Schools Side Beat Scotland
The Ireland Schools team ended the Under-18 Four Nations tournament on a high on Friday afternoon as they gained a 19-10 victory over Scotland.
…Brian Cawley, one of Ireland’s try scorers against Scotland, in action for Blackrock last month…
The Ireland Schools team ended the Under-18 Four Nations tournament on a high on Friday afternoon as they gained a 19-10 victory over Scotland.
U-18 FOUR NATIONS: Friday, April 21
IRELAND 19 SCOTLAND 10, Cheltenham RFC
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Brian Cawley, Jamie Smith, Patrick Mallon; Cons: Andrew Burke 2
Scotland: Try: Steve McColl; Con: McColl; Pen: McColl
After defeats to England and Wales in their previous two games, Ireland needed to start strongly and did exactly that when they scored in the fifth minute through Blackrock lock Brian Cawley, following a rolling maul close to the Scotland line. Crescent College out-half Andrew Burke pushed the conversion wide.
It got even better after 20 minutes when full-back Jamie Smith of Campbell College scored wide on the left following a blindside move. Burke made up for his earlier miss by nailing the conversion from the touchline. Scotland’s only score of the first half was a penalty late on through Dunfermline centre Steve McColl. The Irish led 12-3 at half-time.
Ireland continued to dominate after the break and following another close in maul, St. Michael’s flanker Patrick Mallon crossed the line for a try, which was again converted by Burke.
Scotland put Ireland under a lot of pressure and got their reward when they scored a converted try from McColl with 15 minutes remaining. Ireland defended well for the remainder of the game to hold out for their first victory of the tournament.
IRELAND SCHOOLS: Jamie Smith (Campbell College); David Mongan (Belvedere College), Eoin O’Malley (Belvedere College), Scott Deasy (PBC Cork), Paul Cochrane (Coleraine Inst); Andrew Burke (Crescent College), Michael Wilson (Rainey Endowed School); Paul Karayiannis (RBAI), Stephen Douglas (RBAI) (capt), Matthew Nelson (Wallace High School), Paul Ryan (Blackrock College), Brian Cawley (Blackrock College), Patrick Mallon (St. Michael’s College), David Johnston (Methodist College), Kieran Essex (CBC Cork).
Replacements used: Patrick McCabe (Belvedere College) for Paul Karayiannis, Ken Hanley (Crescent College) for David Johnston (both 55 mins), Jonathan Slattery (Belvedere College) for Patrick Mallon (61 mins), Michael Sherry (Ard Scoil Ris) for Stephen Douglas (62), Stephen Archer (CBC Cork) for Matthew Nelson (67 mins). Not used: Patrick Brophy (St. Michael’s College), David Moore (Blackrock College), Adam Craig (RBAI), Conor Cleary (St. Michael’s College), James Sandford (Royal School Armagh), Christopher Quinn (Methodist College).
Coach – Peter Melia (CBC Cork)
Assistant Coach – Paul Barr (PBC Cork)
Manager – Lorcan Balfe (De La Salle Churchtown)