O’Leary (A O’Shea 62), C Taylor, C McKinnie, J Martin (E O’Sullivan 35+2); C Mulvihill, D O’Connell; S Fitzpatrick (C Murphy 63), D Guiney (T Kelly 62), K Manley (M Murray 70); H McCarthy (M Manning 49), D Mac Coitir (c); R O’Sullivan, J O’Callaghan, S Healy (R McElwain 57-62).
O Rowan; D Goode, J Kerr (c), T Buckley (S Connolly 35+2-h-t, 41), S Roche; P Peters, H McGowan; C Smith, Harry Heagney, Hugh Heagney; F Cooke (E Biggins 35+3), R O’Neill (J Kennedy 42); C Mugan (D McCarthy 57), L O’Connor, A O’Loughlin (H McGuirk 65).
P Sheehan (MAR).
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