St Mary's survive St Michael's

Nothing like the meeting of two heavyweights to pack the crowds and tension into Donnybrook and then produce a game with simply too much at stake to ever dish out more than meagre entertainment.

Still, if St Mary's do progress to the latter stages of the cup, as many predict, they can look back at this second round game and recall the difficulty they had in getting over their first hurdle. For St Michael's, without the quality or depth that St Mary's clearly possess, certainly made a game of it. Neither side were helped by the stubborn wind that swirled aimlessly throughout the game, causing all sorts of problems for the place-kicking and particularly that of St Michael's captain Simon Byrne. It favoured St Mary's in the first half and allowed them to build up a 10 points lead that survived the St Michael's response and proved adequate to send them into the third round.

Not that the St Mary's scores came easy. St Michael's kept them stuck around the half-way line for most of the opening quarter-hour, with only Cathal Connolly breaking the deadlock with a superbly struck penalty after nine minutes. The halfbacks of Stephen Hicks and Michael Ryan sparked of mobility, yet for a while at least the running of the St Mary's backs lacked a little conviction.

Even with their superior scrum, St Mary's were finding it hard to break into St Michael's territory. The long boot of Byrne brought them out of danger on a few occasions, but with the performance of Declan Rooney in the lineout, St Michael's were still winning their share of possession.

International back row Shane Jennings was proving increasingly constructive in heightening the St Mary's attack. Just before the half-hour mark, he was involved in a well-worked drive that sent Simon Nagle into a darting run from just outside the 22 metre line. In the perfect position to take the pass, fellow centre Michael Craig was then able to ride a few tackles and drag himself over for the opening try. Connolly had no problem converting.

St Mary's kept that dominance up to half-time, and only through some determined defending from the likes of Ronan Mahon and Jonathan Rockett did St Michael's prevent another score. Now needing a quick response, it was just four minutes after the restart when scrumhalf Robert Gunn provided.

It stemmed from the first of numerous 13-man lineouts by St Michael's, leading to a succession of drives towards the St Mary's line for Gunn to eventually skip over on the blindside to reduce the lead to 10-5.

The conversion by Byrne was always going to be out of reach, sending St Michael's straight back in search of another score. As St Mary's seemed to lose their edge a little, they were forced into one of the more desperate defending periods of the game. David Kilbridge and Ciaran Potts were both crucial in keeping St Michael's out.

As St Mary's recovered, an injury to referee Alain Rolland broke up the momentum of the last five minutes and time quickly ran out for St Michael's.

Scoring sequence: 9 mins: Connolly pen, 30; 27 mins: Craig try, Connolly conversion, 10-0; 39 mins: Gunn try, 10-5.

St Mary's College: R Boyd; C Connolly, M Craig, S Nagle, I O'Herlihy; M Ryan, S Hicks; K Rynhart, D Kilbridge, M Wallis, E Higgins, C Queenan, G O'Brien, C Potts, S Jennings (Capt).

St Michael's College: G Smyth; B Kinsella, F O'Flynn, R Aiken, J Byrne; S Byrne (capt), R Gunn; P Byrne, R Mahon, J Traynor, B McManus, B Hurley, D Cooney, J Rockett, S Rockett.

Referee: A Rolland (ARLB), replaced by A Lewis (65 mins).