Chambers’ treble gives Wallace the perfect start in bid for glory
TROY Chambers bagged himself an impressive hat-trick as Wallace High kicked off their Subway All-Ireland Schoolboy Championships in Munster with a bang.
The Lisburn school opened with a 7-2 success over Raphoe’s Royal & Prior and now turn their attention to High School Dublin and Kilkenny College today in a bid to finish top of Pool C and claim a semi-final place for tomorrow morning.
Yesterday’s games saw the eight Ulster schools involved in derby games, with last season’s beaten finalists Banbridge Academy beating Bangor Grammar 2-1 in Pool A, Sullivan Upper beating Campbell College 2-1 in Pool B and Friends beating RBAI 5-0 in Pool D.
Banbridge can thank Harry Lockhart and Philip Campbell for the goals which kept them dreaming of reaching a third All-Ireland final in a row.
Pool A: Banbridge Academy 2 Bangor Grammar 1; Wesley College 10 King’s Hospital 2.
Pool B: Campbell College 1 Sullivan Upper 2; St Andrew’s 4 Newtown 2.
Pool C: Royal & Prior 2 Wallace High 7; High School Dublin 2 Kilkenny College 0.
Pool D: RBAI 0 Friends 5; Ashton 2 Villiers 3 LEINSTER flanker Dan Leavy believes his side will see a different Ulster at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday evening (6.30pm).
The hosts have had a short week and are monitoring several fitness concerns after last Sunday’s heavy defeat in La Rochelle, but Irish international Leavy foresees no European hangover.
“They’ll definitely bounce back,” said the 23-year-old, who made a comeback from injury against Glasgow in Leinster’s win over the weekend.
“They are a serious outfit and they will be hurting from that game as well.
“You can suffer a heavy loss and stay down or you can bounce back.
“They will bounce back, I’m sure of that, so we have to be primed.
“They’re hurt but they are a pretty potent Ulster team.
“We have to be ready for a seriously physical encounter,” he added.
“As I said, it’s up to us to go up there and be disciplined and not give them much momentum, keep the pressure on and keep ourselves in the game as long as possible.”
The last eight encounters between Ulster and Leinster have been won by the home side, with Leo Cullen’s men not having tasted victory in Belfast since a 2014 encounter when the hosts had prop Tom Court sent off.
“They are the same as most teams at home,” Leavy added.
“You never want to get beat- en in your own backyard so they have the crowd behind them.
“They will be very fired up, especially after the game at the weekend and, as I said, we have to go up and make sure we are ready for the physical battle.”
Like plenty of those he will be lining up against come the weekend, Leavy will be an interested observer when the Ireland squad, which is expected to be released today, is named for the November internationals.
The Dubliner has won four caps in the last three internation-