The Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Father Godfrey Cup Quarter-Finals were back on the menu this week with one match played on Wednesday and three on Thursday.

Temple Carrig 39 St Patrick’s Classical School, Navan 36
The competition saved the best for first when Temple Carrig Grammar School came out on top in a terrific back-and-forth tussle with St Patrick’s Navan on Wednesday.

Scrum-half Caelan O’Callaghan-Albiati and Corey O’Brien were outgunned three tries-to-two by Billy Birmingham (2) and James Donnelly as the Navan nursery took a 26-19 lead to the break.

Temple Carrig made their move in the third quarter to punch in four unanswered tries from O’Brien, number eight Ben Griffiths, full-back Marco Romeral-Roe and lock Lucas O’Gorman to take a 36-31 lead in the 49th minute.

Far from done, St Pat’s conjured up a try by Aran Carey to reduce the difference before centre O’Brien slotted a penalty.

The two-score lead was crucial in the end as Jamie Keane’s last-minute unconverted try was not quite good enough.

SCORERS
Temple Carrig – C O’Brien 2 tries, pen, 3 cons; C O’Callaghan-Albiati, B Griffiths, M Romeral-Roe, L O’Gorman try each
St Patrick’s – B Birmingham 2 tries; J Donnelly try, 3 cons; D O’Bric, A Carey, J Keane try each.

CBS Naas 24 Tullow Community College 15
CBS Naas got in front and stayed there to make the final four at the expense of tenacious Tullow in a double-header at Energia Park on Thursday.

The Kildare boys didn’t waste any time, moving into a 14-point lead from tries by centre Matthew Costello and number eight Oisin Brien, both converted by centre Darragh Culligan.

Tullow weren’t about to accept their fate, rebounding for unconverted touchdowns from number eight Sennan Keating and full-back Aaron Dowling for 14-10 at the break.

Once again, Naas put the foot on the gas, out-half Cian McKevitt and wing Philip Brannigan recreating the 14-point gap.

The industry of centre Daire Byrne, lock Robbie Murphy and flanker Darragh Corcoran ensured the Carlow school kept coming for Rueben Capota to grab their third try.

SCORERS
Naas – M Costello, O Brien, C McKevitt, P Brannigan try each; D Culligan 2 cons.
Tullow – S Keating, A Dowling, R Capota try each.

Presentation College, Bray 45 Wilson’s Hospital 0
A polished Pres Bray had far too many weapons for Wilson’s Hospital at Energia Park.

It didn’t take Pres’ long to exert their superiority, prop Harry Graham, wing Shane McDonald (2), full-back Simon O’Brien, number eight Rory Wrafter and captain Liam Mooney all going over to establish a 38-point advantage at the interval.

Wilson’s captain Shane McGuigan was head and shoulders above on both sides of the ball.

Fellow forwards Mark Glynn, at hooker, and flanker Lochlann O’Reilly fought the good fight, while centre Marc Davis had his moments too.

The Westmeath school made a stronger fist of it in the second-half, conceding just one more try to Wrafter.

SCORERS
Pres Bray – S McDonald, R Wrafter 2 tries each; L Mooney try, 5 cons; H Graham, S O’Brien try each.

St Fintan’s High School 52 Ardscoil na Trionoide 19
Fionn MacDonald struck for a hat-trick of tries as St Fintan’s eased into the semi-finals.

It was all one-way traffic in the first period as prop Keith Boner, wing MacDonald (2) and number eight Michael Bolger (2) all claimed tries in building a 31-0 lead.

Ardscoil had enough about them to hit back quickly into the second-half through their best player Ronan Kelly.

The hard work of Athy’s lock Robbie Murphy and cool head of out-half Daniel Henry didn’t go unnoticed as wing Callum Hennessy-McElroy and centre Kelly broke for tries, full-back Senan Coffey converting two out of three.

MacDonald completed his three, Alex Gallagher chipped in with one and Ben Barnes the eighth try to go beside his six conversions.

SCORERS
St. Fintan’s – F MacDonald 3 tries; M Bolger 2 tries; B Barnes try, 6 cons; K Bonar, A Gallagher try each.
Ardscoil – R Kelly 2 tries; C Hennessy-McIlroy try; S Coffey 2 cons.