Ardscoil And Glenstal Abbey Avoid Round 1 Exit

A late Aaron Byrnes penalty saw Ardscoil Rís book their spot in the Quarter Final Eliminator’s, while Glenstal Abbey were convincing 29-3 winners over Villiers

Ardscoil Ris 11-10 Castletroy College, Liam Fitzgerald Park

Aaron Byrnes showed nerves of steel to slot a long range penalty late in the second half to see Ardscoil Ris make the second round of the Pinergy Munster Schools Senior Cup.

It was the first and only time that Ardscoil would lead the tie as Casteltroy left a 10-0 lead slip through their grasp and for consecutive years were out in the first round.

Castletroy after a cagey opening to proceedings almost grabbed the opening score after nine minutes, driving for the line Jamie Conway used his power to bulldoze through however Ardscoil defended their line and held up the grounding.

Pressure remained however as Ardscoil found touch from their drop out, Castletroy were unrelenting as their forwards used to their power to drive for the line, held up again the Ardscoil defence was put under serious pressure and caved after 11 minutes when Conway again powered through and this time he got his try. Liam Glynn converted for a 7-0 lead.

It was very much all the way of Castletroy as we crossed past the mid way mark of the opening half, with 22 minutes on the clock after winning and driving from their line out, Castletroy again went direct and looked to have added a second try but again it was held up over the line. A second goal line dropout and another sigh of relief for Ardscoil.

The pressure remained however as the ball failed to leave the Ardscoil end of Liam Fitzgerald Park, after the referee spotted something he didn’t like Castletroy had a penalty and Liam Glynn dissected the posts from close range for a 10-0 lead after 24 minutes.

Shy of the hour mark as Thomas Hourigan proved to be the catalyst in driving through the Castletroy rearguard like a knife through butter, it set Ardscoil on their first attack of the contest, it failed to put pressure on the try line but a penalty gave them a shot at getting on the scoreboard with Aaron Byrnes slotting from close range.

Ardscoil certainly felt the frustration of head coach Evan Cusack at the break and that gave them the wakeup call for a much improved second half. With six minutes gone Jame Butler kicked crossfield and with the Castletroy rearguard unable to deal with the kick trickling inside their try line, Hourigan raced in as the intended target for the kick and got a vital touch to score. A gift in truth but from the Castetroy perspective the conversion missed the mark and the margin was still two points. 10-8.

Ardscoil started to apply pressure in the phases after their try but a handling error grounded their attack to a halt as they went in search of that vital score to put them ahead. A penalty with 18 minutes gone gave Ardscoil the chance at the lead but Aaron Byrnes struck his kick wide of the posts.

As the game neared conclusion, neither side gave an inch. Ferocious hits as both put everything on the line in search of a spot in the Quarter Final Eliminators, Castletroy were punished at the breakdown as the clock neared red, despite missing two earlier kicks at the post, Byrnes stepped up and from the Castletroy 10m line dissected the posts for the all important lead.

While Castletroy did have the ball in the final exchanges they fails to conjure up a score, cries of drop goal could be heard from the sideline, instead they did what they had done so well in the first half dominate and attack well with their forwards, an infringement at the breakdown coughed up possession and with it their campaign for 2024 came to a conclusion.

Scorers for Castletroy: Try: J Conway, Con: L Glynn, Pen: L Glynn.

Scorers for Ardscoil Rís: Try: T Hourigan, Pen: A Byrnes (2) 

Castletroy College: L Glynn; S McKeon, D McMahon, J Rowntree; R Brady; R McConkey (C), C Williams; A Tchokotieu, J O’Gorman, J Conway, A Dooley, B Fogarty, C McNamara, C Kennedy, A Lautsou.

Replacements: Trevor Tchokotieu, Travis Tchokotieu, U Musa, A Henry Ramblado, J O’Malley, B Toland, S Lyons, R Widger, H Mohammad Ali, P Walter.

Ardscoil Rís: J Butler; D O’Connell, J Dillon, M O’Donoghue, T Hourigan; A Byrnes, S O’Halloran; J Koura, D Glennon, K Rooney, D O’Flaherty, D Leyden, M Browne, S Horrigan, A Kennedy.

Replacements: D Salmon, P Ryan, L Costello, F Bell, C Byrne, O Desmond, D Collins, O Quinlan, C Quirke.

Glenstal Abbey 29-3 Villiers, UL 4G

Glenstal Abbey were convincing winners in their Round 1 meeting with Villiers who made their Munster Senior Cup debut, running in four tries in a dominant opening display from BJ Botha’s charges.

The former Munster and South African player has taken over from Ian Keatly and with his UL Bohemian side also doing well in 2A, he is keeping an eye to the future talent coming out of the province.

End to end was the narrative of the contest for the opening quarter of an hour, both sides looked sharp, however as the game neared conclusion, too many handling errors certainly cost Villiers and despite coughing up 12 penalties, Glenstal were only punished once.

With 15 minutes elapsed Glenstal stuck first blood, Riain Concannon gathering out wide from a lovely offload from Harry Gleeson, he raced down the right channel and with a lovely side step and shimmy of the hips created a gap to cross for the opening try, the conversion would miss the mark from Finn Connolly.

5-0 became 12-0 just a few short minutes later, Callum Hughes stealing a Villiers lineout and bundled his way over from close range. Ben Tucker added the extras for a12-0 margin. Harry O’Donovan had two attempts at the posts to get Villliers on the board, the first drew wide but the second was on the mark, the first points scored by Villiers in the Senior Cup. That penalty left the score 12-3 at the interval.

Villiers powered away in the second half but errors crept into their game and the more experienced Glenstal side started to show their skill set It did however remain quite cagey, the next score did not arrive until we neared the end of normal time, a penalty from Tucker making it 15-3.

Glenstal wrapped up the game well in the burning embers, a terrific break away from Oisin Rowan, saw him dance his way past the Villiers defence before racing over for their third try, Tucker adding the extras. Tucker would get on the try scorers list with a turnover try as Villiers tried to clear their line, he had time to gather and run in for the score, Connolly nailing the conversion from near the sideline

Scorers for Glenstal Abbey: Tries: R Concannon, C Hughes, O Rowan, B Tucker, Con: B Tucker (2), F Connolly, Pen: B Tucker 

Scorers for Villiers: Pen: H O’Donovan 

Glenstal Abbey: J Kerr; S Connolly, S Roche, M Bennett; R Concannon; B Tucker, F Connolly; H Gleeson (C), B Collins, C Hughes, L Himmelreich, P O’Neill, S McCormack, C O’Donovan, M Kennedy.

Replacements: K Robertson, D O’Murthuile, G McDonnell, E White, B Gabor, T Buckley, O Rowan, T Williams, T McNamara, D Goode.

Villiers: L Wilkinson; P Barry, H Lillis, M Moloney; A Lew, H O’Donovan, S O’Brien; C O’Donovan, M Sheehy, N Prendergast, B Atkinson, R Hales, S Austin, D Persse, C Egbulam.

Replacements: Z Agoro, J Siddle, O Ipadeloa, J Odiase, D Cunningham, A Lew, S Gleeson, M Shanahan, F Ayanyemi.

Round 2 Fixtures:

CBC v St Munchin’s College – Tuesday 23rd January, Musgrave Park, 2pm

Rockwell College v Glenstal Abbey – Wednesday 24th January, Musgrave Park, 12.45pm

Bandon Grammar School v Ardscoil Rís – Wednesday 24th January, Musgrave Park, 3.15pm

PBC v Crescent College Comprehensive – Thursday 25th January, Musgrave Park, 3pm