Classy Christian Brothers claim the Barry Cup
A dominant first-half performance saw Christian Brothers College claim the Barry Cup as they were too good for Presentation Brothers College.
Christians were the better skilled of the two teams and kept mistakes to a minimum as they capitalised on a nervous start from their opponents.
“They’ve played well all year so it’s great to finish it off with a good win like that against a good team,” said head coach Paul Giltenane, adding that the side’s preparation for the final set them up for the win at Musgrave Park.
“We’ve had some good games in the last couple of weeks that have helped us – against Blackrock in Dublin - and that helped today.”
The signs were ominous for Presentation as they knocked on from the opening kick-off. From here they were camped in their own half for most of the first quarter of the game.
The set-piece was key for Christians as they won seven of their eight line-outs – which gave them the benchmark to launch attack after attack.
“And we stole one or two of theirs (line-outs) as well at vital times,” added Giltenane.
We had to hold the head at the end and I thought the set-piece was very good.
Two tries in the first nine minutes put CBC on their way to the win as they flew out of the blocks with this breath-taking start.
Mark Buckley finished off a fine team move after just three minutes to give the winners a dream start.
Five minutes later, Alex O’Brien touched down, as the pressure CBC put on inside the five-metre line was too much for the PBC defence.
Presentation got into the game somewhat after this but weren’t able to trouble the scoreboard.
When Sean Kelly ran over for his side’s third try after 23 minutes, the winners were in complete control. James Moylan’s conversion gave his side a 17-0 interval advantage.
While Christians dominated the territorial battle in the second half, they didn’t add to their advantage.
Presentation, to their credit, refused to throw in the towel and when replacement Ben Comiskey crossed over, they had a glimmer of hope. The comeback was still on the cards late on as they were camped in the CBC ’22 for a number of phases. However, the concession of a penalty just inches away from the line meant that their last chance was gone.
CBC put the icing on the cake when Shane Buckley kicked a drop goal with the last action of the game to seal the 20-5 victory.
D Kiely, M Buckley, J Ryan, S Kelly, M Soames, J Moylan, K Murphy; A O’Regan, S Rall, O Leahy, D McAuliffe, R Kelleher, A O’Brien, B Kahn, F MacFhlanncha
C Hanlon, L McAuliffe, D Cremin, N Fitzgerald, A Traeacy, E O’Mathuna, H McHenry, S Buckley.
D Hyde, C Livingstone, SH Squires, J Keohane, F Horgan, A Walsh, J O’Leary; K Cronin, L Scally, A O’Connor, D O’Halloran, J O’Brien, H Fitzgerald, C McCarthy, M O’Leary
B Comiskey, B Anthony, B Forde, M Deane, A Geaney-O’Brien.
Shane Currans (MAR).
