MUNSTER SCHOOLS SQUADS
YEAR upon year it astounds me and year upon year I make reference to the fact that somehow Ardscoil defy logic in managing to compete on two sporting fronts at the very top of the underage ladder. I know myself from teaching and coaching in Leinster that running two major team sports parallel in any school is nigh on impossible.
Yet again this academic year the North Circular Road school has made it through to the final stages of the Harty Cup. Maintaining that level of competitiveness and consistency in hurling, yet coming to within a game (against Crescent in 2014 and Rockwell in 2015) of winning the much-coveted first Senior rugby cup, takes some doing. Great credit goes to everybody concerned.
Include 1996 (when losing to PBC) and three times they have made it to the St Patrick’s Day finale. Indeed, add to that Glenstal going ever so close last year (when also losing out to Pres) plus Bandon Grammar becoming a much more significant force and it makes for a greater sense of competitiveness all round.
As luck would have it, Ardscoil drew pre-tournament favourites Pres in the opening round 12 months ago. It was a chastening experience but the rub of the green was to follow in the form of a bye through to the quarter-final. There they were drawn against a CBC side that had thumped Crescent in the opening round. But such is the beauty of this great competition, and more particularly the battling qualities of Ardscoil, that they turned over Christians(9-7) in the shock of the tournament to that point.
In a thrilling semi-final Glenstal squeezed it 21-20, thereby denying Ardscoil a third final in four years by the narrowest of margins.
Conor Glynn has taken over from Gerry Casey as Head Coach and he oversees a squad that includes no fewer than 14 from last year’s extended semi-final panel.
Rhys Tucker is captain and he leads a group that also includes young representative players in Daniel Okeke, Jack Ward Murphy and Killian Dineen at under-17, as well as Darragh O’Gorman with Munster under-18.
Again this year, the draw has been less than kind with CBC the opposition in the opening round. But with last year’s experience in the tank, plus the two-match back-door system, it’s a case of everything to play for in 2018.
WHILE rugby has been played at Bandon Grammar since the 1880s, the school only recently celebrated its first full senior international when Darren Sweetnam came on
for his maiden run against South Africa in the Autumn Internationals.
He followed it up with a second cap against Fiji (his first full start) and celebrated in the best way possible by crossing for one of the three Irish tries in a tight but well-deserved victory. It was a proud campaign for this extremely talented sportsman. It was also a proud few weeks for Bandon and, dare we suggest, for their ‘old boy’ but the first of very many more caps to come.
In many ways it completed a memorable year, one in which the senior squad lived up to the pressure of the pre-tournament hype only to fall at the penultimate hurdle to favourites and eventual winners PBC. It was Limerick at the receiving end as along the way Denis Collins’ highly talented squad accounted for Castletroy (24-17) in the opening round followed by St Munchin’s (17-13) in the quarter-final only to come up short against Pres (12-3) in what could be best described a tight semi-final.
Collins is again Head Coach with the same backroom team as last year overseeing another quality group with nine back on board to do battle again.
Ashley Deane is captain and was also a key member of the Ireland Under-19 Schools and Club team against English Counties last season. Niall Beamish is another back from last year and dad Cecil was on the very first BGS team to play in the Munster Schools Senior Cup back in 1974. Andrew Dale’s father Stephen was capped for Munster schools in the midEighties, while James French from last year’s team was recently selected as part of the Irish Under-20 squad for the Six Nations.
Gavin Coombes, captain to the 2016 ‘S’, continues to feature with Munster ‘A’ and was part of the successful team that won the British and Irish Cup last year. Another distinguished past pupil and ‘A’ international back in 1975 (or ‘B’ as it was then) was Cork Con wing and former Branch President Bertie Smith. Bertie continues to this day to be a fantastic supporter of schools rugby.
The rise and rise of his alma mater no doubt adds to that interest. That said, it will be difficult to top last year as I suspect for Christians, forewarned will be forearmed.
DESPITE the dominance of the traditional heavyweights PBC, CBC, Rockwell, Crescent and Munchins’, there have always been interlopers – stretching back to 1921 when the Abbey School turned the competition on its head in taking the senior title back to Tipperary. PBC Cobh followed suit in 1938 with Mungret College having its year of glory in 1941.
