Blackrock College’s physicality proved the different as they muscled their way into the Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior Cup final, beating St Michael’s College 22-17 at a packed out Energia Park.
By Ned Quigley
It was loud, it was brutish, it was physical and it was a true Senior Cup classic in every sense of the word. The boom of fireworks rang around Energia as St Michaels; took to the pitch, it was a testament to the battle that was coming.
It was a tight affair with both teams putting in monstrous hits in defence, St Michael’s defence on their line was outstanding throughout the game kept them in it at stages. Blackrock drew first blood with a penalty from scrumhalf Luke Coffey in the third minute after a ruck infringement.
There was a serious battle between the two scrum halves, both teams aimed to utilise the strong winds with contestable box kicks. St Michael’s aimed to box contestable early on but the Blackrock backfield held their own with full back Cael McCloskey dominating the skies.
A slight change in tack saw St Michael’s stretch the Blackrock defence, attempting to move the ball across the pitch and finding some success with winger Matthew McCarthy. who made a break up the edge, before being awarded a penalty on the line. They went to the corner and flanker Peter Downey crashed over after a serious of pick and gos, out half Harrison McMahon converted to leave the score at 7-3 in the 15th minute.
A strong gust of wind skewed a St Michael’s box kick but it was regathered in offside position, Blackrock went to the corner and drove but the defence was solid and forced a penalty. The presume kept mounting though, an overthrown line out claimed by hooker Harry O’Niell gave Blackrock a platform to mount an attack, but they were ultimately held up over the line.
The St Michael’s defence was outstanding throughout the game and a crunching tackle by flanker Peter Downey dislodged the ball forcing Blackrock to kick it into touch. They earned a penalty from the line out, but a miss kick allowed centre Bernard White to glide through the chase to score under the posts, Coffey ading the extras for 10-7, 24 minutes in.
St Michael’s kept on coming, and scrumhalf Andrew Norse continued to put pressure on Blackrock’s backfield, the backfield held firm and returned fire with fire but St Michael’s fullback Max Roche spun out of a tackle to make a lovely line break to leave them on the 5 metre line only for prop Louis McGee to rescure Blackrock, ripping the ball in the tackle and allowing them to clear their lines.
Harry O’Niell stooped low to collect a loose line out, relieving the pressure and allowing Blackrock to play but a knock on brought the half to a close at 10-7 in Blackrock’s favour.
Blackrock came out gunning in the second half and a lovely offload from Cael McCloskey put Aidan Vetjens in a gap before he popped the ball to winger Alex Aschenbrenner, who turned on the afterburners to score the first try of the second half after just 2 minutes for a 15-7 lead.
Still St Michael’s kept probing, a lovely break from Matthew McCarthy left them in a dangerous position and earned a penalty for their efforts. They went to the corner before the maul collapsed and then sent a barrage of big ball carriers into the Blackrock defence, their efforts prevailed as Joe Kennedy burrowed over, McMahon adding the extras for 15-14, game on.
However it didn’t take long for Blackrock to strike back, fullback McCloskey broke through two tackles and a brilliant carry from Harry O’Neill set up Paddy Agnew to score, Coffey coverting to put Blackrock more than a converted try ahead at 22-14.
St Michael’s still continued to try and break the Blackrock defence and earned a penalty for their efforts, 44 meters out. McMahon stepped up and split the uprights with a monstrous kick to make it a one score game in the 52nd minute.
Blackrock fought back and a lovely crossfield from Scally put White in space before offloading it to Vetjens but Eoin Loo closed down the space, forcing the error. St Michael’s began to throw the kitchen sink at Blackrock, throwing their bodies at the Blackrock defence, but a brilliant jackal from Harry O’Neill gave Blackrock a chance to clear their lines. Pinning St Michael’s back in their 22 and with the clock in the red forced them to try and play out, and a crunching tackle from Roche allowed Aschnebrenner to get over the ball to win a sensational jackal to win the game.
Full Time: Blackrock College 22-17 St Michael’s College
Teams:
Blackrock College: Cael McCloskey, Aiden Vetjens, James Browne, Bernard White, Alex Aschenbrenner; Paddy Scally, Luke Coffey (Capt), Louis Magee, Harry O’Neill, Ben Guerin, George Eggars, Cian McCarron, Conal Power, Paddy Agnew, Tom Keaveney.
Replacements: Lucas Hill for Magee, Lorcan Golden for Keaveny, Luka Kelly for Guerin.
St Michael’s College: Max Roche, Matthew McCarthy, Sam Dunne, Matthew McKenna, Eoin Loo; Harrison McMahon, Andrew Norse; Herbie Boyle, Luke Loughrey, Conor Canniffe, Philip Lynch, Joe Kennedy, Peter Downey, Haydn Gallagher, Myles Berman (Capt).
Replacements: Josh Neville for Loughrey, Dan O’Donohoe for Canniffe, Setanta McLaughlin for Downey, Sam Kennedy for McLaughlin.
Referee: S Holt.
