The first round of the Bank of Ireland Leinster Rugby Fr Godfrey Cup kicked off this week with plenty of action in the five games.
St Patrick’s Classical School, CBS Naas, St Andrew’s College, St Fintan’s High School and The King’s Hospital were all winners this week with the second round set to be scheduled for next week.
Temple Carrig are also through to the next round after being awarded a walkover by Ardee Community School.
St Patrick’s Classical School, Navan 25 Ardscoil Na Tríonóide 24
Phillip Smith kept his cool to kick St Patrick’s into the second round of the Bank of Ireland Fr Godfrey Cup in a cracking contest at Naas RFC on Tuesday.
It was one of those tit-for-tat struggles in which the lead changed hands three times, St Patrick’s settling well enough for prop Adam McHugh to claim an early try.
Ardscoil were able to absorb this and make their way into the right area of the pitch for Tom Brophy to pounce, Darragh Farrell converting.
The Classical School grabbed the lead back when Ciaran Scott created a try for Smith to dot down and convert for 12-7 at the break.
The advantage grew to 10 points when No 8 Scott burst through for their third try before full-back Paidi Kelly replied for the Athy nursery.
It was just one of those see-saw battles that raged, wing Sean Reilly again stretching the lead to 22-14 in the 54th minute.
From there, Ardscoil benefited from great impact from the bench with rapid-fire tries by Logan Brennan and Senan Coffey, the latter converted by out-half Farrell, to slip ahead 24-22 in the 67th minute.
However, St Patrick’s had the application to march downfield, forcing a last-minute penalty which Smith gladly slotted in a welter of excitement.
Scorers – St Patrick’s College: P Smith try, pen, con; C Scott, S Reilly, A McHugh try each. Ardscoil: P Kelly, S Coffey, L Brennan, T Brophy try each; D Farrell two cons.
St Patrick’s Classical School – Ciall Flynn; Sean Reilly, James Donnelly, Ivo Fitzherbert, Simon Dizon; Phillip Smith, Eoin Burke; Adam McHugh, Robbie Davis, Patrick Yourell, Jack Shorten, Nathan Ryan, Daniel Egan, Luke Kennedy, Ciaran Scott
Replacements: Thomas Kearns, Conor Boles, Lorcan Lawlor, Alex Sheridan, Daniel Moore, Daniel Heverin, Dean Reynolds, Killian Heffernan
Ardscoil Na Trionoide – Paidi Kelly; Finn Hughes, Colm Moran, Tom Brophy, Ronan Kelly; Darragh Farrell, Daniel Henry; David Goggin, Christopher Lam, Oisin Latisev, Jess Clancy, Kacper Garstecki, Bobby Walsh, Ben Tait, James Donnelly
Replacements: Tom Manley, Ben Howe, Reuben Fitzgerald, Eoin Johnson, Leo Kelly, Logan Brennan, Senan Coffey, Dylan Brennan-Kidd
CBS Naas 22 Skerries Community College 15
Once CBS Naas got ahead, they stayed there against Skerries Community College at Templevile Road in one of four matches scheduled for Thursday.
The early nerves made apparent by basic errors were soon improved once centre Daragh Culligan intercepted and sprinted to the posts for Jack Osborne to convert in the 12th minute.
Skerries were not exactly reeling from this setback, getting down to business to blast back with a try by centre Samuel Manuel in the 16th minute.
Osborne, a brother to Leinster’s Jamie, broke through the middle to enable the three-quarters to work the space for wing Charlie Cooke to ground the ball.
Once again, Skerries showed enough resolve to bite back, their ability to win the gainline key in setting up their second unconverted try for flanker Mike Branagan.
At this point, Naas knuckled down with Harry Dunne and Conor Butler to the fore, creating tries, either side of the break, to give them crucial breathing space.
First, the smooth handling of the back division gave the other wing Jack Byrne the space to finish. Then, openside Josh Ward crashed over for 22-10 in the 46th minute.
Skerries did not accept their fate, battling all the way to the end, full-back Rian Arnold even taking them to within a score before they were beaten by the clock.
