Naas CBS ... 3 St Gerard's ... 3Naas CBS and St Gerard's will have to do it all again after their Leinster Junior Cup clash ended all square at Wanderers RFC ground at Merrion Road yesterday.
It was the quintessential game of two halves. Naas dominated the opening period after taking an early lead through a Colin O'Brien penalty and should have been out of sight by half-time. St Gerard's, however, rallied in the second half and went close to snatching victory at the death.
O'Brien kicked a fine penalty after just two minutes to get Naas - in their first Junior Cup season - off to a flying start, and their inexperience in this competition proved a moot point in the opening 35 minutes as only a series of desperate clearances by St Gerard's meant they didn't fall well behind.
But the Bray school were a changed side in the second half with Kyle Tonetti kicking a penalty midway through the half after missing one earlier in the game, and although Michael Skelton will be annoyed that he missed a game-winning penalty for Naas, the outhalf made up for it with a fine match-saving tackle to deny the St Gerard's forward, Darragh Byrne, a try.
NAAS CBS: Whelan; Higgins, Bennett, Young, Burkey; Skelton, O'Brien; Brosnan, Ryan, Moore, Murphy, O'Hara, McDonnell, Hughes, Denvir.
ST GERARD'S: Campbell; Doherty, Nelson, Duffy, Deveney; Tonetti, Henry; Byrne, Mitton, Kinsella, Sinagoga, Flanagan, Whelan, Rosnstock, Wojnar.
