Schools Rugby Leinster Junior Cup final/Belvedere College - 12 Terenure College - 6: After a first-half performance that promised more and a late try that finally secured the trophy, Belvedere College were made to sweat this one out but in the end did enough at the right time to edge out Terenure and complete an historic schools double of Senior and Junior Cup successes.
Having beaten Blackrock College in the Senior Cup decider at Lansdowne Road, Belvedere took it one stage further on a bald, baked pitch at Donnybrook yesterday and for the first time in their history won both trophies in the same year.
The usual trimmings of crowd jesters, adoring parents, old boys and a thin sun burning through the mist made it a pleasant day for a full ground, the two teams serving up an hour or so of excellent entertainment.
Belvedere took the leading part for the entire first half with Terenure monopolising the offensive role for most of the second with the exception of a late five-minute spell.
In that short phase Belvedere used their bigger pack to push their opponents deep into their 22 and then capitalised on a loose clearance to end the contest.
At 7-6 ahead and finally out of their 22, Belvedere's Michael Keating found himself under a high ball that had not made the expected ground from a pressurised clearance from behind the Terenure posts. The right wing then took off in an arcing run, touching down in the corner before the Terenure defence could switch across. There were just four minutes remaining.
So the northside school took home their 17th title, denying Terenure their ninth, and although extremely tight, the victory was deserved, if only because they made the most of what little they got in that fraught second half.
Belvedere began the game at a hectic pace, forcing Terenure into a furiously defensive game.
On eight minutes Keating grabbed the first of his two touchdowns, bursting in at the right corner, fullback Matthew Boland only inches from putting him into touch as he had done two minutes earlier. Peter Toal converted from the narrow angle for 7-0 and it then looked like Belvedere would go into the break with a handsome advantage.
Their back line was looking dangerous and the pack, visibly larger than Terenure's eight, was providing enough good ball to keep the game belting along. Secondrow Luke Mangan, too, secured regular ball in the lineout.
But on 28 minutes Terry Jones kicked the first of his two penalties - one of the few chances Terenure got in the half - and went into the break just 7-3 down.
Then what a turnaround! Terenure emerged the more positive force, Jones adding another penalty on 39 minutes when his side's effective inside centre, Conor Allen, was high-tackled bursting through the midfield into Belvedere's 22. The kick made it a one-point game at 7-6 and Terenure continued to press.
But just as they had robustly defended their line in the first half hour Belvedere did so again as the momentum swung against them. When a nasty bounce from a cross-field kick denied Terenure fullback Matthew Boland a try on 53 minutes, it demonstrated just how finely poised the game was. Belvedere, it was, who manufactured the sting from just five minutes of forward power play, a couple of driving mauls and recycles forcing the kicking error, and giving Belvedere the cup for the first time since 1999.
Scoring sequence: 8 mins: M Keating try, P Toal con, 7-0; 28: T Jones pen, 7-3. Half time 7-3. 39: T Jones pen, 7-6. 56: M Keating try, 12-6.
BELVEDERE COLLEGE: J Conroy; M Keating, P Crosby, C Colclough (capt), N Myron; R Consodine, P Toal; N Lovie, T Sexton, L Habiyakare, E Browne, L Mangan, C Doyle, D Memery, D Murphy. Replacements: B Cahill for Sexton, A Coakley for Murphy (both 42 mins).
TERENURE COLLEGE: M Boland; S Kinsella, R Williamson, C Allen, M Russell; T Jones, G Flanaghan; K Moloney, B Ledger, J Clarke, R Duke, K Flanaghan, C Farrell, C Fitzgerald (capt), P Ryan. Replacements: R Byrne for Ledger. A Carey for Farrell (both 45 mins), C Garvey for Jones (60 mins).
Referee: A Rogan (ARLB)