In more recent times Ardscoil and Glenstal have gone closest to getting their hands on that Holy Grail for the very first time. And then there was Castletroy. Talk about setting the bar high. Only 17 years in existence yet it is already a decade on since not just a provincial trophy but both premier schools titles went to the new kid on the block in the very same year. 2008 will be forever etched in Castletroy history.
The downside, of course, has been the setting of that bar so incredibly high. And yet a second Junior Cup has since been added in 2013 despite the somewhat distorted level of expectation.
Back-to-back defeats in the opening two rounds in Bandon (24-17) and against Munchin’s (24-19) saw last year’s aspirations come to an abrupt end. But that was a young squad with some 12 (seven backs and five forwards) on board again.
It is, however, a small squad, thereby restricting Manager Maurice Hartery to a limited number of pre-competition friendlies. Bernard King takes over as Head Coach from Richard Feeney, with Darragh Frawley and Cathal Sheridan as his assistants.
Conor Birmingham is captain and one of the dozen set to go again. He is an inspirational flanker in the Neil Back mould (dirty name down Munster way, so better still, a chip off Chris Cloete and Conor Oliver perhaps!). Also included is Munster Schools under-18 hooker Kieran O’Shea, nephew of Jerry Flannery, as well as promising lock Cillian Toland, son of former Irish Schools No 8 Brian (in his schoolgoing days at St Clement’s) and nephew of former Munster flanker and Leinster captain Liam.
The draw has been most unkind, with a trip to Cork to take on the reigning champions Pres in the opening round. At this distance, it looks a hurdle too high but the beauty of the new system offers a second bite at the cherry. That and a little rub of the green in the second round draw could make for an exciting adventure still to come.
THIS time every year we record the overall score and it reads 29-all since CBC took the very first back in 1910. The ‘it’ to which we refer is of course the Munster Schools Senior Cup honours board, and with PBC beating Glenstal in last year’s final following on from the Christians win over Crescent the year before, that brief one-title lead has been pulled back again.
It is no two-horse race but there is hardly a year goes by that one or other of these two great Cork schools doesn’t have a say in the ultimate destination of the trophy. And while Pres went on to outright success last year, Christians suffered a painful exit at the hands of Ardscoil in the quarter-final.
That hurt. So factor in three successive Junior finals, including wins in 2015 and 2017 (although a little early still for that cohort), and I think it fairly safe to predict a major title assault from Sidney Hill once again.
Of the match-day squad that lifted the under-16 Junior Cup in 2015 (beating Crescent 22-10 in the final) no fewer than 13 are in sixth year and available for Senior selection now. Tommy Crowe has taken over from Neil Lucey as Head Coach in a much-changed management team. But he will have continuity where it matters most, with 12 back from last year’s disappointed squad and almost every one has represented Munster at under-18 or under-19 in the interim. That is some base from which to work.
Hugely influential back-five forward Cian Hurley has captained the Munster Schools Under-18 side, which also included prop Mark Donnelly, scrum-half Jack O’Riordan, out-half Cian Whooley and centre Tommy Downes at various stages.
Luke Masters has lined out at tighthead for the provincial under-19 side with further representative players in Daniel O’Connor, David Good, Anthony Ryan, Finn Burke, Ben Roche, Mark O’Connor, Eoghan Monahan, Eoghan Barrett, Harry O’Riordan, Aaron Leahy and JD O’Hea. Monahan is also a member of the Ireland Under-18 Sevens squad.
It is an awesome prospect for Ardscoil in the opening round, particularly when factoring in the incentive of revenge for last year’s surprise exit to the Limerick school. Expect Crowe and Christians to hit the ground running.
IT’S not rocket science but when the hard graft is done and the groundwork laid between first year (under-14) and third year (under-16) it is then the fundamentals are put in place for what might follow at Junior Cup and by extension Senior Cup two or three years on.
What St Michael’s achieved in Leinster when making it through to six successive Junior Cup finals between 2007 and 2012 paved the way for two outright wins at that level as well as three Senior finals, including a second ever success at the premier age group in that time.
Crescent boast a longer history and tradition than their Dublin 4 counterparts, but when it comes to laying the foundation for future success it is the Dooradoyle school making all the right moves down south.
Since 2010 CCC has been in every Junior final bar one, winning three and losing four. The follow-on has seen successive Senior Cup victories in 2013 and 2014 as well as defeat by the narrowest of margins (9-8 in 2016) against ultra-competitive Cork rival from that period, CBC.
