St Mary's star in power-packed performance

Victory was as emphatic as the final scoreline suggests: speed of thought, clarity of purpose and basic speed were primary factors in explaining St Mary's College's disregard for the form book at Donnybrook yesterday.

Belvedere College began as marginal favourites, but long before the end, it was only the tenacious tackling of centres Donal Crotty and James Downey that prevented a rout in a hugely-enjoyable opening joust in this season's Leinster Schools' Senior Cup.

The St Mary's pack deserve the plaudits, eight dervishes who appeared to come together in one blue blur, hitting rucks in kamikaze fashion and, through sheer weight of numbers, forcing a litany of turnovers.

None exemplified the creative destruction more than the back-row trio of Louis Burke, Robert Ryan and last year's Junior Cup-winning captain, Shane Jennings: Ryan's work-rate with and without the ball marked him as the game's most effective performer.

Gavin Hickie's bullocking runs and the line-out work of Karl Daly were other components, but the most central contribution, in terms of the scoreboard, was that of left wing Donal Campion, a brother of former Schools' international Fergal, who kicked five penalties, including one glorious strike from two yards inside the Belvedere half.

In contrast, Belvedere, though physically more developed in the tight five, could not compete with dynamism of their opponents, and therefore were deprived of the quality possession which talented out-half Andrew Dunne covets: the Irish Schools' out-half enjoyed a very quiet afternoon.

Damien O'Donoghue worked hard both out of touch and in the loose, and he and Martin Kennedy cut lonely figures in the midst of a blue swarm as Belvedere's collective performance fell very flat.

Mary's began confidently, surging down the touchline, only for a knock-on to negate a promising move. Campion's first penalty on five minutes was a fitting reward for their pressure, but despite dominating large chunks of the half territorially, they met with stout Belvedere resistance.

It was not until Campion's second penalty a minute from the interval that Mary's improved their position. Two further Campion penalties, the second a mammoth effort after Belvedere flanker Andrew Cullen petulantly pushed Paul Madden to the ground off the ball.

Belvedere simply could not exert control long enough to win two phases of play in succession. The closest they came was following a mistake by Campion near his own line when he completely missed the ball in trying to clear to touch: unfortunately for the losers, Daryl Fanagan was unable to profit.

A fine drop goal from Mary's out-half Michael Quinn, son of former Irish international Mick, pre-empted a try from Burke after Darragh Hughes fine break. Campion missed the conversion, but atoned with his fifth penalty on 63 minutes to embellish an excellent team performance.

Despite yesterday's victory, Mary's face an equally-tough hurdle in the second round, if, as expected, they face Newbridge College, winners of the schools' league.

Scoring sequence: 5 mins: Campion penalty (3-0); 34: Campion penalty (6-0); 36: Campion penalty (9-0); 48: Campion penalty (12-0); 53: Quinn drop goal (15-0); 58: Burke try (20-0); 63: Campion penalty (23-0).

St Mary's College: D Hughes; J Norton, K Lewis, C McWeeney, D Campion; M Quinn, P Madden; G Hickie, R Henson (capt), C O'Sullivan; K Daly, P Norton; L Burke, S Jennings, R Ryan.

Belvedere College: N Murray; D Fanagan, D Crotty, J Downey, J Burns; A Dunne (capt), G Kavanagh; C Sheehy, T Forbes, S Brophy; R Moyles, E Cosgrave; M Kennedy, D O'Donoghue, A Cullen. Replace- ments: R O'Loghlen for Forbes, 39 mins; C Kelly for Moyles, 54 mins; B O'Malley for Downey, 56 mins; D Hewitt for Murray, 56 mins.

Referee: A Lewis (Leinster).

Belfast Royal Academy, proud holders of the Ulster Schools' Cup, are out of this year's competition after a fired-up RBAI side ended their dream of back-to-back successes in a thrilling tie on Saturday which they won by 27 points to five.