Predicting a winner in yesterday's Leinster Schools Junior Cup tie played at Donnybrook proved something of a tricky task. In an extremely close affair played before a 2,000-strong crowd, a draw seemed the most likely outcome, with full time fast approaching.
But then, deep into stoppage time, with both sides locked on six points apiece, Terenure's Conal Keaney made a telling run through the middle, with a scrum under the Clongowes post the result.
Half-back Paul Coleman then fed the ball out wide to wing forward David Page, who made the extra few yards over the line for the match-winning score which out-half, David McAllister, converted.
The opening exchanges saw Terenure marginally ahead in the scoring stakes with a McAllister penalty and a dropped goal by centre Killian O'Toole countering Conor Mathews' 20th-minute effort to leave it 6-3 at the break to Terenure. Mathews then levelled proceedings on 36 minutes.
Clongowes, though, were starting to win the battle up front, but two missed kicks in the second half by Mathews were to prove decisive in the end. One piece of good news for Clongowes was that their right wing, Malachy Quinn, was declared safe after suffering a concussion in a tackle shortly before the break.
