Live stream: Kirwan State High v St Patrick’s College, Aaron Payne Cup, NQ Schoolgirls grand finals

Davidson Benioni scored a try that has to be seen to be believed as Kirwan were crowned champions of North Queensland. Next up is a clash with the Dolphin Cup winners. Catch all the REPLAYS.

Two of North Queensland’s premier rugby league nurseries faced off across three grades on Thursday as St Patrick’s College took on Kirwan State High School in a triple-header in Mackay.

And it didn’t disappoint. After the visitors took the opening game, St Pats hit back for a dominant victory in the schoolgirls grand final.

Then in the main event Kirwan showed their quality to post a 24-16 victory.

Check all the match reports below.

Super Bears grab first title in four years

The Kirwan Bears’ dreams of national glory will continue after the Townsville school beat St Patrick’s College 24-16 to claim their seventh Aaron Payne Cup title.

The Bears were dominant from the opening stages and their powerful carries laid the platform for the speed of Davidson Benioni to shine with an eye-catching two-try effort.

Benioni has been Kirwan’s most consistent tryscorer all season – dotting down for at least one four-pointer in all but one of his eight Payne Cup games – but his second against St Pats was his finest try of 2024.

Collecting a grubber on his own goal-line, Benioni first palmed away Adam McSherry to break into the backfield before fending off the attempt of halfback Kooper Shears around the halfway mark to give his side a 14-point buffer early in the second half.

It was Benioni’s ninth try of the season, allowing him to finish equal-top tryscorer with St Patrick’s College’s McSherry.

St Patrick’s forward Jack Townsend gave his school a whiff of a comeback when he found his fellow forward Ryan John with a late offload to cut Kirwan’s lead to eight, but hope was short-lived.

Sydney Roosters-signed centre Cohen Dittmann had an impactful five minutes late in the game when he scored a highlights reel try, beating four St Pat’s players on his way to a long-distance score, before being sin-binned for tackling fullback Hunter Harris in the air.

St Patrick’s capitalised on the late numerical advantage with a try from dummy half Joshua Toby but time elapsed as the boys from Mackay frantically fought to keep their season alive.

It was Kirwan’s first Aaron Payne Cup victory since 2020, becoming the fourth different school to claim the title in four years.

The Bears will face the winner of the Dolphins Cup next week in the semi-final of the Phil Hall Cup – Queensland’s premier schoolboys rugby league trophy.

Kirwan lock Kyle Bader was outstanding with the ball in hand, bouncing off defenders and always finding his front with every barnstorming carry.

The Bears playmakers took their game to another level and halfback Riley Carbone opened the scoring when he took the ball deep into the line and threw a cut-out to Benioni.

Jay Whaley burrowed over from close range to extend the Bears lead before St Pat’s cut back into the deficit with fast passing out to right winger Reuben Saron.

KIRWAN: 24 (Davidson Benioni (2), Jay Whaley, Dane Ransom, Cohen Dittmann tries; Riley Carbone (2) goals)

ST PATRICK’S: 16 (Reuben Saron, Ryan John, Joshua Toby tries; Adam McSherry (2) goals)

Temple stars as St Pats crowned Schoolgirls champs

St Patrick’s all-conquering women’s team has just one trophy left to win in 2024 after adding the North Queensland Schoolgirls Cup to the school’s cabinet on Thursday.

Led by rampaging backrower Ebony Temple, St Patrick’s defeated Kirwan State High School’s Grizzlies three tries to nil for a 12-0 victory in the regional grand final.

The school raised the Confraternity trophy in June and is now one game away from playing for the Queensland state crown.

The scoreline could have been uglier for the Grizzlies, who entered the St Patrick’s half on attack just twice throughout the match.

Poor passing from dummy-half and even poorer discipline crippled the visitors’ attack and it was only a slew of second-half errors from St Patrick’s that prevented the scoreboard from blowing out.

St Patrick's College v Kirwan SHS - Schoolgirls Cup Pool D Grand Final

Temple was the finest player of the grand final, scoring a try and coming close to scoring twice again.

The orange-headgeared second rower is short in stature but built like an M1A1 Abrams battle tank.

It is little known that the American tank has a top speed of 72km/h and Temple showed off that same brand of surprising pace to charge through the heart of the Kirwan defence.

Temple was the spearhead of a well-built St Patrick’s side that battered Kirwan into submission in the first half.

Temple dragged three defenders over the line in the 10th minute, after Kirwan’s defence was softened by another clattering carry from prop Jada Cahill.

A dropped pass from Kirwan moments later was swiftly punished as centre Ella Webb showed great skill to draw three and pop a pass to unmarked winger Scarlett Foord to catch and fall over the line on the right edge.

