Cistercian College, Roscrea qualified to meet Castleknock College in the Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Junior League Final through a dramatic come-from-behind win over Temple Carrig at Donnybrook Stadium on Thursday.

The eventual winners made healthy headway early on to apply pressure which earned a penalty for out-half Dylan Keane to shoot them in front in the fifth minute.

That was as good as it got for them for a while.

Temple out-half Thade Shanahan made an incision through the middle that had to be tidied up by Roscrea full-back Sam Murphy for the concession of a five-metre scrum.

This played into the hands of number eight Conor Fulham who picked and drove to the line for a change of lead in the 12th-minute.

The Greystones school’s left wing Eoin O’Neill looked built for speed and it took a fingertip tackle from Blaine Barry to persuade him into touch.

The warning was not fully heeded, O’Neill flying to the left corner the next time he got his paws on the ball in the 16th minute.

Temple’s confidence was up. They were making their tackles when they had to and taking ground when it was given to them, their lock James McCormack crashing over for out-half Shanahan to convert for 17-3 in the 24th-minute.

They just kept coming in waves and their superior organisation put players in position to do damage, centre Alex Daly’s footwork and Sean Lloyd’s finish taking Temple out to 24-3 in the 27th-minute.

Roscrea needed some kind of encouragement and they found it from a bump-and-run from prop Adam Kennedy and a follow-up charge by centre Harry Kenny.

Their out-half Dylan Keane squeezed out enough yards from a penalty to create a lineout from hooker Ryan Moran that turned into an unstoppable maul for lock James Dunne to claim their first try for 24-8 at the break.

The Offaly school would have to have the next score, preferably a try, to make it interesting.

When captain Keane launched a penalty into the 22, they went to the maul again for fully 10 metres.

The ball was moved left for centre Kenny’s offload to create the gap for Murphy to take five points in the 37th-minute.

However, the athleticism of Fulham enabled the number eight to field the kick-off and pound out a path to the line for an incredible individual try for 29-13 in the 39th-minute.

Back came Keane for a scything break and the out-half had the presence of mind to go for the quick tap when a penalty was called for an opportunistic try which he converted in the 43rd-minute.

They processed turnover ball into their fourth try when Kenny was involved again in moving the ball into the hands of speedster Jack Ormond for a scintillating score.

Suddenly, it was a four-point game and Roscrea were cranking up the pressure and the amount of time on the ball.

They looked to the maul again and, when that miscued, they had the composure to go left for Ormond to grab his second try and Keane converted for the last act of a thriller.

At Donnybrook – Cistercian College, Roscrea 32 (D Keane try, pen, 2 cons; J Ormond 2 tries; J Dunne, S Murphy try each); Temple Carrig 29 (C Fulham 2 tries; J McCormack, S Lloyd, E O’Neill try each; T Shanahan 2 cons)

Cistercian College, Roscrea: Sam Murphy; Blaine Barry, Cillian Lawlor, Harry Kenny, Jack Ormond; Dylan Keane (capt), Eoghan Matthews; Patrick O’Connor, Ryan Moran, Adam Kennedy, Jim Byrne, James Dunne, Jarlath Connolly, Willie Conroy, Sean Frawley.

Temple Carrrig: Joe Prendergast, Colm Condon (Jack O’Sullivan 55), Sean Lloyd, Alex Daly, Eoin O’Neill; Thade Shanahan, Luke Dorgan; Noah Baker, Max Scully, Steven Salmon, Max Homan, Gerard Zdunek (capt), James McCormack, Cameron O’Hara, Conor Fulham.

Referee: Fiona Mallen, Leinster Branch