MARIST COLLEGE RETAIN SENIOR CUP CROWN

The history of cup rugby is littered with games where forwards put in the hard graft, eking out small territorial gains and opening up space for backs to put their names on the scoreboard and go into the record books as the matchday heroes.

It would be a grave dis-service to the Marist pack to say that they were just the finishers today in the Dexcom Stadium, but even though it was only front row players who crossed the whitewash for them today, there was no mistaking the electricity that this vaunted Marist back division brought to provincial headquarters this afternoon.

The return of Ireland U-19 Andrew Henson was always going to add a dollop of magic and incision to the unit and alongside the excellent centre partnership of Darragh Glennon and Oisín O’Donoghue, that trio carved out breakthroughs with wonderful lines of running, slick passing and outstanding offloading.

The combination of that ability to eat up ground through midfield and a remarkable lack of errors when dealing with testing box kicks and Grammar School pressure on the ball ensured that after conceding the first try to Alastair Hewson in the right corner, Marist were comfortably on top for the next 40 minutes.

It came in stages, first with a superb defensive stand and clearing kick from Andrew Cotton, then Reuben Colleran’s lineout take and typically incisive combination move from O’Donoghue, Glennon and Henson to set up Adam Peter Murphy for a close-range finish.

Had the first half been two minutes shorter, the course of this Cup final could have run very differently. Instead Ciarán West emerged from the bottom of a pile of bodies with a score, and a yellow card for Logan O’Neill Markey meant further pressure on Sligo Grammar for the start of the second half.

Sure enough, Paul O’Sullivan’s incisive run back on a long kick and Darragh Murray taking play up to five metres out set up West for another try, and once Henson’s conversion was delightfully hooked in from the left wing to make it 21-5, Grammar’s bid for a Senior and Junior Cup double appeared to be slipping away.

However these two schools have pushed each other on to great heights since Covid while taking a stranglehold on the Connacht scene, and without ever getting their own running game going, Sligo Grammar forced their way back into contention.

Andrew Deegan came within inches of scoring, James McGettrick did get there, and by now players like Cathal Moffatt, Aron Martin and Alastair Hewson were forcing the issue up front, slowing down Marist rucks and preventing those line-breaking runs, even if the turnover count remained incredibly low.

Even after cutting the lead back to one score through Aron Martin’s try and Ben O’Connor’s conversion, Grammar continued to live on the edge and a marginally forward pass call kept them in the game just when it looked like O’Sullivan was about to explode down the right touchline.

Henson struck the post with a penalty that could have put two scores between them, but that didn’t matter ultimately as Marist held on to complete two-in-a-row, matching the achievements of the Robbie Henshaw team who went back to back in 2012 and 2013.

MARIST COLLEGE: Andrew Henson; Paul O’Sullivan, Oisín O’Donoghue, Darragh Glennon, Andrew Cotton; Darragh Murray, Owen Egan; Ciarán West, Adam Peter Murphy, Peter Daniel Sunny; Joe McSharry, Peter Bourke; Rueben Colleran, John Finnan, Kyle Byrne.

Replacements: Hugo Hannon for Sunny (30), Donnacha Dullea for West (57), James Kelly for McSharry (64).

SLIGO GRAMMAR SCHOOL: James McGettrick; Kelvin Kalu, Bobby Hanrahan, Andrew Deegan, Logan O’Neill Markey; Ben O’Connor, Andrew Ryan; Cathal Moffatt, William Draper, Mark Bradley; Seán Cashell, Owen McNamara; Aron Martin, Alistair Hewson, Ronan Mullan.

Replacements: Ryan Burrows for Cashell (half-time), Sam Carnegie for Bradley (41), Matthew O’Grady for O’Neill-Markey (57), Evan Barrett-O’Neill for McNamara (61), Cashell for McGettrick (67), Arran Symmons for Draper (70), Luke O’Connor for Hanrahan (70).

Referee: Shane Tuohy.