Jack Gilheany cwc sct 17 proof1

Clongowes Wood College SCT 2017

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FINTAN’S COME CLOSE TO HISTORIC WIN OVER CLONGOWES IN SENIOR CUP CLASSIC January 31, 2017 Classy St Fintan’s High School fell agonisingly short against Clongowes Wood College in the Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior Cup first round at Donnybrook on Tuesday.

Fintan’s came alive straight away. Centre Darragh Kelly cut a fine line and scrum-half Sean Cribbin exploited space before failing to find his support. Clongowes had an able relief kicker in fly-half Thomas Monaghan and the carrying of number eight Sean McCrohan to make ground without making the pass. The Sutton school patiently used their big forwards for out-half James McCourt to find a fabulous touch deep inside the 22.

Their forwards turned a maul into a scrum and McCourt was close to getting what he wanted from a cross-kick to wing Daniel Achimugu. They were better in their execution the next time they came calling, taking the ball straight before stretching it left for Kelly to reach for the line. Fellow centre Frankie O’Dea’s conversion came back off the left upright to leave it 5-0 in the 14th minute. Props Jack Aungier and Aziz Naser were warming to the task, Aungier steaming through a tackle and offloading superbly. It took the intervention of Clongowes’s John Maher to poach a penalty and the left wing took off for 30 metres to open the way for centre Ben O’Shea to make it 5-3 in the 18th minute.

St Fintan’s went straight back to work, corralling Clongowes for a five-metre scrum and, then, a lineout which they worked around the corner.

McCourt had a pop and spun to find hooker Conor Mahon there to control the ball and ground it for O’Dea to convert for 12-3 in the 24th minute. Number eight Declan Adamson almost followed up but for a try-saving tackle from lock Daniel Beggs.

Clongowes were on the verge of striking back from a magnificent maul until Aungier rescued a penalty at the breakdown.

In the blink of an eye, St Fintan’s were rampaging forward with Aungier prominent. Second row Harry Harrison was stopped just short and flanker Simon Feeney plunged over to make it 17-3 at the break. The Clane school came out transformed, their

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hooker Dan Sheehan handling three times in an attack finished off by full-back Jack Gilheany.

Beggs, Anthony Ryan, San Ojejinmi, Sean McCrohan.

Replacements: Matthew Martin for Ojejinmi 10 mins; John Timmins for Slattery 50 mins; Charles Gallen for Daly, Joe Carroll for O’Brien both 61 mins.

Referee: Andrew Cole, Leinster Branch.

CLONGOWES SURVIVE ST MARY’S COMEBACK TO ADVANCE TO SENIOR CUP SEMI-FINALS February 14, 2017

O’Shea’s conversion from the left made it 17-10 in the 39th minute. It should have been game on. Instead, straight away, Aungier blocked down Conrad Daly at the base of a ruck to control the ball and pounce for a stunning try. They quickly lost centre Kelly to the bin and Clongowes captain Sean McCrohan surged to the posts for O’Shea to make it a five-point game.

An electric counter from wing Maher, neutralised by superb defence from Conor Moore, put Clongowes in position to camp inside the five-metre zone. Eventually, they worked the opening for Monaghan to scythe through and for O’Shea’s conversion to take the lead for the first time in the 55th minute.

St Fintan’s conjured an instant response from fly-half McCourt’s slicing movement for yet another fine try. O’Dea’s extras made it 29-24 in the 56th minute. The to-and-fro continued at a hectic gallop, Clongowes wing Reinis Lemess finding space and Matthew Martin getting held up over the line.

Then, Kelly was sent off for his second yellow and Clongowes marched forward for Martin to claim the try converted by O’Shea in the shadow of the posts.

Try Clongowes! Heartbreak for St Fintan’s as Matthew Martin dives over for the try, converted by O’Shea.

It all came down to St Fintan’s character to find a final chance but O’Dea’s fine penalty effort fell just short of the posts.

Clongowes Wood College 31 St Fintan’s High School 29 At Donnybrook – CLONGOWES WOOD COLLEGE 31 (M Martin, T Monaghan, S McCrohan, J Gilheany try each; B O’Shea pen, 4 cons); ST FINTAN’S, HIGH SCHOOL 29 (S Feeney, D Kelly, C Mahon, J Aungier, J McCourt try each; F O’Dea 2 cons).

Clongowes: Jack Gilheany; Reinis Lemess, Tim O’Brien, Ben O’Shea, John Maher; Thomas Monaghan, Conrad Daly; Daragh Slattery, Dan Sheehan, Ronan Hannon, Patrick Celebi, Daniel

Clongowes Wood College just about survived a second-half comeback from St Mary’s College to make it through to the Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior Cup semi-finals.

