Roscrea forced to get down and dirty

Though they had to get down and dirty in the Donnybrook mud more than they might have expected at one point yesterday, Roscrea duly prevailed to earn their second Leinster Schools Senior Cup semi-final at Lansdowne Road in successive years. Newbridge await them, and on this evidence, Roscrea will know they have a genuine chance of reaching their first final in 58 years.

Hiring a fleet of six coaches for the 80-mile trek is a bit of an imposition for a school, but if Mohammed won't come to the mountain then Roscrea will be happy to move lock stock and barrel twice more.

They have a decent side; indeed, the team ethic prevails to such an extent that it goes against the grain to single out individuals.

The pack's cohesive mauling and rucking technique was arguably the most striking aspect of their play in this quarter-final. Their ability to hit the breakdown in one tightly-knit wave of black and white (more pure black by the end) ensured some quality ball for the ever-probing, sniping figure of scrum-half Shane Connellan.

Credit therefore must in part go to their Kiwi coach, Kevin West, though he'd probably hate taking any public acknowledgment for it. Roscrea do have some individual strings to their bow as well though, and the pack's physical impact was given further leverage by some big performers in Irish under-19 squad member Sean Byrne and Irish schools squad member Patrick McCarthy.

The latter made huge yardage off popped balls, whether promising or not, and Byrne, son of Ned, augmented some striking work around the park with their sole try. Flanker Peter Corcoran added good support play, but all the forwards contributed to the cause; locks David Farrell and Aaron Spring took good line out balls to underline their close-in work.

Aside from Connellan, out-half Cian Begley ran straight, kicked well and tackled huge. Gavin Duffy, another Irish schools squad member, was, predictably, their main weapon with his potent straight running. The support play of David O'Keefe was a lesson for any schools player, while Redmond Barry's good all-round game was underpinned with six kicks from seven.

In an initially tetchy start, each pack struggled to secure their setpiece ball, and though 28 penalties militated against the game's flow, both sides deserve credit for limiting the amount of turnovers and handling errors in the conditions.

With Killian Kennedy kicking for the corners, full back Ian Hopkins opened the scoring for Castleknock with a penalty. Barry failed to level matters with his first penalty, but gradually Roscrea began to turn the screw.

Connellan's blind-side sniping was instrumental in much of their superiority, as Barry pushed them ahead before another break by Connellan saw Duffy find Corcoran in support on his inside. Although he was brilliantly tackled by Hopkins, from the recycled ball Byrne plunged over. Barry's conversion and penalty extended the lead to 16-3 at the interval.

Fair play to Castleknock though. They looked a beaten side at that juncture, but, with the help of some tactical changes, rolled up their sleeves. They deservedly won the second-half and threatened to win the tie for a few moments late on before Roscrea regrouped and saw out the crisis.

Castleknock, after unambitious grubbered restarts had failed to lift the first-half siege, decided to kick deeper on the restarts, shortened their line outs and got numbers to rucks: suddenly they took the game to Roscrea.

Number eight Dermot Grimes led from the front; flanker David Harris harried and hounded; scrum-half Richard Geraghty came into the game, diminutive centre Oisin O'Donovan ducked and went hard at Roscrea, while the defence of the outside three remained flawless whenever Roscrea tried to break out.

Hopkins deservedly cut the deficit with his second penalty. Harris then charged down a Begley line-kick, hacked on and earned a close-range penalty when impeded. From the ensuing tapped ball and maul, Grimes burst over and Philip Guckian converted. Game on.

Worried frowns crept onto the brows of Roscrea's VIP section; Dick Spring did his best Jim Larkin impression as he motioned the suddenly somnolent Roscrea supporters into voice. O'Keefe's brilliant support play helped to awaken team and support alike, and a strong catch and arcing break by Duffy allowed Barry to make it 19-13.

Still they had some defending to do. The Roscrea pack responded to one secondary drive off another close-in tapped penalty by Castleknock with one of their own to earn a relieving scrum. After Barry audaciously broke from his in-goal area, he had the final say with a closing penalty.

And with that, Roscrea mopped their brows and collectively said "phew".

Scoring sequence: 7 mins: Hopkins pen 03; 17: Barry pen 3-3; 25: Barry pen 6-3; 30: Byrne try, Barry con 13-3; 35: Barry pen 16-3; 49: Hopkins pen 16-6; 52: Grimes try, Guckian con 16-13; 58: Barry pen 19-13; 72: Barry pen 22-13.

Roscrea: R Barry; E Fox, G Duffy, D O'Keefe, B Phelan; C Begley, S Connellan; S Byrne, J Phelan (capt), B Hall, D Farrell, A Spring, P Corcoran, P McCarthy, B McCann. Replacements: D Cavanagh for Farrell (55 mins), J Chambers for Hall (66 mins).

Castleknock: I Hopkins; A Lynch, W Stafford (capt), O O'Donovan, C Manning; K Kennedy, R Geraghty; J Lyne, M Lynam-Loane, O Fegan, N Fanning, R MacEntee, P Guckian, D Grimes, D Harris. Replacement: K McCabe for MacEntee (58 mins).

Referee: C Brannigan (Leinster).