St Michael's College 30 St Mary's College 0:NUMBER EIGHT Richie Lynch and wing Evan Williams shared the plaudits with a brace of tries each to send St Michael's College past a willing St Mary's College and into the final of the Leinster Schools Junior Cup at Donnybrook yesterday.

The winners had to contend with the late loss of flanker Jack Parsons in the pre-match warm-up. It led to a reshuffle with Ollie Moyles moving into the backrow and Andy Coleman coming into the engine room.

Clearly the confidence of the St Michael’s has rocketed from knocking out red-hot favourites Clongowes Wood in the quarter-final, as they moved away from a policy of containment to express themselves in wonderful style.

The composure of their sturdy outhalf, Rory Kavanagh, was a sight to behold as he controlled the game without a care in the world, despite some wayward place-kicking. Centre Rory O’Loughlin’s break set up good field position for Lynch to show excellent body strength for the opening try in the 16th minute.

It was already looking precarious for St Mary’s despite the sprightly contributions of number eight Conor Sheridan, flanker Stephen Corcoran and centre Cian Delaney. Kavanagh slotted a penalty ahead of Williams’ simple finish out wide for a 15-0 lead at the interval.

The highlight of the second period was Williams’ second try, in the 48th minute, when he took a sharp pass from Kavanagh to beat two tacklers in a 65-metre sprint to the line.

Scrumhalf Bobby Holland, lunging from close to the line, and Lynch, with what appears to be a trademark surge from five metres, closed out the game in emphatic fashion with further tries.

ST MICHAEL’S: C Diamond; C Kelleher, C Fagen, R O’Loughlin, E Williams; R Kavanagh, B Holland (capt); J Barry, G Kelly, H Murray, A Coleman, S Harold, O Moyles, D Leavy, R Lynch. Replacements: K McGowan for Kelleher, D Gibbons for Kelly, M Craig for Moyles (all 44 mins); R Byrne for Diamond (49 mins); J Lawless for Barry, A Comerford for Fagen, C Browne for Holland (all 59 mins).

ST MARY’S: M Reynolds; J O’Mahony, C Delaney, S Maloney, P Fitzpatrick; B Daly, J Blackburn; T Young, R Kernan, E Boyle, L Talbot, N Davis, S Corcoran, S Campion, C Sheridan (capt). Replacements: E Culligan for Davis, C Corcoran for Moloney (both half-time); C Moloney for Blackburn (36 mins); R McPhillips for Corocoran (42 mins); J Hannin for Boyle, M Hayden for Talbot, R Tisdall for Kernan (all 44 mins).

Referee: K Beggs (Leinster Branch).