Clongowes showed no less than five changes to their pack from the first round and one at scrum-half where Joseph Murphy came in for Conrad Daly. St Mary’s flanker Harry McSweeney set the tone with a spectacular take from the kick-off. Their outhalf Tom Murray launched a long ball forward to put full-back Jack Gilheany in a spot of bother. Clongowes failed to clear the danger and conceded a penalty in the process for wing Ruairi Shields to miss from the right. A high tackle by Sean Heeran on scrum-half Murphy handed the Clane school position for flanker David Jeffares to sneak over from short range. Centre Ben O’Shea converted for 7-0 in the eighth minute. Flanker McSweeney was onto the restart again and St Mary’s drove hard until wing Shields was bottled up in midfield. The next time the Rathmines nursery made an incision through centre Craig Kennedy. It caused Clongowes captain Sean McCrohan to play a man without the ball, sanctioned by a yellow card. St Mary’s had seven minutes to make good on their one-man advantage. They couldn’t do it. The number of mistakes and penalties began to rise as the unkind weather made it more difficult to recycle clean ball. Second row Matthew Martin pinched a lineout to trigger a move in which right wing Reinis Lemess had to be taken down by St Mary’s full-back Eamonn Byrne. It took a superb in-to-out line by lock Martin and inside ball for McCrohan to almost make the line.

The ball was cleaned for out-half Thomas Monaghan to find O’Shea plunging for the second try before the centre’s conversion made it 14-0 in the 28th minute. It was far from one-sided as St Mary’s Niall McEniff took off up the left and the Clongowes defence creaked when Murray couldn’t find McSweeney with a short ball. When McEniff looked like a threat on his next carry, Monaghan wrestled the ball away.

This was their downfall. They got into position without getting over the line. The second period began with Clongowes looking to add to their lead. A sharp line by flanker Jeffares got it rolling, captain McCrohan twice involved in punching the ball up and Martin completing the job for O’Shea to add the extras.

It was a mountainous climb from there for St Mary’s. However, centre Myles Carey gave them life with a stunning individual try, stepping inside two defenders and accelerating to the line for Shields to make it 21-7 in the 46th minute. Then, wing replacement Alex Dix and full-back Byrne made serious gains to take St Mary’s to the brink. They did what they couldn’t earlier by applying accuracy for Byrne to fly through a hole.

Shields converted to narrow the gap down to seven points in the 54th minute. Centre Craig Kennedy took Murray’s neat chip on the full to test Gilheany’s one-on-one tackling.

The purple and whites resorted to banging the ball long in what was a sign of nervous tension creeping in their game.

Even so, from one such ball lofted by scrum-half Murphy, they ensnared Shields, who failed to release in the tackle, for O’Shea to strike from the right for the safety net score.

The final Senior Cup quarter-final match takes place on Wednesday at 3pm in Donnybrook Stadium when Cistercian College, Roscrea face Gonzaga College.

Clongowes Wood College 24 St Mary’s College 14 At Donnybrook – CLONGOWES WOOD COLLEGE 24 (B O’Shea try, pen, 3 cons; D Jeffares, M Martin try); ST MARY’S COLLEGE 14 (M Carry, E Byrne try each; R Shields 2 cons).

Clongowes: Jack Gilheany; Reinis Lemess, Tim O’Brien, Ben O’Shea, John Maher; Thomas Monaghan, Joseph Murphy; John Timmins, Dan Sheehan, Arthur Odlum, Sean Phelan, Matthew Martin, David Jeffares, Anthony Ryan, Sean McCrohan.

Replacements: Patrick Celebi for Phelan, Tom Coghlan for Jeffares, Joe Carroll for O’Brien both 50 mins; Connel Kennelly for Maher 69 mins.

at Donnybrook on Monday.

Clongowes had to get everything right to be there at the final minute of the 70. They started out by looking to the sky in the cold, wet conditions through scrum-half Joe Murphy’s high ball. This was met with Belvedere’s confidence on the ball and their scrum-half Paraic Cagney angling a kick into the corner.

