It will be Blackrock and St Michael’s who will meet in the Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Junior Cup final.

The Williamstown school have won the last three and St Michael’s will head into their seventh final in ten years.
 
Their problem is that they have only managed to make the summit and plant their flag once back in 2012.
 
Blackrock made multiple changes late into the build up as they lost lock Cian Duffy, prop Donal McKeon and scrum-half Stephen Dunne to trigger three alterations.
 
This didn’t seem to bother them too much as Sean O’Brien, Liam Marshall and Chris Rolland fitted seamlessly into their patterns.    
 
The power of the ‘Rock pack is a good starting point for what makes this edition a force for any final.


 
The groundwork was there for nippy Rolland, who found the hard-charging prop Luke Mion to put a try-scoring hole in the Belvedere defence.       
 
The conversion came from out-half David Fitzgibbon in the eighth minute.
 
This did not trigger the opening of the floodgates as Belvedere’s eight showed they were not there to be bullied as number eight Aaron Coleman and hooker Andrew Synnott led the revolt.
 
Centre Cailean Mulvaney steadied the ship from a penalty for offside in the 13th minute.
 
There was plenty to like about the way Belvedere went about their task, obviously buoyed from what their seniors did to Blackrock in the quarter-final.
 
There was a build of pressure that had Mulvaney testing the defensive line and ‘Rock even lost their towering number eight Ed Brennan to the bin.
 
It was difficult to detect any cave-in in attitude when Fitzgibbon’s penalty made it 10-3 at the interval.


 
The next score would be important.
 
It came in clinical fashion from Blackrock’s attack down the left in which full-back Ross Barron was the gas man to glide into the left corner.
 
Fitzgibbon’s exquisite conversion from the touchline turned a hill into a mountain for Belvedere at 17-3 in the 33rd minute.
 
Once again, Belvedere were not for turning away from their mission and they came with intent for Mulvaney to strike three points in the 38th minute.
 
It was then Blackrock made their dominance tell in emphatic fashion when Mion carried the ball forward and openside Jack Loscher was the man on hand to burst over for the definitive try in the 40th minute.       
 
There was an inevitable conclusion from there as the reinforcements arrived to either defend the lead or try in desperation to bridge the gap.
 
Belvo’ had to push the passes with whatever ball they could muster, even losing their captain John Meagher in the 53rd minute as the holders kept the foot on the accelerator well enough for second row John Corless to crash through a tiring defence for Fitzgibbon to make it four out of four conversions.
 
Fresh from his time in the bin, Brennan was going strong enough at the end to finish off the fifth try in the last minute forreplacement Charlei Reilly to land the final two points.  

The Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Junior Cup Final between Blackrock College and Belvedere College will take place on Wednesday the 16th of March in Donnybrook Stadium, KO3pm.
 
At Donnybrook – Blackrock College 38 (L Mion, R Barron, J Loscher, J Corless, E Brennan try each; D Fitzgibbon pen, 4 cons; C Reilly con); Belvedere College 6 (C Mulvaney 2 pens).
 
Blackrock: Ross Barron; Niall Comerford, Tim D’Arcy, Gavin Jones (capt), Ben White; David Fitzgibbon, Christopher Rolland; Liam Marshall, Ben Wallace, Luke Mion, Sean O’Brien, John Corless, Matthew Flynn, Jack Loscher, Ed Brennan.
 
Replacements: Cameron O’Neill for O’Brien 45 mins; Tom Handrick 47 mins; Stephen Dunne for Rolland 51 mins; Charlie Reilly for Fitzgibbon, Killian McQuaid for Wallace both 53 mins; Richard O’Farrell for Barron, Evan Duffy for Mion, Mark Morrissey for Corless all 58 mins.
 
Belvedere: Rory Dwyer; Cian Rogers, Adam Feely, Cailean Mulvaney, Rory Doran; John Meagher (capt), Patrick Lysaght; Conor Cagney, Andrew Synnott, James O’Sullivan, Adam Maher, Alekseiy Soroka, Donnacha Donnelly, Cian Maher, Aaron Coleman.
 
Replacements: Matuesz Galinski for O’Sullivan 33 mins; Matthew Grogan for Rogers, Cian Fitzgerald for Soroka both 39 mins; Brian O’Leary for Meagher, Conall Kehoe for Maher both 53 mins; Jack MacNeice for Lysaght 57 mins; Jordan Cahill for Synnott, Cillian Cosgrave for Maher both 58 mins.