Coincidentally, as with CBC, it’s all change on the management front with Matt Brown now at the helm supported by Dean Moore, Stephen Tuohy and Ed Barry, although enthusiastic Manager Chris Cullinan still does his bit on the coaching side.
Daniel Feasey was at No 8 for Crescent in that Junior final in 2015 and he is the captain now three years on. The Limerick school include 14 of that under-16 match-day 23 in a powerful squad with the same number back from last year’s extended panel beaten by Pres in the quarter-final.
It includes Munster players in Feasey and Fintan Coleman at under-19 in addition to John Hurley, Jack Delaney, Conor Fitzgerald, Jamin Hoffman and Timmy Duggan all at under-18 in the most recent campaign, while Conor Phillips and Ben Moloney were capped at that level in 2016. Philips was also a member of the Ireland under-18 squad in 2017 with Hurley central to the national training squad now.
Ben Leahy is a son of Garryowen and Munster player Shane while Charlie Dineen is a son of Cork Con, Old Crescent and Munster forward Len and grandson of former London Irish and Old Crescent Captain Len Snr, who continues to this day to be voice of Limerick rugby on the airwaves.
Cian Tuohy is son of Old Crescent and Munster stalwart Stephen, while Timmy Duggan’s dad Timmy Snr is the current President of Old Crescent RFC. Young Tim is also a member of the Ireland Under-18 Sevens squad.
The season to date has been up and down, given so many representative players, but a mobile pack allied to a backline containing six interpros almost guarantees the class of 2018 to be in the mix once again. Whether the pack can supply sufficient ammunition to another particularly potent Crescent backline remains to be seen. Nothing is being taken for granted, but it is difficult to look beyond a win over near neighbours and rivals St Clement’s in the opening round.
THEY competed in this great competition for the very first time in 1945 as Glenstal Priory. In 1970, following a replay against Rockwell, they came within touching distance of the famous trophy and just 12 months ago Rory Clarke went to within 70 minutes of becoming the first Glenstal Abbey captain to take this Holy Grail back to Murroe.
Defeat to Pres was heartbreaking, and at 11-3 there was precious little in it, but such was the manner in which Pres, and Jack O’Sullivan in particular, dominated possession in difficult playing conditions there could be little complaint from the Co Limerick school at the outcome. Nor was there.
Frustration, yes, and massive disappointment for sure, but in terms of acknowledgement that the better team on the day had taken the spoils, acceptance and collective humility in defeat was typical. But having again got the scent, after a 47-year gap, determination is greater than ever in a tiny school in relative terms but one which boxes consistently above its weight.
As with Clongowes, Kilkenny, Roscrea and schools of that ilk, having boarding certainly helps, but when it comes to the crunch it is extremely difficult to compete with the heavyweights in the numbers game.
The class of 2018 includes 15 of last year’s extended cup panel and within that are 12 of the actual cup final squad. It is another group well capable of building even further again on that 2017 foundation.
Sean Skehan is again Head Coach with out-half Ben Healy captain of a squad that also includes George Downing, Conor Booth, Mark Fleming and Ronan Quinn from the St Patrick’s Day starting XV. The talented Healy, who has represented Munster and Ireland at under-18 as well as the southern province this year at under-19, is but one of six representative players.
Back-rower Fleming has, like Healy, represented Munster at both under-18 and under-19 as well as making it to the Ireland under-18 squad. Andrew Hogan has been selected for province and country at under-18, while Quinn (a nephew of Niall and an extremely talented soccer player to boot) has lined out for Munster at under-18 as well as making it on to the Ireland underage Sevens squad for the Rugby Europe Championships held in Heidelberg, Germany.
So while last year hurt, given the experience and talent still clearly available, the challenge is in turning that disappointment into a psychological plus this time around. The draw is tough and little point in pretending otherwise, with a head-to-head against highly promising Rockwell in the opening round.
The schools have already played out an absolute belter at Thomond Park in the Limerick City Final just before the Halloween break. The Tipperary school took that final 29-22 in a high-quality encounter. Expect more of the same in round one and a match at Greenfields that could so easily swing either way.
This is the stand-out tie of the opening round.
IT is probably unfair to suggest it’s a case of ‘anything you can do we can do better’ (or maybe it is as simple and straightforward as that!) but whenever Pres deliver, Christians seem to bounce back even stronger and vice versa. I guess that’s the competitive key to this great rugby rivalry honed over 100 years.
