Live stream: St Patricks College takes on Kirwan Bears as Aaron Payne Cup resumes after break

With time running out, McSherry kicked a long-range penalty goal to lead St Patrick’s College to a stunning upset of previously unbeaten Kirwan SHS. See the Challenge/Payne Cup REPLAYS.

St Patrick’s College pulled off the biggest upset of the Aaron Payne Cup season so far, stunning Kirwan State High 22-20 in Mackay.

The Kirwan Bears entered the clash as undefeated frontrunners, but were embarrassed early as St Patrick’s winger Kaden Muscat scored two tries inside five minutes.

Kirwan was able to stabilise after the nightmare start, scoring three straight tries to enter the break with a slender lead, but the host school showed great resilience to mount a comeback and steal the result at the death with an Adam McSherry penalty goal.

It didn’t take long for St Patrick’s to get on the board when new fullback Hunter Harris linked up with his outside men to put Muscat over in the left corner.

Muscat capitalised on a loose ball minutes later to cross for his second when lock Caleb O’Brien claimed a fortunate bounce and found the speedy winger for a runaway try.

Muscat and Marley Proctor were stride for stride until the Bears halfback was forced to make a play at an ankle tap 10m out from the line, falling inches short.

But St Patrick’s hero became a villain when Muscat gave away a penalty for stripping the ball, putting the Bears deep in attack and right centre Davidson Benioni bounced out of a tackle to get his school on the board.

Throughout the game Benioni showed great instinct of when to pass and when to run, continuing his impressive development. He went on to score another try just before halftime when a linebreak and late offload from Proctor opened up space on the outside.

St Pat’s came from behind twice during the second half to level the scores, before a penalty in the late stages gave McSherry an opportunity to go ahead with a long range attempt at goal.

His kick flew straight as the Bears fell to their first defeat of the season.

ST PATRICK’S 22 (Kaden Muscat (2), Reuben Saron, Mark Morrow tries; Adam McSherry (3) goals)

KIRWAN 20 (Davidson Benioni (2), Cohen Dittmann, Eneliko Savelio tries; Riley Carbone (2) goals)

St Patrick's College v Kirwan SHS - Cowboys Challenge Round 4

COWBOYS CHALLENGE

Kirwan High was cruising to their fourth straight Cowboys Challenge victory until momentum was snatched by barnstorming St Patrick’s College prop Eli Cookson.

Cookson took the game by the scruff of its neck with two second-half tries to complete a rare front rower hat-trick as St Pat’s stunned the visitors 20-14.

Down by eight points midway through the second stanza, Cookson led the charge as St Patrick’s scored 14 unanswered points while starving Kirwan of possession.

The Kirwan Cubs had started the match in fantastic form, hitting the board through left centre Hayden Bamford with their first attacking set.

Kirwan doubled their lead in the dying stages of the first half when fullback Trent Martin caught the ball and put in a grubber in one slick motion, perfectly weighting the ball into the in-goal for tryscoring sensation Clavarn Oth to pounce.

A monstrous charge up the middle by Cooper James followed by a rapid play-the ball laid the platform for Kirwan to strike again, and a beautiful cut-out pass by Jack Goodhew sent Bamford through a hole untouched for his second try.

That’s when Cookson put his team on his shoulders and carried them to victory with back-to-back tries to seize the win.

KIRWAN: 14 (Hayden Bamford (2), Clavarn Oth tries; Eru Gunn-James goal)ST PATRICK’S: 20 (Eli Cookson (3) tries; Grange Womal (4) goals)

PREVIEW

Kirwan Bears and St Patrick’s College will both have an added air of experience about them when they face off on Thursday as the Aaron Payne Cup resumes from a five-week break.

Bears captain Logan Brookes and St Pat’s backrower Jack Thorburn each earned their senior A-Grade debuts in the past fortnight for their respective clubs.

Brookes eased into his Charters Towers debut at fullback before starring in his second game on Saturday, scoring a hat-trick on the wing in a 38-12 rout of the Western Lions.

Thorburn enjoyed a ripping 54-12 victory against Carltons in his senior debut for Magpies Mackay a week ago.

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St Patrick’s First XIII coach Ian Schifilliti said players usually returned with more than just extra confidence after playing against grown men.

“We’re lucky to have a couple of guys debut in the Mackay seniors this year, Darcy Daly debuted for Brothers as well,” Schifilliti said.

“It’s a big thing when they take that step to high-level games and it transitions back to us not only with their confidence, but what they can pick up and bring back to our group.”

Kirwan’s coach Todd Wilson said boys making their senior debut while still in high school typically matured quickly as players.

“The main thing they get out of playing with men is obviously the physicality and the speed of the game, but also the accountability,” Wilson said.

“You’re the youngest in a team of grown men and they expect you to be accountable for what you’re doing. There’s direct accountability on the field as well as from the coaches off the field.”

While Thorburn and Brookes are both stars of their teams, they are yet to be signed by NRL clubs, making them some of the top unclaimed prospects in North Queensland.

Schifilliti said Thorburn had consistently been one of his best players.

Kirwan captain Logan Brookes. Pic: Evan Morgan

“Jack Thorburn has been outstanding, he’s unheralded for us,” Schifilliti said.

“He’s such a good line-runner, finds his front, great defensively out on that left edge and (his senior debut) was thoroughly deserved.

“He also got our player of the carnival at Confro and he made the merit team.

“He’s been outstanding, he really has. Sometimes when you get players like him it’s the expectation that they consistently play well, but he has been doing it for a long time for us.”

Mackay’s schoolboys rugby league powerhouse has endured a tough start to the Payne Cup after dominating in 2023.

They sit in third place in Pool A after being handily beaten by Kirwan and Ignatius Park, and will need to address their consistency issues and poor completion rate if they are to threaten for back-to-back titles.

The Cowboys Challenge kicks off at 9.30am before the Aaron Payne Cup clash at 12pm.

Originally published as Live stream: St Patricks College takes on Kirwan Bears as Aaron Payne Cup resumes after break