Terenure gradually wore down Roscrea to progress to the Bank of Ireland Leinster Schools Junior Cup quarter-final at Donnybrook on Wednesday.
It didn’t look good for Terenure in the first quarter.
Roscrea were almost in for the opening try off the back of lock Lucas Culliton’s lineout take, the close-in carry of Luke Rigney and the quick shift right where full-back Diarmaid Kilgallon knocked on in the act of placing the ball.
Terenure survived a driving maul and found relief from two penalties. They just couldn’t move beyond halfway.
Roscrea were mixing their game well without the arrowhead in attack outside of Rigney.
Eventually, the pressure told when ‘Nure infringed at a ruck and William Foley made it 3-0 in the 12th minute.
When the Dubliners finally managed to secure the ball, their full-back Matthew McGetrick took off for 50 metres and the organisation in attack, thereafter, ended with hooker Levi Vaughan crashing to the line.
Out-half George Morgan converted from the left for 7-3 in the 17th minute.
They could not defend the restart and then Culliton stole a lineout for the type of front-foot ball that Rigney turned to gold by powering through three tackles to recover the lead.
It was turning into a tit-for-tat exercise. Well, almost. Terenure centre Alex Dempsey dropped the ball with the line in sight.
Where he could not hold on, McGetrick succeeded in brushing off defenders for 12-8 in the 24th minute.
The second-half began with a stunning break out from Roscrea flanker Darragh Loughnane, carried on by Gavin Meagher to put them within striking distance. But, they needlessly went off their feet to release the pressure on ‘Nure. They weren’t so generous the next time they came calling.
Flanker Meagher gathered in the lineout. Ben Murphy shot through the middle and stepped his way towards the line where Fiachra Murphy picked and placed for a try converted by Foley for 15-12 in the 34th minute.
The lead didn’t last long.
Once Terenure put their phases together, the Roscrea defence was stretched to breaking point and number eight Sean Daly was there to plunge over for five.
McGetrick converted to make it 19-15 in the 44th minute.
The bodies started to fall from cramp and Terenure centre Alex Dempsey’s long, tumbling kick put them in the right area of the pitch.
Somehow Meagher wrestled the ball free to find an escape route for Roscrea when a try looked on from a strike against the head.
It delayed the inevitable as hooker Vaughan sprang into action for his second try and full-back McGetrick’s extras stretched the lead to 26-15 in the 53rd minute
They came hard straight away for McGetrick to fly to the left corner in what was the sealer and Vaughan completed his hat-trick in injury-time.
At Donnybrook – TERENURE COLLEGE 36 (L Vaughan 3 tries; M McGetrick 2 tries, 2 cons; S Daly try; G Morgan con); CISTERCIAN COLLEGE, ROSCREA 15 (L Rigney, F Murphy try each; W Foley pen, con).
TERENURE COLLEGE 36 CISTERCIAN COLLEGE ROSCREA 15
Terenure: Matthew McGetrick; Dan Byrne, Ross McInnes, Alex Dempsey, Eoin Molloy; George Morgan (capt), Brishan O’Brien; Adam Byrne, Levi Vaughan, Sam McCoy, Aaron Deegan, Jack Townsend, Ben Vaughan, Jack Cooke, Sean Daly.
Replacements: Seamus Noone for Molloy 44 mins; Adam Dunne for McCoy 47 mins; Charlie Harpur for Daly 48 mins; Conor Lowe for Byrne, Conor Neill for McGetrick, Luke McNamara for McInnes, Josh Keegan for B Vaughan all 56 mins.
Roscrea: Diarmaid Kilgallon; Sean Brien, Ben Murphy, Fiachra Murphy, Dylan Keane; William Foley, Jack Matthews; Shane Connolly, Oisin McCloskey, Jeremiah Cahir, Lucas Culliton, Sean Clancy, Gavin Meagher, Darragh Loughnane, Luke Rigney (capt).
Replacements: Dan Cronin for Kilgallon 5 mins; Michael Carroll for Connolly 49 mins; Carlos Griffin for F Murphy 58 mins; Manus Heenan for Cronin 59 mins.
Referee: Brian MacNiece, Leinster Branch.