Indeed, in the two most recent outright wins for each, the CBC success in 2009 was followed by a PBC win in 2010, while the last Christians win in 2016 was followed by the latest Pres success in 2017, thereby leaving these two mighty rivals again locked at the top of the Munster honours board. I do think it’s good for the schools game in Cork that Bandon are now causing a stir. That said, it is difficult to look beyond Leeside’s equivalent of the Old Firm being heavily involved in the campaign immediately ahead.
Bryan McMahon is again in the driving seat, ably supported by Paul Barr and essentially the same management team. Continuity will be the unstated aim in the quest for first back-to-back titles since 1995 and ’96 when a young lad named O’Gara, followed by Tim Cahill, climbed the steps to collect the trophy in each of those years respectively.
Billy Scannell is hooker and captain of the current squad and nothing would motivate him more than in following big brother Niall up those victorious steps as did the current Munster and Ireland hooker along with David O’Mahony back in 2010. The third of the talented Scannell brothers (Wallaces watch out) is skipper of a PBC Cup squad that includes 14 back from last year, 13 of whom made the match-day cut and including six who started. Scannell, Mark McCarthy and David Hyland were in the starting pack with full-back Jonathan Wren in addition to centres James Broderick and Sean French the first-choice backs in their respective positions. French and Wren were particularly outstanding in last year’s cupwinning campaign.
No fewer than 10 have been called up to Munster service, whether at under-18 (Schools) or under-19 (Schools & Clubs) this season. Louis Bruce is a chip off the old block that was grandad Tom Kiernan, lining out at full-back/wing for the provincial 18s.
So too Mark McLoughlin in the same positions with David McCarthy, Eoin Quilter and Alex Kendellan in the second- and back-rows respectively.
Back-rower Hyland has played for the Munster 19s along with scrum-half James O’Shaughnessy, hooker Scannell, wing/full-back Wren and highly talented centre French, who is grandson of Sean French TD, Lord Mayor of Cork, and is one of three along with skipper Scannell and back-three player Wren called up to the Ireland under-19 training camp.
Max and Alex Walsh are sons of former Munster, Cork Con and UCC coach Brian, a brilliant player too in his time with Con and Munster, while Conor Morey is already making his mark on the sporting world as an international sprinter.
They may not be shouting it from the rooftops, but another serious Pres challenge is about to get up and running.
IN this decade alone, since 2010, no school has won more titles or been in more Senior finals than Rockwell. Five St Patrick’s Day appearances – including three successes in 2010, 2011 and 2015 – marks a champion school back on top of its considerable game. And already this talented group, the best since 2015, has the Bowen Shield (2016) and Limerick City Cup (2017) in the locker.
That late October final against Glenstal was a riveting contest. The match started at a frantic place and never let up for the 70 minutes, with Rockwell deservedly shading it 29-22. Along the way they also got the better of Crescent, Munchin’s and Ardscoil, making it a virtual clean sweep of the Limerick schools in the preChristmas period.
Between 1970 (when beating Glenstal in a replay) and the turn of the new millennium, just a single Senior trophy made its way back to Cashel. That was in 1985 under the captaincy of Conor Slattery. So I guess in a sense the sleeping giant was re-awoken – and stayed on red alert ever since.
As already stated, the match against Glenstal is the mouthwatering tie of the opening round. The Murroe school took the spoils convincingly (18-0) in the corresponding cup meeting (quarter-final) 12 months ago so revenge is definitely on the Rockwell agenda.
Kevin Leamy is again Head Coach with brother Denis back on board as one of his assistants. Tipperary minor footballer Jack Harney is skipper to a strong 2018 squad that includes 16 back from last year’s extended cup panel eventually beaten by Glenstal. It backboned by six representative players, including another Tipp minor in Jake Flannery, who is also the Munster under-19 out-half as well as a member of the current Ireland squad at that level.
Munster wing Jack Hunt is another involved in the national set-up with the under-18s while four others, including half-backs Oisín Mangan and Ryan O’Sullivan as well as props Brendan and Ciarán Ryan, have lined out for the provincial under-18s this season. Conal Kennedy and Stephen Grogan bring the county minor football representation to a mighty impressive four.
While the loss to Glenstal in 2017 hurt, the focus in that Rockwell squad was on development with a view to 2018. A year on in time equals a year on in maturity, but this is another quality Glenstal opposition. In a tie that could easily go either way, we still take both Limerick City Cup finalists to make it through to the final eight at least.
