THE odds against Belvedere College, regaining their Leinster Schools' Junior Cup crown were severely shortened after a terrific show against Clongowes Wood College in the second round at Donnybrook yesterday.

Granted, the flair that took Belvedere to victory at Lansdowne Road in 1994 was not so much in abundance. Nonetheless there was still much to admire about their performance.

That was as much down to Clongowes, who let themselves down badly in the scrums. But they could at least content themselves in the end with the score of the game when right wing Edwin Rowan left a trail of players in his wake to go over for a memorable if somewhat late try in the corner.

Clongowes' first attack gave them their opening score, with number eight Bourke making the most of an easy kicking opportunity. Niall Murray levelled proceedings after 11 minutes.

A few moments later Murray was successful again, and at that stage it was end to end stuff. With seven minutes to go in the first hall, Belvedere struck the real blow of the game when wing forward Ken Lloyd charged over for a try following a tap penalty from 10 yards out. Murray converted.

But two penalties before the interval by Bourke kept Clongowes well in contention, and with Murray twice failing to find the target it was still anybody's game.

The full back unwittingly settled the issue in the 52nd minute when his third kick of the half came down off the posts, throwing Clongowes completely off guard. And from a resultant ruck, Belvedere centre Brian O'Malley found the gap to go over with a dazzling diagonal run to the left corner.

This time Murray made no mistake with the conversion.