Kirwan’s hopes of coming back were dealt a major blow on the stroke of halftime when captain and five-eighth Ava Wagner injured her shoulder on the first attacking set of her side’s grand final.

Wagner was assisted off the field with her shoulder in a sling and Kirwan’s grand final chances appeared to limp off the field with their inspirational leader.

Wagner’s opposite Keely Pitt scored the decisive try of the final just five minutes into the second period, punishing a Kirwan knock-on deep inside the school’s territory to extend the lead to 12-0.

In a beaten side, fullback Zahleah Mosby-Nona can hold her head high with half a dozen brutal tackles – including several to save tries.

A future in the middle forwards beckons for the athletic prospect because no front-line player at her school could match Mosby-Nona’s devastating defensive impact.

ST PATRICK’S 12 (E Temple, S Foord, K Pitt tries) d. KIRWAN 0

Cubs prevail in thrilling Cowboys Challenge grand final

Kirwan State High School has prevailed in a thrilling conclusion to the 2024 Cowboys Challenge season, scoring a pair of late tries to get themselves over the line against St Patrick’s College, Mackay 26-18.

Trailing 18-16 deep in the second half, Kirwan swung the ball to the right wing where Clavarn Oth was able to break St Pat’s last line for his second try of the game, sending Cubs fans into raptures as they regained the lead.

Replay: St Patrick’s College v Kirwan SHS - Cowboys Challenge Grand Final

A desperate St Pat’s outfit left no stone unturned as it pushed to overturn the deficit one last time, but Kirwan’s defensive front held strong as it clung to a 20-18 lead in the final minutes.

Cubs fans had yet more to celebrate thanks to yet another break down the right wing, this time by number four Trent Martin, as he raised his arm in celebration before putting the ball down to drive the final nail in the coffin into a thrilling grand final.

The Cubs held the ascendancy early and were able to get deep into the final third of the pitch at the five-minute mark, but St Pat’s held strong initially to stave off the opening score.

However, the Cubs eventually broke through for the opening try of the game via a run down their right wing from Oth to make it 4-0 after a missed conversion.

Kirwan’s wingers continued to prove dominant in the early going, with a second breakaway try a few minutes later via Jack Goodhew giving them the first two scores of the game.

Goodhew made no mistakes on this occasion, converting his team’s second attempt to make it a 10-0 game.

The boys from Mackay certainly weren’t going to roll over without a fight, and St Pat’s half back Grange Womal broke through through to score his side’s opening try, following it up with a successful conversion to make it a 10-6 game.

Tom Mulherin continued to help St Pat’s make the most of its dominance in the final 10 minutes of the first half, able to break through at the 22-minute mark to level the scores.

Womal’s subsequent conversion of the day to put them up 12-10 on the stroke of halftime.

St Pat’s came out of the gates and were able to secure a breakthrough almost immediately, with their hooker Marik Srsen able to dive across the line to score their third unanswered try.

And when Womal improved his conversion record to 3-3 on the day, St Pat’s had given itself an eight-point lead.

Just as St Pat’s looked bound to score their fourth consecutive try of the day, a knock on relieved the pressure in Kirwan’s defensive third.

Kirwan put themselves back in the contest via a breakaway try directly from the resulting scrum through Manua Dau, with Goodhew slotting a straightforward conversion to bring the Cubs within two points.

St Pat’s were able to generate their own breakaway via Mulherin again a few minutes later, but were ultimately unable to capitalize, before Oth and Martin scored in quick succession to take the lead back for Kirwan and thus the premiership.

PREVIEW

Some of Queensland’s top prospects, many of which have already been snapped up by NRL clubs, will go toe-to-toe in the Payne Cup, but next year’s stars are already shining through in the Cowboys Challenge.

Kirwan’s year 9 and 10 Cubs have been the 2024 benchmark with a lethal right edge attack that has proved impossible to stop when on song.

How prolific past can help modern-day Bears ‘write own history’

Grizzlies big boost ahead of historic NQ Schoolgirls final

Five-eighth Manua Dau has formed a fearsome combination with centre Trent Martin and fullback Eru Gunn-James and those three threats must be nullified if St Patrick’s are to emerge victorious – but history is on the Mackay school’s side as the only team to defeat Kirwan this season.

It’s a different story in the Schoolgirls Cup final where St Pat’s will enter the clash as deserved favourites when they kick off at 12pm.

Conceding an average of just four points per game in their perfect four wins against their competitive Schoolgirls Cup opponents, captain and halfback Paige Mooney will lead the way with her physicality and skill.

Originally published as Live stream: Kirwan State High v St Patrick’s College, Aaron Payne Cup, NQ Schoolgirls grand finals