Cork Con Edge Past Mary’s To Book #EnergiaAIL Final Date

ENERGIA ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE MEN’S DIVISION 1A SEMI-FINAL:

Saturday, April 19 –

ST. MARY’S COLLEGE 8 CORK CONSTITUTION 16, Templeville Road
Scorers: St. Mary’s College: Try: Ethan Baxter; Pen: Conor Hayes
Cork Constitution: Try: David Hyland; Con: James Taylor; Pens: James Taylor 3
HT: St. Mary’s College 5 Cork Constitution 3

Tickets for the final at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday, April 27 (kick-off 4pm) – the second ever #EnergiaAIL Men’s and Women’s finals double header – are on sale now from Ticketmaster – buy here.

Out-half Taylor converted captain David Hyland’s 54th-minute try and landed two final-quarter penalties – the second one from just inside the St. Mary’s half – as Cork Con advanced to next Sunday’s Energia All-Ireland League finals double header.

Mary’s, who only came up as Division 1B winners last season, gave it their all in heavy underfoot conditions. Ethan Baxter’s ninth-minute score from a maul had them leading 5-3 at half-time.

It was a hugely physical opening 40 minutes between the second and third place finishers in the table. During some tense defensive phases in the first half, Niall Kenneally and Ronan Watters were both sin-binned for high tackles.

Taylor got Con off the mark with his second penalty attempt, approaching half-time. They then took advantage of Conor Hayes’ yellow card when Adam Maher played in Hyland from close range.

Mary’s had their chances and despite Hayes closing the gap to 13-8 at one stage, Jonny Holland’s men forced two crucial scrum penalties. Taylor split the posts with both kicks after 64 and 78 minutes, ensuring a return trip to the Aviva Stadium for his side.

Cork Con showed a willingness to play with ball in hand despite the wet weather, but Taylor drifted an early penalty to the left of the posts. Jack Nelson Murray launched the hosts forward with a well-won turnover penalty.

A further penalty, with Matthew Bowen guilty of playing the ball from an offside position, allowed the Mary’s pack to made big inroads. A well-executed lineout drive ended with Baxter crossing in the right corner, and full-back Hayes narrowly missed the conversion.

A few minutes later, Kenneally went too high on Mary’s fit-again captain Watters and ended up in the sin bin. Myles Carey could not capitalise on a sudden overlap, though, as Cork Con forced the ball to ground.

Constitution managed the yellow card well, although Conor Dean was growing in influence for Mary’s as he probed cleverly with the boot. His half-back partner Richie Fahy missed out on a charge-down try when an offside call went against him.

Kenneally was welcomed back to the pitch by a big double hit from Watters and Baxter, maintaining Mary’s impressive defensive performance. However, their skipper soon saw yellow for a bone-crunching challenge on Bowen which was too high for the match officials’ liking.

Tempers flared briefly following that incident, and Taylor duly opened Con’s account with a central 36th-minute kick. It remained tight and tense, a Dean chip over the top leading to a promising late attack but the visitors scrambled back to draw a knock-on from Greg Jones.

Replacement George Coomber, who had one impressive take in the air, got Con moving in the right direction early in the second period. His cross-field kick had Bowen motoring down the left, and the winger was knocked to the ground by Hayes after his own kick through.

Referee Dan Carson adjudged that the challenge warranted a yellow card, but the resulting maul was brilliantly defended by Mary’s. Nelson Murray’s breakdown work also got them back into Con territory before the sin-binning caught up with them.

Con’s next raid downfield saw Ronán O’Sullivan surge back into the Mary’s 22. Scrum half Maher sniped from the ruck, expertly sucking in two defenders and getting his hands free to send the supporting Hyland over the try-line from a few metres out.

With Taylor’s tidy conversion going over from the left, the Leesiders now led 10-5. They threatened again in the 62nd minute, a Bowen and Kenneally-led break through the middle putting Mary’s on the retreat. Taylor quickly turned a scrum penalty into three more points.

The home side burst back downfield despite the slippery ball and muddier areas of the pitch. Mick O’Gara and Dan Goggin punched their way through, and a crisp penalty strike from Hayes brought it back to a five-point game in the 68th minute.

Willed on by the vocal home crowd, Mary’s gained two more penalties, both just inside the Con 10-metre line. They emerged scoreless from both having opted for a lineout with the first one, and Hayes then missed the target in the 77th minute after going for goal from distance.

Barely a minute later, the Con pack used a Mary’s knock-on to squeeze out another scrum penalty. It was right on the edge of Taylor’s goal-kicking range, but his excellent effort cleared the crossbar and was enough to seal a gruelling play-off victory.

TIME LINE: 3 minutes – Cork Constitution penalty: missed by James Taylor – 0-0; 9 mins – St. Mary’s College try: Ethan Baxter – 5-0; conversion: missed by Conor Hayes – 5-0; 13 mins – Cork Constitution yellow card: Niall Kenneally; 35 mins – St. Mary’s College yellow card: Ronan Watters; 36 mins – Cork Constitution penalty: James Taylor – 5-3; Half-time – St. Mary’s College 5 Cork Constitution 3; 46 mins – St. Mary’s College yellow card: Conor Hayes; 54 mins – Cork Constitution try: David Hyland – 5-8; conversion: James Taylor – 5-10; 64 mins – Cork Constitution penalty: James Taylor – 5-13; 68 mins – St. Mary’s College penalty: Conor Hayes – 8-13; 77 mins – St. Mary’s College penalty: missed by Conor Hayes – 8-13; 78 mins – Cork Constitution penalty: James Taylor – 8-16; Full-time – St. Mary’s College 8 Cork Constitution 16

ST. MARY’S COLLEGE: Conor Hayes; Mark Fogarty, Myles Carey, Mick O’Gara, Michael Silvester; Conor Dean, Richie Fahy; Tom O’Reilly, Jack Nelson Murray, Mick McCormack, Daniel Leane, Greg Jones, Ronan Watters (capt), Ethan Baxter, Dan Goggin.

Replacements: Richie Bergin, Ciaran Scott, Andy Keating, Lucas Culliton, Conor Pierce, Adam McEvoy, Aaron O’Neill, Leandro Ramirez.

CORK CONSTITUTION: Billy Crowley; Daniel Hurley, Sean French, Niall Kenneally, Matthew Bowen; James Taylor, Adam Maher; David Good, Billy Scannell, Luke Masters, Sean Duffy, John Forde, Jack Kelleher, Ronán O’Sullivan, David Hyland (capt).

Replacements: George Good, David Bamidele, Charlie Connolly, Eoin Quilter, Jacob Sheahan, Louis Kahn, Eoghan Smyth, George Coomber.

Referee: Dan Carson (IRFU)