Scorers – Skerries: D Culligan, J Byrne, C Cooke, J Ward try each; J Osborne con. CBS Nass: S Manuel, M Branagan, R Arnold try each.
CBS Naas – Daragh O’Boyle; Jack Byrne, Jack Osborne, Daragh Culligan, Charlie Croke; Cian McKevitt, Jack Mullins; Joe Dwyer, Harry Dunne, Scott Whelan; Darragh Brownen, Charlie Morrissey; Conor Butler, Josh Ward, Jack Dempsey
Replacements: Scott Cooke, Philip Sammon, Ma Rosen, Pairic Quinn, Zach Carvel Jake Bourke, Zach Kennedy, Rowan Finegan
Skerries Community School – Rian Arnold; Jack Caribini, Charlie Watt, Samuel Manuel, Killian Thomas; Lochlainn Treacy, Joshua Tanner; Max Brophy, Robbie Gallagher, Sam Kingsnorth; Oscar Price, Cathal O’Connor; Shane Gibson, Mike Branagan, Luke Fagan
Replacements: Seth Welsh, Tom Woods, Patrick O’Brien, Joshua Mackle, Jak Higgins, Luke Couedelo, Matthew Cauldwell
St Andrew’s College 20 Catholic University School 10
St Andrew’s were made to work all the way to the finish in a double-scores win over CUS at Energia Park.
The Booterstown school settled the quicker, getting their central characters into the game, camping in the right areas of the pitch.
Their pressure was heavy enough to produce two unconverted tries in the first quarter from the hard-running of No 8 Charlie O’Keeffe and openside Teddy Lawlor to open up a 10-point lead.
Thereafter, they were forced onto the backfoot where they showed their defence was just as stable as their attack, full-back Scott Lowry dealing well with the ball that came his way.
Out-half Victor Killane was a calm presence for St Andrew’s as they moved 15-0 clear from right-wing Philip Doyle’s try.
Indeed, a feature of the game was that none of the half-dozen tries was converted. Anyway, CUS needed a spark to revive their hopes and they got it when replacement Daragh Redmond appeared to pick up their first try.
All of a sudden, St Andrew’s were on the ropes as CUS came hunting another until centre Jake Dolly stepped in for a vital interception try to put the issue beyond doubt in the 65th minute.
Even then, CUS’s second was a beauty, swinging the play from wing to wing in a sustained period of pressure for Redmond to strike again in the 65th minute.
Scorers – St Andrew’s: C O’Keefe, T Lawlor, P Doyle, J Dolly try each. CUS: D Redmond two tries.
St Andrew’s College – Scott Lowry; Philip Doyle, Jake Dolly, Simon O’Kelly, Ben Walker; Victor Killane, Ethan Browne; Alex Trickett, Charlie Jordan, Josh Kesse; Cameron Timon, Cal Gilmer; Ronan Savage, Teddy Lawlor, Charlie O’Keeffe
Replacements: Ian Middleton, Carl Regan, Liam Harrington, Charlie McDonnell, Andrew Marley
Catholic University School – Gerard Jaksland; Flynn O’Reilly, Senan Ryan, Christopher Butler, Finn Walsh; Mitchell Grant, Hugo Fitzgerald; Jude Keaney-Lonergan, James Kennedy, Euan Thompson; Cameron Scott, Robbie O’Connell; Finn Costello, Jude Barrett, Dylan McNeice
Replacements: Cian Fitzsimons, Conor Brayden, Adam Tynan, Shane O’Connor, Oisin Devery, Alex Morley, Darragh Redmond, Luke Crowley
St Fintan’s High School 66 The High School 7
St Fintan’s High School unleashed their full arsenal of attacking weapons against The High School at Clontarf FC.
They made their intentions clear right from the get-go as centre Marcel Haas and brothers Tadhg and Rory O’Connor-O’Hehir posted tries for a 19-0 lead by the 11th minute.
Although the Rathgar school were able to stay in it through a try by Jamie Morton-Bailey and an Elliot Walsh conversion, St Fintan’s were able to add a fourth from centre Louis Martin and a third conversion by out-half Ben Barnes for 26-7 at the interval.
