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Connacht Schools Senior Cup Final
Marist College 33
(Thomas Cotton (two), Kyle Mahon, Andrew Henson (two) tries, Charlie O’Carroll four conversions)
Sligo Grammar School 29
(Cathal Moffatt (two), Diarmaid O’Connell, Alistair Hewson tries; Mark Tempany one pen, three cons)
Kevin Egan at Ballina RFC
Dethroning three-in-a-row Cup winners Sligo Grammar School was never going to be easy, but Marist College just about found a way to get it done this afternoon in splendid sunshine at Ballina RFC, with Andrew Henson running in the winning score with a little over a minute to play to break the hearts of their valiant opponents.
Everything that happened throughout the league and cup campaign this season was effectively building towards this showdown between the two leading forces in the province, sides that will renew their rivalry in a week’s time in the Junior Cup decider. The simplistic analysis said that it was a battle between the Grammar School’s superior forward power, and the irresistible force that is their captain and back row stalwart Diarmaid O’Connell, and the incredible flair and craft of the Marist back division.
Sometimes the simple analysis is spot on, as evidenced by the fact that all four Grammar School tries came from their pack, and all from controlled, power rugby where they worked the ball through the phases and squeezed the life out of their Athlone opponents.
For their part, Marist ran in two tries from each of their centres and one stunning 90 metre breakaway run from winger Kyle Mahon, and every time the ball was moved out past outhalf Charlie O’Carroll, it looked like they were capable of something special.
Their devastating start looked like it might blow the champions out of the water before anyone had time to finish off the ice creams that were doing a roaring trade by the side of the ground.
Thomas Cotton touched down their first score after 11 minutes, having done incredibly well himself to keep play alive when it looked like he’d been forced out over the sideline. Then the fine margins of closely-fought sporting contests were definitely in evidence when Sligo Grammar hammered at the Marist line, only for Charlie O’Carroll to strip the ball and set up a 90 metre breakaway try for winger Kyle Mahon.
Despite falling into that early hole, Sligo Grammar weren’t about to lose sight of the type of rugby that brought them back to another final. They kept it tight, looked to squeeze the Marist set piece, and leaned heavily on the power of Cathal Moffatt, Kamsi Mojekwu and in particular O’Connell up front.
Though with Marist targeting the international backrow, all that yielded before half-time was a Mark Tempany penalty.
The audible demand from Marist head coach Sam Fogarty at half-time was to remember the league final, and how Sligo Grammar came back from a two-try lead in the league final, and to not let it happened again.
Not only did it happen again, it happened twice.
A couple of uncharacteristic Maris handling errors early in the second half opened the window of opportunity that little bit wider for the cup holders, and they were rewarded for backing their superior close-range strength when Moffatt and then O’Connell powered over from close range to nudge them into their first lead of the game.
It was short-lived, with Charlie O’Carroll running back a kick on the next play and chipping through for Thomas Cotton to score, and Sligo Grammar might have felt that it wasn’t to be their day when Andrew Henson chased down a grubber kick shortly afterwards, despite shouts from the Grammar School bench for a knock-on in the lead up to the score.
Their lead evaporated, but their resilience remained, as did their faith in their simple, direct game plan.
With time running out, O’Connell and Moffatt took the ball up to the Marist line to set up Alistair Hewson’s score. Then Bobby Hanrahan turned over a Marist runner in the tackle on the next possession, and after a couple of tap and go penalties, it was Moffatt who got across the whitewash with five minutes remaining.
Now, Marist’s dreams were on life support, and it was their turn to produce heroics.
Tempany’s pressure conversion made it 29-26, but Marist didn’t look to engineer a kick, instead trusting in their talented back division to find a way through. They too were rewarded, and once again it was Cotton who provided the inspiration, breaking two tackles on the left sideline before setting up Henson for the winning score.
MARIST COLLEGE: Andrew Cotton; Kyle Mahon, Andrew Henson, Thomas Cotton, Tom Bourke; Charlie O’Carroll, Conor Dowling; Hugo Hannon, Evan McMickan, Ciarán West; Peter Bourke, Kyle Byrne; Kailin Blessing, Oisín O’Donoghue, Rueben Colleran.
Replacements: Philip Finan for P Bourke (half-time), Owen Egan for Dowling (44), Matthew Turner for Hannon (44), Hannon for Blessing (51), Blessing for A Cotton (65).
SLIGO GRAMMAR SCHOOL: Ben Lawler-Kerr; Jasper Gimena, Bobby Hanrahan, Mark Tempany, Andrew Hewson; Ben O’Connor, Andrew Ryan; Andrew Deegan, William Draper, Cathal Moffatt; Bertie Bamber, Jayden Bosomtwe; Kamsi Mojekwu, Alistair Hewson, Diarmaid O’Connell.
Replacements: Logan O’Neill Markey for Henson (6), James Winters O’Donnell for Bosomtwe (48), Bosomtwe for Deegan (54).
Referee: Cathal Roddy.
