Tony Ward’s Connacht preview and his school-by-school guide
St Joseph’s have firepower to go all the way
Leinster and Ulster employ the rolling draw (after each completed round) while Munster use a variation on the backdoor system to give each of the competing schools a second shot should they come up short at the first attempt. Connacht, by contrast, will again look to a Champions League-type structure of two sections to determine the last four and finalists.
Last year in Pool 1 it was Colaiste Iognaid and Garbally finishing first and second ahead of St Gerald’s and CBS Roscommon to qualify for the 2017 semi-finals. Meanwhile, in Pool 2 it was the Sligo two — Summerhill and the Grammar in that order — ahead of Marist and St Joseph’s Galway (The Bish).
With first playing second in the familiar cross-Pool pattern, The Jes and Summerhill duly qualified for the Sportsground final with the title going to Galway by way of a 13-7 victory. It is a system that works for Connacht because of the number of schools involved (certainly relative to Leinster).
Sligo Grammar had also taken the pre-Christmas League in 2017 when finishing ahead of runnersup Colaiste Iognaid. The Jes have again finished second in the Senior League but this time to a rampant Garbally. Maybe that is a good omen for the Galway School, based on what eventually transpired 12 months ago.
In Pool 1 this time Garbally will be fancied to finish top ahead of Marist, leaving CBS and St Muredach’s to battle it out for third. Marist have already beaten CBC (25-14) in the opening match. Meanwhile, in Pool 2 Colaiste Iognaid and Sligo Grammar could be fighting for the top two slots and that precious semi-final place.
Summerhill are still in the mix but losing to their great rivals (15-9) in the pre-Christmas opening bout certainly hasn’t helped their cause. St Gerald’s have also lost to Garbally in that opening round of matches.
As of now, all evidence points to Garbally being the strongest team in the province by far. Their big win over St Gerald’s and even bigger win, given the context, over Sligo Grammar in the League, makes them the hottest of favourites not only in the Cup Pool but to go the whole way.
At this distance it looks like Garbally and Marist from Pool 1 to qualify and in the last four to meet The Jes and most probably The Grammar from Pool 2. That said, if Summerhill can pull one over on Colaiste Iognaid, everything is back in the mix. Either way, when taken in context, a system that guarantees a minimum of two matches and a maximum of four has to be admired.