The difference in size was far too much for High School to handle, despite the best efforts of out-half Walsh, Morton-Bailey and workaholic second rows Jake Walsh and Freddie Robinson.
The trend of Sutton domination continued, thereafter, as blindside Adam Coffey, the O’Connor-O’Hehirs, prop Rob Harvey and replacements Conor Gilmer and Finn McDonald rounded out the 10-try haul.
Scorers – St Fintan’s: T O’Connor-O’Hehir, R O’Connor-O’Hehir two tries each; M Haas, L Martin, A Coffey, R Harvey, C Gilmer, F McDonald try each; B Barnes six cons; A Boyne two cons. The High School: J Morton-Bailey try; E Walsh con.
St Fintan’s – Rohan O’Shea; Oisin Kelly, Marcel Haas, Louis Martin, Ryan Curley; Ben Barnes, James Burke; Ponamu Palazzetti, Simon Cantwell, Robert Harvey; Patrick Fogarty, Michael Bolger; Adam Coffey, Tadhg O’Connor-O’Hehir; Rory O’Connor-O’Hehir
Replacements: Christian Takaichvili, Keith Bonar, Jake Reynolds, Brendan Dillon, Fionn MacDonald, Samuel O’Leary, Andrew Boyne, Conor Gilmer
The High School – Charlie O’Neill; Paul Nwamara, Isaac Lindsay, Lucas D’Arcy, Oscar Pasley; Elliot Walsh, Finn Maguire; Sam Sheppard, Edmund Quigley, Jamie Morton Bailey; Jake Walsh, Freddie Robinson; George Kennedy, Harry Guckian, Oisin Burgess
Replacements: Michael Dreyer, Cian Gregan, Sean Hession, Shaun O’Flynn, Andrew Millar, Callum McLoughlin, Orin Hurley, Christian Walsh
The King’s Hospital 36 Patrician Secondary School 5
Ross Adams was the hat-trick hero as King’s Hospital gradually wore down Patrician Secondary School at Energia Park.
The writing was on the wall when King’s Hos got into their patterns, their three tries coming from William Nuzum, blindside Marcus Adedapo and centre Adams with one conversion from captain Scott Kenny to build a 17-0 lead at the break.
Half-backs Kenny and Josh Nolan used the ball smartly to keep their forwards on the front foot in the face of staunch defence from Patrician, led by their captain Gavin Agar-Cox.
Nonetheless, Hos’ always looked more likely to add to their lead. So it came to pass when Adams, Adam Akeary and Adams again completed their half-dozen tries with two more conversions from Kenny.
The Patrician school never stopped giving everything and, finally, got tangible reward for the stellar work of scrum-half Tom Joyce, centre Louis Malone and Agar-Cox when loosehead Michael Mahon broke through late on.
Scorers – King’s Hospital: R Adams three tries; W Nuzum, M Adedapo, A Keary try each; S Kenny two cons. Patrician: M Mahon try.
The King’s Hospital – William Nuzum; Faizal Omotayo, Freddy Rust, Ross Adams, Desmond Zhu; Scott Kenny, Josh Nolan; Sam Kennedy, George Hollinshead, Aaron Wilson; David Rice, Matthew Kelly; Marcus Adedapo, Adam Akeary, Roger Doyle
Replacements: Fraser McDonald, Keith Johnson, Melvin Manoj, David Obioha, William Michael, Cillian Cane, Mikey Dixon, Josh Matthews
Patrician Secondary School – Adam Smith; Conor Gallagher, Eoin Carroll, Louis Malone, Geordan Kennedy; Joshua O’Keeffe, Tom Joyce; Michael Mahon, Tiago Somers, Gavin Agar-Cox, Dean O’Connell, Benjamin Fletcher, Stephen Flynn, Daniel Gill, Aaron Donnelly
Replacements: Alex Bell, Niall Barry, David Choiseul, Jack Fogarty, Cillian Phelan, Jake Mackey, Jonathan Breslin, Algirdas Zeglaitis