Garbally
College 36 Sligo Grammar School 10
Report: Kevin Egan – The 42.ie
GARBALLY COLLEGE, the reigning Connacht Schools
Senior Cup champions and perennial kingpins in the west, easily secured their
place in this year’s decider with a devastating performance against Sligo
Grammar School this afternoon. The Ballinasloe side ran in six tries,
taking full advantage of the unseasonably warm and dry conditions as they
produced a wonderful display of running rugby, with clever support lines and
some excellent offloads a key feature of their performance. Mark Mitchell drives over for Garbally's second try. Right from the kickoff, they had Sligo
Grammar on the back foot and just five minutes had passed when out-half Shane
Mannion touched down in the corner for the first of his three tries, going over
in the left corner after James Carry made some hard yards inside the Sligo 22.
Sligo responded well and after they secured good
attacking possession, a high tackle infringement allowed Hubert Gilvarry to
reduce the gap with a penalty. That was one of very few forays forward for the
Grammar school, however, as they spent most of the half, and most of the game,
trying to repel wave after wave of Garbally attacking play. The home side
disrupted the Sligo Grammar set piece, they attacked from a variety of different
angles and positions, and while there were a number of handling errors from the
Ballinasloe students at key times, in general, they went through the phases
very well. Nearly 20 phases of possession led up to their second try from Mark
Mitchell, but a second missed conversion and a huge goal-line stand from Sligo
Grammar just before half time gave heart to the underdogs, who had produced a
minor upset against Marist College in their previous game to secure this
semi-final slot.
There was no real change after half time, however, when
a crooked lineout feed gave Garbally an attacking scrum 10 metres from the
Sligo line, the opportunity was duly seized. Patrick Grehan drove hard off the
back of the scrum and two passes later, Saul O’Carroll touched down under the
posts, making it 24-3 just over 12 minutes into the second half when Mannion
converted his own score. The out-half even found himself at the bottom of the
pile when Garbally drove over from a lineout maul shortly afterwards. While
Matthew Earley got his name on a fully-deserved consolation score for Sligo
Grammar, there was still time for Seán Horkan to complete the rout with an
excellent close-range finish in the last play of the game.
Garbally Scorers:
Tries: Stephen
Mannion (3), Mark Mitchell, Saul O’Carroll and Sean Horkan
Conversions: Stephen Mannion (3 from 6).
Sligo Scorers:
Try:
Matthew Earley
Conversions: Hubert Gilvarry (1 from 1)
Penalty: Hubert Gilvarry (1 from 1)
GARBALLY
COLLEGE: 15. Shane Jennings, 14. Shay Hennessy
(Sean Horkan 65′), 13. Saul O’Carroll, 12. James Carry, 11. Sean Horkan (Ben
Daly 45′), 10. Stephen Mannion, 9. Matthew Devine (Cormac Finn 51′); 1. Seamus
Egan, 2. Francis Dolan (Jack Dempsey 41′), 3. Jamie Curley (Jack Ryan 63′), 4.
Jack Noone (John Claffey 53′), 5. Padraig Galvin (Joey Carry 69′), 6. Mark
Mitchell (Kyle Blackweir 53′), 7. Oisín McCormack, 8. Patrick Grehan.
SLIGO
GRAMMAR SCHOOL: 15. Seamus Blackwell (Isaac Ellison
59′), 14. Sam Atumonyogo, 13. Hubert Gilvarry, 12. William Whelan, 11. James
Whelan, 10. Andrew Ward, 9. Jacob Fleming; 1. Matthew Harte, 2. Matthew Earley
(Mark McGlynn, blood 19′), 3. Edward Coyle, 4. Matthew O’Hara, 5. Taylor
Anderson, 6. Fiachra Staunton, 7. Brian West, 8. Kacper Palamarczuk.
The second of the Senior Schools Cup Semi-Finals sees Roscommon CBS facing The Jez in Creggs at 12.30 on Thursday.
