Clongowes are leinster champions (St Patrick's day report) what a match! see it on TV4
Neligan
www.clongowes.com
Gerry Thornley
CLONGOWES WOOD - 13 TERENURE 11 Leinster Schools' Senior Cup Final: It had
to happen, there was an ulterior spirit at work. In his well delivered
post-match speech, Clongowes captain John Smyth spoke of the legend that was
the late, great Vinny Murray and how the schools' former assistant
headmaster and coach will live forever. And in Clongowes' hearts he will,
this victory was proof of it.
Yesterday's sixth Leinster Senior Schools' Cup success, after a truly
titanic struggle which went down to the last kick and with only a few inches
the difference, was a fitting tribute to Murray's work and to the
indomitable spirit he brought to their teams.
You felt more than a little sorry for Terenure, who did enough to win most
finals and in the heel of the hunt, the outcome was decided by a penalty
from 35 metres in the sixth minute of injury time. David McAllister's angled
kick seemed to drift back on course only after it bypassed the near post.
There was no consoling the Terenure out-half as the full-time whistle
immediately sounded to spark a manic pitch invasion from the blue and white
hordes.
McAllister need feel no shame, nor indeed any of the Terenure players and
the pity was it came down to that, for defeat at that lastditch stage would
also have been the cruellest blow for Clongowes. In truth, the game had
really been decided by a moment of sheer class from Clongowes' elusive full
back Philip Treacy, at a time when Clongowes were seemingly swimming against
a remorseless Terenure tide.
The game itself took a long time to ignite, evidence of the almost
suffocating nervousness in both camps, but when it did the estimated crowd
of 15,000 couldn't have asked for more.
Surprisingly, given the emotional edge to their cause, Clongowes settled far
quicker - a tribute to their coaches Noel Murray and Rob Taylor perhaps.
Terenure made the game's first four handling errors and didn't move
tellingly into the Clongowes half for the first 18 minutes.
Terenure weren't helped by losing their captain Barry Flynn inside the first
12 minutes, the gritty centre having tried to run off an early knee injury
and at least having the satisfaction of a crunching tackle on Clongowes
dangerman David Clavin.
Clongowes not surprisingly competed better for Terenure's ruck ball, while
also protecting their own, and so were able to take the game through several
phases. Stephen McGee's brace of penalties was fair reward, and twice
Clavin's menace created space for the wingers Paddy Berkery and McGee either
side of McGee's second penalty - the Terenure cover denying tries each time.
As the half wore on though, Terenure began to hit a groove, committing more
numbers to rucks and presenting the ball more cleanly for Robbie Sparks.
McAllister had the distance but not the accuracy with a 45 metre penalty,
before Graham Crawford cut through off his blindside wing from McAllister's
deft reverse pass, but was regaining control of the juggling ball over the
line when tackled side-on by Smyth - who had a mighty match defensively.
All the while Terenure and their supporters would have been waiting for
Sparks' moment to strike. Three minutes after the interval a Terenure scrum
tweaked to open up the blindside, Sparks exaggeratedly addressed the ball as
if to pass, and sure enough scooped the ball up, swerved past one tackle and
drew the other for Sean King to take Clavin's covering tackle and score in
the corner.
Game on at last. The battlelines were now drawn as the score did wonders for
Terenure. Big hits from the resumption by the outstanding stand-in captain
Anthony Kelly, McAllister and Donal Dunlop were a signal of their intent.
Clavin relieved the pressure with a monster kick, but back came Terenure
when flanker Richard Hegarty, who vied with Kelly for man-of-the-match,
latched onto a loose Clongowes scrum feed to lead a footrush upfield, and
help procure quick ruck ball for Crawford to have another dangerous cut.
But Clongowes are never ones for wilting, least of all yesterday. Smyth
chased down another relieving kick by Matthews and suddenly and stealthily
Clongowes struck in the 55th minute. There seemed little danger when
replacement outhalf Robert Jenkinson passed flat to Philip Treacy on a
crowded narrow side 30 metres out, but the elusive full back danced in and
out of three tackles, broke clear and rounded the last man to score.
Back came Terenure again in a compelling finale. McAllister hit the upright
with a 35 metre penalty after a big break by loosehead Kevin Mahony. Kelly
was a collosus by now, but his outstanding counterpart Aidan Proctor denied
him with a try-saving tackle before McAllister landed a penalty eight
minutes from time.
Kelly then handled three times in a flowing tap penalty move from their own
10-metre line, which resulted in another penalty from McAllister four
minutes from time to make it 13-11.
Scoring sequence: 11 mins McGee pen 3-0; 18: McGee pen 6-0; 38: King try
6-5; 55: Treacy try, McGee con 13-5; 62: McAllister pen 13-8; 66: McAllister
pen 13-11.
CLONGOWES WOOD COLLEGE: P Treacy; S McGee, J Smyth (capt), D Clavin, P
Berkery; M Britton, C Matthews; D McKeown, M Kelly, J Moran, D Hickey, D
Lynch, R O'Toole, A Proctor, M Rooney. Replacements: R Jenkinson for Britton
(34-half-time and 50 mins), S Dunne for Mckeown (54), D Fagan for O'Toole
(58).
TERENURE COLLEGE: M Duffy; S King, D Dunlop, B Flynn (capt), G Crawford; D
McAllister, R Sparks; K Mahony, B Blaney, J Keogh, R Gernon, R McDonnell, J
Barretto, A Kelly, R Hegarty. Replacements: K Jones for Flynn (12).
Referee: D Tyndall (Leinster).
Heron
<edw...@indigo.ie> writes
>On Sat, 18 Mar 2000 08:34:02 -0000, "Neligan" <nel...@clubi.ie>
>wrote:
>
>>
>>www.clongowes.com
>>
>South side bastards.
>
>Bearing in mind that the best footballers in the country come from the
>Northside of every town and country, do you not think that the "powers
>to be" should start recruiting all of this talent to beef up the teams
>of spineless and chinless wonders. ?
>
>
>Eddie
exactly. Castleknock were robbed.
altogether for a round of tango tango...........
--
Heron?
Heron
>other northside rugger clubs I can think of, Clontarf, and
>Sutton................
>
>Eddie
>
now thats just not true. at least half the school is plebs (dayboys for
you not castleknockers) and their parents would all love to be
southsiders. and most of the boarders are bog hoppers from the flat
lands.
cept for me. but i left.
--
Heron?
Heron
>affluent.; Just how much are the fee;'s now..??
>
>
not denighing it, agreeing in fact (read the mail eddie). fees are about
4k for a boarder i think. bout 1.5k for a pleb.
must admit, although i was brought up in a fairly well off family i
never though of my self as well off as all my freinds were from poor
familys. and you tend to think like your freinds. then i went to dublin
and saw more stuckup wee bastards that had never had to lift a finger in
their life. amazed and disgusted me. the dubs were the worst by far.
--
Heron?