Blackrock stage a late show of superiority

To say Blackrock were fortunate would be to stretch the truth and to declare St Michael's were easily beaten would be a fallacy. As the two south Dublin neighbours met in the first round of the Leinster Schools' Senior Cup at Donnybrook yesterday, Blackrock rode their luck early in the match before coming back with a strong second-half performance to claim the win they deserved.

St Michael's, short three of their regular front eight, bared their teeth early in the contest taking a 3-0 lead as out-half Simon Byrne had a second bite when his first penalty of the match hit the upright and bounced back into scrum-half Alan Keogh's hands.

The recycled ball allowed Byrne a more simple effort for the first score on 14 minutes as Blackrock dived offside before a more costly kick conceded in front of goal just five minutes later.

But it was the composed Byrne again who landed a sweet drop goal from outside the Blackrock 22 after 27 minutes to give his side a 6-0 advantage in St Michael's strongest phase of the game. Their support play was more vigorous, the front eight arrived as a unit to the broken play and in truth the favourites found themselves under sustained pressure.

The closing stages of the first half saw Blackrock finally find their tempo and just 20 seconds short of half-time, out-half Andrew Frame, accepting the ball from scrum-half John Walsh after an initial drive from captain Tom O'Donohoe, cut through the cover to bring his side to within a point.

A late tackle on left wing Alex Cahill on 45 minutes then allowed fullback Paul Drew to kick well from 30 metres out for Blackrock, at 8-6, to lead for the first time in the match.

From there on it was Blackrock in the ascendant with Drew steady under the high balls lofted by both fullback Fiachra Baynes and Byrne.

Number eight Shane Fallon was dynamic around the field and in the line-outs while captain O'Donohoe, at open-side flanker, was rarely out of the fray for Blackrock.

It was Fallon who initiated the deciding score, charging into the St Michael's line as Blackrock probed the left flank. The recycled ball, worked back to Frame, again afforded the out-half the opportunity to slice in and touch down under the posts for his second try of the game, in the process setting up a simple conversion for Drew.

Scoring sequence: 14 mins: S Byrne penalty, 0-3; 27: Byrne drop goal, 0-6; 35: A Frame try, 5-6; 45: P Drew penalty, 8-6; 62: Frame try, Drew conversion, 15-6.

Blackrock College: P Drew; C Buckley, G Brown, J Ronan, A Cahill; A Frame, J Walsh; P Dowling, D Laide, J Montgomery, J MacGovern, N Walsh, M Cooney, T O'Donohoe (capt), S Fallon. Replacement: R Lacey for Walsh (65 mins).

St Michael's: F Baynes; C Hutton, J McNamara, R Aiken, B Coughlan; S Byrne, A Keogh; G Cleary (capt), R O'Nuaillain, S Rocket, B O'Brien, R Bradshaw, J Byrne, C Norton, A Murphy.

Referee: M Whyte.