The final three matches of the Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Junior Cup first-round took place on Friday afternoon.

Belvedere, Castleknock and St Gerard’s completed the eight schools that qualified for the quarter-final draw.

Belvedere College 31 Wesley College 0.

The sheer size and power of Belvedere paved the way for their passage into the quarter-final at Energia Park.

Wesley’s energy to stand toe-to-toe was illustrated by captain Isaac Reid, flanker Thibault Campbell and centre Ruairi Fox attitude.

However, the big Belvedere forwards set the tone, establishing a stranglehold through the maul which splintered Wesley for Alex Clarke to touchdown in the tenth minute.

Wes’ did what they could to break the mould, full-back Max Colbert threatening on limited opportunities

The momentum generated by prop Conor Quinn and number eight Harry Goslin was difficult to contain, the second maul making its way home for Lorcan Butler in the same corner, out-half Johnny Garrihy landing the conversion in the 23rd minute.

It was more of the same from the forwards as they came straight and hard for hooker Butler to cross for a 17-point lead at the break.

It wasn’t long before Belvedere stepped on the gas, the big boys travelling through the fringes for Goslin to reach for the line, Garrihy converting in the 33rd minute

In fairness, Wes’ fought the good fight, posing problems of their own through prop Tom Burke and lock Charlie Simmons before Rory O’Farrell shot clear of chasers on the left for the fifth try, converted by Garrihy.

The Ballinteer school moved on quickly from the latest setback to finish strongly, the final whistle sounding as they were held up over the line.

Scorers – Belvedere – L Butler 2 tries; H Goslin, A Clarke, R O’Farrell try each; J Garrihy 3 cons.

Belvedere – Jack Craig Coghlan; David Barr, Dylan Lord, Paul Dunne, Rory O’Farrell; Johnny Garrihy, Charlie Callaghan; Conor Quinn, Lorcan Butler, Ryan Grant, James Travers, Shaun Mitchell, Billy Ball, Alex Clarke (Capt), Harry Goslin.

Replacements – Michael Barnes, Eugene Isong, Michael Duke, Oisin Folan, Marcus McCarthy, Charles Dowse, Senan Vahey, Derek Keeling

Wesley – Max Colbert; Evan Macken, Matthew Wystepek, Ruairi Fox, Alex Hamilton; Johnny Woods, Alexander Casey; Evan Caddow, James Mulhall, Tom Burke, Fachtna Spain, Charlie Simmons, Thibault Campbell, Markbyran Dodds, Isaac Reid (Capt).

Replacements –  Joowon Park, Daniel Fisher, Jack Larkin, Henry Pim, Christian Kelly, Rory Jones, Tommy Cullen, Harry Glennon.

St Vincent’s Castleknock College 39 St Fintan’s High School, Sutton 17

Fancied Castleknock pulled away to a comfortable win over St Fintan’s at Castle Avenue.

The Leinster League winners got better as the game wore on, but not before last year’s Junior Cup semi-finalists came out firing.

St Fintan’s were far from overawed, coming on strong to create more chances than they took as centres Tadhg Young and Sam O’Leary dovetailed well in the midfield.

They used the experience of the likes of out-half Ben Barnes and back-rowers Michael Bolger and Adam Coffey to solid effect to stay close.

The rangy skills of Bolger were particularly evident in the first-half when his try and five points from the boot of Barnes made it 15-10 at the break.

It was looking like a real back-and-forth contest when Barnes lined up a kick early in the second-half to bring the Sutton school to within two points, only for the shot to skip off target.

From there, Castleknock simply took over as out-half Cory O’Connor marshalled his troops well and blindside Johnny Ginnety had many good moments.

Captain Ben O’Toole and wing Jaydon Carroll each completed a hat-trick of tries on what was a day to remember for them.

Scorers – Castleknock – Jaydon Caroll, Ben O’Toole 3 tries each; C O’Connor try; M Brennan 2 cons. St Fintan’s – M Bolger, A Coffey try each; B Barnes pen, 2 cons.

St Vincent’s Castleknock – Brian Caffery; John McKenna, Finn Watt, Matthew Brennan, Jaydon Carroll; Cory O Connor, Hugh Reilly; Alex Babin, PJ Matthews, Brian Fallon, James Mangan, Rian McEntaggart, Johnny Ginnety, Jack O Loughlin, Ben O Toole (Capt).

Replacements – Evan Sload, Tom Costello, Matthew Lee, Ben Keogh, Niall Heffernan, Cathal Byrne, Tom O Ceallaigh, Tom Breheny.

St Fintan’s High School – Fionn Heaney; Alex Gallagher, Tadhg Young, Samuel O’Leary, Fionn MacDonald; Ben Barnes, Oisin Kelly (Capt); Evan Coyne, Luca Macari-Kelly, Keith Bonar, James Nixon, Frank Quinn, Brendan Dillon, Adam Coffey, Michael Bolger.

Replacements – Fionn Cullen, Zachary Newsome, Conor Cogan, Cillian McLaughlin, Conor Wilson, Nicky Sheridan, Eoin Garvey, Shane Hanratty.

St Gerard’s School 7 Pres Bray 3

A penalty try was the decisive factor in St Gerard’s emerging from a low-scoring encounter at Lakeland’s Park.

The strength of the wind meant the pressure was on Pres’ to use it to their advantage to build up a lead, instead striking the front from Liam Mooney’s penalty in the 10th minute.

They were able to win enough ball and make significant ground through captain Mooney and Rory Wrafter without moving the needle on the scoreboard.

Their indiscipline when hot on attack really came back to bite them, turning around with a slender lead.

Inside centre Ronan Kelly was a source of go-forward as St Gerard’s battled back into the game.

Their Matthew Fitzpatrick got through a mountain of work in the pack and they did manage to make a breakthrough when a high tackle on wing Shane Kyne convinced the officials the indiscretion was worthy of a penalty try.

All the same, Pres’ were able to gain enough territory as Alex O’Dowd dominated at the lineout, Mooney making three clean breaks which were only stopped by a swarming cover defence.

Scorers – St Gerard’s – Pen try.  Pres Bray – L Mooney pen.

St Gerard’s – Joseph Orr; Charlie Geelon, Luca Clopin, Ronan Kelly, Shane Kyne; Kyle Harte, Ruairi Phillips; Peter Galligan, Jack McGovern, Samuel Fennelly, Patrick Lawlor, Patrick Hanley (Capt), Seán Costigan, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Finn Rankin.

Replacements – Ciarán Harrington, Joshua Morley, Max Moroney, Harry Dunne, Joshua Byrne, Ciaran O’Brien, Daniel Hogan, Malachy Kenny.

Pres Bray – Simon O’Brien; Joseph Byrne, Liam Mooney (Capt), Matthew McGovern, Shane McDonald; Tiernan Guilfoyle, Luca Nolan; Marcus Murphy, Eoin Croysdill, Harry Graham, Tiernan Lynch, Ronan Hogan, Alex O’Dowd, Max Tully Walsh, Rory Wrafter.

Replacements – Artem Kelly, Adam Brierton, Rhys Pearse, Max Murray Vershoyle, Tiernan Ryan, Daniel Hannon, Ethan O’Neill, Phelim Doyle.