SCHOOLS' RUGBY/Connacht Senior Cup final - Sligo Grammar ... 17 Garbally College ... 10: Who would be a place-kicker in a schools' cup final? When Garbally look at the video of this one they will see where their 25th Statoil Connacht Senior Schools' Cup title slipped by.
As the clock ticked into the final seven minutes, the 2001 winners were offered two penalties in quick succession to pull back a 10-12 deficit. One curled left, the other faded right. Sligo then ran up the other end to score a try for good measure in the second minute of injury time.
But this was no lucky strike for Sligo. Their two sparkling tries in the first half lit up this final between evenly-matched sides. Indeed, they were, quaintly, the sort of tries schoolboys lie awake at night in their schools dreaming about.
The first score, after 15 minutes, brought a flavour of Mexico to Corinthian Park. The Sligo back line, moving the ball right to left quickly, found Luis Rodriques at inside centre. Imperceptibly, Rodriques accelerated into where there appeared to be no space at all and took off. Both Garbally centres, Alan Naughton and Simon Leonard, clipped at his heels, but neither could stop the runner as he sprinted a full 40 yards for Sligo's first try.
Mark Butler converted for 7-0, and barely had Garbally settled and digested the Rodriques score before captain Brian Taylor struck the second blow with an even more brazen effort.
Collecting at outside centre, Taylor took off with conviction. His long, arcing run left short-circuited the entire Garbally three-quarter line, and as he hit the tramlines at the left wing he knifed fiercely through for Part Two of his spread-eagling run.
That Garbally were able to compose themselves and kick a penalty through Leonard in first-half injury time was a small help, but the two tries had utterly changed the complexion of the match.
Garbally opened with a 25-yard penalty, but Leonard, who had kicked three in the semi-final, missed it into the wind.
Sligo kept the tempo high and were initially the more lively side.
An ambitious penalty from long range fell short for Garbally, but on 53 minutes they finally discovered an avenue back into the match.
At this stage Garbally were generating more momentum and were desperate to score. With that Leonard broke into the Sligo 22 and was gobbled up. But captain Tom O'Brien was quick to support and wriggled over. Faolain Sweeney converted for 12-10.
There was little doubt that with 15 minutes remaining Garbally held the whip hand. A driving maul was penalised inches out in the left corner, while a break from right wing Jack Campbell was stopped two paces out. A series of recycled ball kept Sligo defending on the back foot, and when the late penalties inevitably arrived, it seemed that they would fall gallantly.
But that was not in the script as Sligo weathered the kicks and sent right wing Aiden Blake into the corner to give the scoreline a more attractive patina. Serial winners Garbally were runners-up for the second successive year; Sligo grabbed their third win in five years.
Times are changing.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 15 mins: L Rodriquez try, M Butler con 7-0; 17: B Taylor try, 12-0; 35: S Leonard pen 12-3; 53: T O'Brien try, F Sweeney con 12-10; 72: A Blake try, 17-10.
GARBALLY COLLEGE: C Lavelle; J Campbell, A Naughton, S Leonard, N Loughrey; E Fenton, F Sweeney; D Donoghue, M Carroll, A O'Hara, M Beecher, I Cullinane, P Calahan, K McGovern, T O'Brien (capt). Replacements: K Stephens for Carroll, C Hurst for Beecher (both 41 mins).
SLIGO GRAMMAR: M Butler; A Blake, B Taylor (capt), L Rodriques, C Goulden; P Gillespie, S Consodine; E Aldridge, B Carson, R Boyle, B Heath, K Williams, S Coulter, K Richardson, J Bell. Replacement: A Gregg for Richardson (44 mins).
Referee: A Rowe
