The teeth of an angry wind and the bite of a numbing afternoon combined to make attractive rugby a treacherous proposition in this Leinster Schools' Section A Senior Cup Final at Donnybrook yesterday.
De La Salle, Skerries bowed to the conditions and limited themselves. Mount Temple held tight to their principles and moved the ball at every opportunity. The winners practised what they had preached through their play in the previous rounds. They would not be dictated to by their opponents. Skerries and the howling wind were put to flight with sensational swagger. Admittedly, passes went to ground in the opening minutes, but Mount Temple showed real footballing agility up front and behind to master the conditions and the opposition.
Within 20 minutes, left wing Mark Adams and number eight Gar Kelly punctured the Skerries defence in starkly different movements that illustrated Temple's diversity in attack. First, Adams was given leave to whizz around his marker by outhalf Jeff Moore's adept pass on the short side.
Then, from a five-metre penalty, six forwards formed a wall for feisty scrum-half Dermot Thunder. He flipped the ball up to the six, blinding Skerries from sight of the ball. Then, the decoys spilled forward at varying angles with Kelly eventually ripping through a parting wall to make the line with ball in hand.
Justin Ryan and Adams found the target from penalties to leave Mount Temple 13-3 in front at the halfway mark. It was Adams's fifth time lucky. Although he was striking the ball well, the wind was winning that particular argument. No matter, he needn't have worried. Prop Joey Kellett had not yet fully delivered on his promising first-half breaks.
That soon changed. Twice, Kellett, showing great pace, literally ran over Skerries' would-be tacklers in his rush to make the line. At last, Adams was getting the hang of things. Both tries were converted.
This double blow broke the back of Skerries' resistance. The winners retreated en bloc and were duly punished by the speed of Skerries wing Mark Byrne down the left. But, it was no more than a consolation try. Both sides knew this and prop Keith Ellis drummed it home with the final salvo two minutes from time.
Scoring Sequence: 17 mins - M Adams try, 5-0; 20 - G Kelly try, 10-0; 29 - J Ryan penalty, 10-3; 35 - Adams penalty, 13-3. 40 - J Kellett try, Adams conversion, 20-3; 48 - Kellett try, Adams conversion, 27-3; 54 - M Byrne try, 27-8; 68 - K Ellis try, 32-8.
Mount Temple: S Cairns; K O'Mahony, P Delaney, D Handcock, M Adams; J Moore, D Thunder; J Kellett, G Mercer, K Ellis, I Graydon, J Miller, N O'Carroll, J Fitzachary, G Kelly. Replace- ments: R Mullins for Miller (17 mins). Temporary replacement: A Lordan for Moore (34 mins).
De La Salle, Skerries: A McGuinness; C Ryan, F Glennon, P O'Sullivan, M Byrne; J Ryan, J Reid; N Walsh, S Boylan, J Garrigan, B Byrne, R Keane, R Connolly, N Bolger, E Grundy.
Referee: C Brannigan (ARLB).
