Leinster Junior Cup quarter final / CBC Monkstown 8 Belvedere College 7: More high drama in the Leinster Schools' Junior Cup. Defence was the main order of the day at Donnybrook yesterday but after a dour opening 50 minutes this game was brought to life by two late tries.
Belvedere looked to have won the contest when, after some relentless pressure on their opponents' line, they finally crossed for a try in the 57th minute through substitute Ross Gahan.
Back came CBC Monkstown and in the fourth minute of injury time Gary Foley sent James Clarke over for the deciding score of the day.
Monkstown spent most of the opening half camped in their opponents' 22. However, a combination of solid defending and a lack of penetration in attack meant they rarely threatened the Belvedere line.
Centre Barry Dargan sprinted clear in the seventh minute but Jonathan Slattery hauled him down. Their excellent outhalf Conor Banahan then saw his well-struck penalty, from wide on the left, drift just wide.
Banahan made no mistake from his second kick for goal, five minutes before the break, to leave Monkstown with a slender lead. It was scant reward considering they so clearly dominated possession and territory.
Despite playing into a strong wind Belvedere showed glimpses of what was to come with outhalf Eoin O'Malley and Slattery always eager to take the ball into contact.
The roles were reversed in the second half with O'Malley making use of the wind to put Belvedere into the scoring zone. John Torsney was denied a clear path to the line by a bootlace tackle from Anthony Quinn, while Monkstown hooker Killian Verso did likewise on John McDevitt as he attempted to take the outside channel.
The inventive O'Malley tried to unlock the defence with a clever chip over but winger James Clarke got across to make a mid-air mark.
Further try-saving tackles from Anthony Quinn and Conor Ó Raghallaigh made it look like Monkstown would survive.
Yet Belvedere continued to press and with three minutes remaining O'Malley appeared on the blind side to send Gahan over in the corner. The outhalf then followed up with a great touchline conversion.
Remarkably, back came Monkstown. The game suddenly opened up and after Foley made an initial charge through the middle he popped up several phases later to put Clarke over in the left for the deciding try.
The result ends Belvedere's hopes of a double - junior and senior - success.
CBC Monkstown next face defending champions Blackrock in the semi-finals and after this performance they cannot be written off.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 25 mins: C Banahan pen, 3-0; 57 mins: R Gahan try, 3-5; E O'Malley conv, 3-7; 64 mins: J Clarke try, 8-7.
CBC MONKSTOWN: S O'Brien; D Finnegan, G Foley, B Dargan, J Clarke; C Banahan, A Quinn; N Linnane, K Verso, D Steyaert; A Baylis, S Grennell; M Connolly, J Rogers, C Ó Raghallaigh. Replacements: K Finlay-Mulligan for Linnane (38 mins); K Nolan for Baylis (51 mins).
BELVEDERE COLLEGE: J Moriarty; P Deignan, J McDevitt, C Colclough, J O'Brien; E O'Malley, C O'Shaughnessy; J Torsney, H Whelan, D Groarke; L Mangan, M Kenna; S Breen, D Dennigan, J Slattery. Replacements: S Rooney for Kenna (46 mins); R Gahan for O'Brien (55 mins).
Referee: E O'Dowd (ARLB).
