Derby day as Crescent College & Castletroy face off in Junior Cup Semi Final

Cross town rivals Castletroy and Crescent Comp will lock horns at 2pm tomorrow for a place in this year’s Clayton Hotels Munster Junior Cup Final.

Having been initially scheduled for Thomond Park, the game has been switched to the 4G pitch at the University of Limerick due to recent bad weather in the Treaty City.

Crescent are defending champions and will be looking to secure back to back titles for the first time since 2010 and 2011 and their 8th title in total. The last of Castletroy’s two triumphs came in 2013.

In their first outing this year, Crescent could only muster a draw with CBC in Musgrave Park and showed great character to force a 15-15 draw. Despite this late rally, CBC were awarded the match as they scored the game’s first try.

Crescent picked themselves up and blitzed past Tipperary’s Rockwell College 21-5 in the quarter final. CCC dominated proceedings and went into the half time break leading 10-0 thanks to tries from Jack Delaney and Gary Kelly. Seamus Hurley finished the scoring for the Dooradoyle school late in the game.

Castletroy opened up their 2017 campaign with a hard-fought 12-10 away victory over Bandon Grammar School. This victory saw them progress straight into the quarter finals where they were drawn to face St Clements.

Clements had also recorded an opening round win, against a fancied Glenstal Abbey outfit. However, in the quarter final, Castletroy proved to be far superior than their neighbours running out convincing 17-7 winners.

In truth, it could have been a lot worse for Clements as the Newton school controlled the game from start to finish with full back Rory Murphy particularly impressive.

Both sides have been impressive thus far and it promises to be a close game. Crescent as holders are marginal favourites. However, Castletroy head into the game with a 100\% record and have their tails up.

The winner of this tie can look forward to a Junior Cup Final against one of PBC or CBC, both of Cork, who face off on Wednesday. The final this year will be played on St Patricks Day as a curtain raiser for the Glenstal Abbey V PBC Senior Cup Final. Therefore, the winners tomorrow know that they will enjoy ‘home’ advantage in the final.

Best of luck to both sides!

Castletroy College: 1. Jason McCormack 2. Robert Magill 3. Sean O’Shea 4. John Moloney 5. Oisín O’Shea 6. Sean Quirke 7. Cian White 8. Dylan McMahon 9. Michael O’Hanrahan 10. Andrew Shanahan 11. Louis Cunneen 12. Andrew Rowsome 13. Jason Aylward 14. Daniel McDonagh 15. Rory Murphy. Replacements: 16. Dean McGinn, 17. Sean O’Neill, 18. Sean DenDikken, 19. Jamie McNamara, 20. Ronan Kiely, 21. John Toland, 22. Darragh Kileen, 23. Stephen McNamara, 24. Sam Hanrahan, 25. Paul Ross.<

Crescent College Comprehensive: 1. Ethan O’Sullivan 2. Joshua Fitzgerald 3. Jamie Cross 4. David Doyle 5. Sean Malone 6. Barry Scott 7. James McKeogh 8. David Rickard 9. Jake Connolly 10. Jack Delaney 11. Ben Cosgrove 12. Tony O’Sullivan 13. Seamus Hurley 14. Gary Kelly 15. Colm Quilligan. Replacements: 16. Dara Spillane, 17. Joseph Rickard, 18. Ben O’Sullivan, 19. Aodhan Herbert, 20. Luke Burke, 21. Oisín Evans, 22. Ben Davey, 23. Darragh O’Shea, 24. Eoin Cantillon Mann, 25. Darragh Fenton.