St Munchins come up just short in Senior Cup semi-final thriller against PBC

An exceptional second half just wasn’t enough for the Limerick school as PBC booked their place in the Munster School’s Senior Cup.

The Cork school booked their place in the Munster School’s Senior Cup final with a thrilling victory over St Munchins in Musgrave Park this afternoon. Last year’s beaten finalists looked to be clear at half time as they took a 25 point lead into the interval.

But a sublime second half comeback from St Munchins had them within two meteres of completing the comeback in the 7th minute of additional time. However, Pres held on to become the first team into the final.

They will meet either CBC or Crescent College Comprehensive in the final after they played out a stalemate in the same venue yesterday.

The writing was on the wall inside 45 seconds as Tom Coughlan tore through the Munchins defence for the games opening try. Ben O’Connor added the extras to give PBC a 7-0 lead.

The next score didn’t come for 20 minutes but when it did it was for Pres who worked a lovely move off a ruck that saw Gene O’Leary Kareem waltz home. Again O’Connor added the two points.

But the response from Munchins was as emphatic as it was exceptional just a couple of minutes later with Matthew Te Pou notching a simply sublime effort. Receiving a pass out on the wing, he raced down the touchline, chipping over his opposite number before flicking the ball through on the run to touch down.

The conversion was wayward and Pres made them pay shortly after as they crossed for their third try just shy of the half hour mark, centres Tom O’Leary and O’Leary Kareem dovetailing with the former powering over.

Oisin Minogue gave Munchins a lifeline from the following play, escaping the clutches of the Pres rearguard to bring the Limerick side into double figures.

However, there was still time for the Cork outift to bag a quickfire brace to put the game beyond Munchins. In the final minute of the first half Fionn Rousell crossed the whitewash after a lengthy run while O’Connor added their fifth from the next play with the clock firmly in the red to leave it 35-10 in their favour.

Taking inspiration from their Limerick counterparts the previous afternoon, St Munchins set about their comeback in the 48th minute, Minogue powering over from close range for his second to reduce the deficit. Ten minutes later, centre Gordon Wood made a beautiful break in midfield as he touched down under the posts as they added the extras for the first time in the game.

And Wood brought the sides within one score in the 64th minute, again getting over the line under the posts. But time was against the Limerick school who just came up short.

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