Terenure College 9 Clongowes Wood 5:BEATING CLONGOWES Wood College is nearly always about forcing errors and then surviving the inevitable riposte. The road opens up for Terenure now, a route they hope will deliver a first Leinster Schools' Senior Cup title since 2002.
They look most capable of stopping Blackrock who carry that favourites burden into today’s quarter-final against St Michael’s.
The scoreline here suggests a nervy, tight contest, but in truth defence was king, and Clongowes only squeezed over for a consolation try four minutes into injury-time through big replacement prop Ian Prendiville.
That their panicky, last assault only began three minutes from the end of normal time, when captain Robert Timlin barrelled into the welcoming arms of the Terenure backrow, is credit to the control Terenure held over this contest.
The orchestra is conducted by outhalf James Thornton; his cultured right boot dictates the pace of the game and the area in which it is played. Like many before, Clongowes targeted the coach’s son but failed to disrupt his rhythm.
A game of cat and mouse quickly developed between Thornton’s tactical kicking and Gerard Mullen, with Thornton calling the bluff of the talented Clongowes fullback, and a natural instinct to run from deep duly led to some kamikaze counter-attacks that were devoured by Terenure’s airtight defensive structures.
It led directly to Thornton’s second penalty after openside Ciarán Shanahan unburdened the free-running number 15 off the ball after planting him into the barren Donnybrook turf.
Thornton had already clipped over a penalty in the second minute when Clongowes, in possession, were deemed offside.
Mullen, to his credit, came closest to engineering an early Clongowes score, but his break and offload to Daragh Cullen only resulted in a Terenure scrum. This was quickly turned over, however, when flanker Conor Gilsenan blocked Thornton’s clearance.
Gilsenan will be familiar to avid watchers of schools rugby, having guided Clongowes to the Junior Cup last year as a goal-kicking lock. Once Gilsenan fills out, his potential is limitless. Other under-16s from that team included lively outhalf David Quirke (constantly testing the line, he possesses the natural ability to offload out of the tackle) and winger Stephen McCauley, which emphasises the serious batch of teams coming down the pipeline.
Anyway, from the resulting Clongowes five-metre scrum Quirke fed Mullen, but he knocked on in a gang tackle.
Terenure had certainly done their research. After a sustained period of territorial dominance by Clongowes, they eventually lifted the siege thanks to Shanahan’s big hit on Mullen leading to a nine-zip interval lead when hooker David McGuinness was penalised for hands on the deck. It was a fine third strike from the Terenure outhalf.
The outstanding performer, however, was their centre Dominic O’Dowd. Awesome in the tackle, O’Dowd was bottom of a ruck when Quirke cleverly released Harry Kennedy for a 40-metre break, brushing off Adam Clarkin and scrumhalf Kevin O’Neill, before Thornton made the cover tackle that allowed O’Dowd get back to wrap matters up for a clearance.
Terenure had two opportunities to kill off the contest, but winger Conor Kelly fumbled a poor pass with the line in sight, while Thornton spurned a 35-metre penalty in front of the posts.
By the time Prendiville barged over Terenure had been reduced to 14 men as hard-hitting number eight Eoin Joyce was sinbinned.
But from control of the lineout, via twin towers Robert Duke and Cathal Deans, to a polished three-quarter line, they look the part.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 1 mins: J Thornton pen, 3-0; 7: J Thornton pen, 6-0; 35: J Thornton pen, 9-0. Half-time. 74: I Prendiville try, 9-5.
TERENURE COLLEGE: J O’Donoghue; C Kelly, R Williamson, D O’Dowd, H Moore; J Thornton, K O’Neill; P McCormack, S Reid, R Burdock; R Duke (capt), C Deans; A Clarkin, C Shanahan, E Joyce. Replacements: G Douglas for H Moore (26 mins), S Doherty for A Clarkin (56 mins), B Mooney for R Burdock (63 mins), M Hyland for R Williamson (70 mins).
CLONGOWES WOOD COLLEGE: G Mullen; S McCauley, D Cullen, H Kennedy, A Thomson; D Quirke, B Glynn; G Hoban, D McGuinness, J Mannu; A Hoban, S Kennedy; R Timlin (capt), C Gilsenan, J Dilger. Replacements: R Hynes for S Kennedy (h-t), I Prendiville for G Hoban, W Larkin for C Gilsenan (both 58 mins), M Maxwell for H Kennedy (63 mins).
Referee: A Rogan (ARLB).
