CLONGOWES Wood College posted an ominous warning to all pretenders to the Leinster Schools' Senior Cup in their first round six-try annihilation of St Gerard's College at Donnybrook yesterday.

Des Dillon and Irish schoolboy international Peter Callinan formed a towering second row partnership. In front of them, Clongowes' other international schoolboy, prop Shane McCullough, was the cornerstone of a mobile eight. And it was hard not to notice blind side flanker Ian Sheehy's hard-hitting approach.

Sheehy was the only forward to get on the scoresheet when he brushed aside a tackle close-in on 29 minutes. His try sent Clongowes to the break 24-3 ahead. St Gerard's number eight Michael Costigan had kicked their penalty in the seventh minute.

Before Sheehy's contribution, the backs had shown their worth. Full back Gordon D'Arcy, Rory MacEneaney and scrum-half Bobby Quigley were their try scorers. But the strength of this unit lay in their team work.

For their part, St Gerard's were tenacious in the tackle and had quality players in scrum-half Jonathan O'Toole, eager second row Ronan O Duill and flanker Michael Moran. In fact, the Bray team restricted Clongowes to two second-half tries. These came from D'Arcy and late replacement Barry Denham. D'Arcy converted his own try to add to his two successes in the first half.

Late on, Moran's surge was stopped illegitimately and referee Andrew Baird had no option but to award a penalty try which number eight Costigan converted to give St Gerard's some consolation.