Clongowes right wing Reiness Lemess was penalised for pushing Cagney. But, Hugh O’Sullivan’s kick from the left was taken by the wind. There was a premium placed on skills, the box kicking of Clongowes nine Murphy landing maximum pressure into the hands of the receiver. It took an athletic lineout steal to put Belvo on the front-foot, their driving game around the fringes sucking in defenders for out-half David Hawkshaw to slip the ball to Jordan Wilkes for the left wing to shoot through a gap for the opening try. O’Sullivan converted for 7-0 in the 12th minute. They came again immediately from Ruadhan Byron’s blast through the middle of a ruck to feed O’Sullivan, eventually requiring a tackle from centre Ben O’Shea to sort it out. Clongowes were not able to escape their own half and a switch move in midfield found centre Cian Walsh flying into space. Second row Sean Phelan was harshly whistled for a noarms tackle on Byron for O’Sullivan to make it a 10-point game in the 21st minute. The Clane school almost found a way back into the game when number eight Sean McCrohan executed a blockdown without claiming the loose ball.

BELVEDERE DEFEAT CLONGOWES TO REACH SENIOR CUP FINAL March 6, 2017 Read the match report from the Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior Cup semi-final between Belvedere College and Clongowes Wood College.

Belvedere kept alive the dream of back-to-back Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Senior Cup crowns in qualifying for the final

They gained ground from John Maher’s counter and out-half Tom Monaghan’s angled ball. When they got a sniff, they took it from a lineout taken in by McCrohan for Murphy to send

O’Shea into an alarmingly large gap for a try to halve the difference to 10-5 in the 29th minute. It was just what they needed as prop John Timmins and McCrohan charged up the right. The offload stuck from Monaghan to hooker Dan Sheehan to create danger, snuffed out by Byron before the half came to a close.

Belvedere began with the clear intent of holding onto the ball.

It took the instinct of Monaghan to snatch it away in open play.

The Great Denmark school resorted to the maul to draw two penalties which were undone by a wayward lineout.

The match was taking place between the 22-metre lines, Belvo moving forward, Clongowes absorbing pressure to earn penalties. Monaghan almost put McCrohan into the green zone in building their game until a knock-on ruined their attack.

Belvedere ran the ball back for replacement Sam Barry to make headway down the left. From there, they were clinical in going to the pick-and-jam for lock Oran O’Brien to drive for the line.

O’Sullivan kicked two for 17-5 in the 50th minute.

Clongowes had to strike back quickly. Replacement Patrick Celebi tore down the left for the momentum which Byron took away by ripping the ball out of the tackle. A tumbling kick forward by Cagney forced O’Shea into a rescue mission.

Belvo were still in position until hooker Sheehan turned over the maul and his loose-head John Timmins poached a penalty at ruck time. All the while, the clock was moving on and Clongowes weren’t moving forward. They spent more time than they wanted defending on the fringes. The counter of Lemess and carries of McCrohan and Murphy changed that ahead of sustained pressure that ended with Murphy’s reach for the line.

Centre O’Shea converted for 17-12 with three minutes left on the clock. There was still time. But, Belvedere kept their cool, and won the right to defend their title in the RDS Arena on St Patrick’s Day. Belvedere College 17 Clongowes Wood College 12 At Donnybrook – BELVEDERE COLLEGE 17 (J Wilkes, O O’Brien try each; H O’Sullivan pen, 2 cons); CLONGOWES WOOD COLLEGE 12 (B O’Shea try, con; J Murphy try).

Clongowes: Jack Gilheany; Reinis Lemess, Joe Carroll, Ben O’Shea, John Maher; Tom Monaghan, Joe Murphy; John Timmins, Dan Sheehan, Arthur Odlum, Sean Phelan, Matthew Martin, David Jeffares, Anthony Ryan, Sean McCrohan (capt).

Replacements: Tom Coghlan for Ryan 6 mins; Conrad Daly for Murphy 33 mins – temp; Patrick Celebi for Phelan 50 mins; Charles Gallen for Gilheany 56 mins.

Referee: Dermot Blake, Leinster Branch.

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Clongowes Wood College SCT 2017 Dan Sheehan, Arthur Odlum, Cathal Duff, Andrew Kelly, Fiachra Lynch, Harry O’Neill, Ronan Hannon, Patrick Celebi, Sean Phelan, David Jeffares, Daniel Beggs, Jonathan Nally, Conrad Daly, Jake Martin, Christian Casey, Ben Messayeh, Barry Doyle, Shane Hogan, Dan Fitzpatrick, David Murtagh, Liam Callanan, Joseph Gilmartin, Tadgh Dooley, Sean McMahon, Sean McCrohan, Jack Moore (Captain), Patrick Nulty, Florence McCarthy, Ed Carroll, Joseph Martin, Gareth Graham, Gavin Dowling, Joe Murphy, Thomas Monaghan, Reinis Lemess, Patrick Delap, Brian Maher, Miles O’Connor, Jack Gilheney, Michael Stapleton, Liam El Sibai, Michael Silvester, Ben O’Shea, Connell Kennelly gpfoto

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