MENTION St Clement’s and immediately the names Tim Crowe and John Sheehan come to mind. I shared my third-level education in the company of these two top-class athletes and dedicated PE teachers in our time at NCPE/Thomond College out in Plassey.
To that add Games Master and former Munster/Young Munster centre Mike Lynch. These three talented sportsmen have inspired a generation of boys to take the sporting route in their time at the South Circular Road School. Fr Corry was the instigator and ’48 Grand Slam legend Paddy Reid, the inspiration for making Clement’s into a competitive force and the all-inclusive school it is today.
Despite the disappointment of losing out to Glenstal (27-10) and Crescent (31-7) in last year’s ‘back-door’ opening round, Head Coach Shane Mullally has pieced together another serious assault and delivered the school to the first round proper of this Clayton Hotels Senior Cup when beating Coláiste Pobail Bheantraí (for the second year running) in Wilton in the preliminary round play-off.
Two tries from No 8 Shane Brosnahan and one each from full-back Evan Barrett, centre James Neville and winger Adam Kiely paved the way for that convincing 31-19 success. Now comes a different type of challenge entirely with near neighbours and 11-time cup winners Crescent College (again) next up.
Former Glenstal coach and ex-AIL player (with Old Crescent) Mullally can call on current AIL player (with Garryowen) Sean Rennison as well as the ever dependable Lynch for the added expertise, while Darren Gavin, an AIL player with Shannon, looks after the S&C.
The Head Coach oversees a small panel but one that includes 15 of the entire match-day squad back from last year. Michael Kiely is an Irish power lifter. Centre Adam Marshall’s dad Billy is a former national table tennis champion, while cousin Mark Fleming will be a key cog in the Glenstal pack in that opening round tie. Winger Alex Kiely is a talented Oscar Traynor soccer player.
Piece it all together and it makes for another competitive unit but still not enough to get the better what looks another particularly strong Crescent challenge. For Clement’s, the unstated aim is in building on last year and in that key respect a kinder draw would certainly have helped. *Paddy Kelly, *Liam Clancy, Jack Kingston, *Jake Murphy, Ronan Calvert, *Mark Crowe, Conor Nesbitt, David Ryan, Jamie Hamilton, Donal Geaney, *Shane Kelly, *Evan Maher (Captain), Jamie Ryan, *Garry P Quilligan, *Jude Pendejito, *Luke Kelly, Conor McInerney, Sean Doyle, Colm Kenny, Cathal Quilter, Luke Egan, Andrew Tierney, Lawrence Hogan, Ronan Moloney, David Woods, *Tyrone O’Halloran, Josh Neill, Conor Sheahan, Josh Campbell, *Zack Moloney and Kristan Lugood.
BACK in the late Seventies and early Eighties, I assisted the late great Sean Conneally coaching out in Munchin’s. I mention it because although we were blessed with some amazing backs in that period like Pat Murray, Phil Danaher, Liam Looney, Willie Quinlan, Donal Barry etc, my abiding memory of my first session out in Corbally, of course in Angela’s Ashes weather conditions, was of the ferocity of the training.
To say it was unrelenting in its ‘pick-and-go’ physicality would be an understatement as Paul ‘Moose’ Culhane (what a player and what a captain), Geoff Moylan, Tom O’Connor and the rest quite literally tore into one another with little concern for life or limb. Needless to say, I thought it was a once-off to impress this then adopted Dub coming on board.
Not a bit of it! Day after day, session after session, ‘murder ball’ (though it wasn’t called that) was a central part of after-school training. The coaching staff has changed over the years, with John Broderick, Pat Cross and Niall McDermott just some of those who succeeded the great Sean, but the one consistent thread when a Munchin’s team takes the field is that ultra-competitive physicality is guaranteed.
Business teacher, Head Coach and former Shannon great Davy Quinlan needs little convincing as to the benefit of a concrete forward platform as along with Stephen Chambers, Gary Quilligan (a proud former wearer of the Garryowen shade of blue) and Andrew O’Byrne, they mould the challenge for 2018. Another Munchin’s teacher and great Young Munster man (like Broderick and Cross) is Ger Slattery, who was captain of the fifth and last Corbally team to win the Senior trophy when beating PBC in 2006.
Evan Maher takes over that mantle now as skipper of a big squad that includes 18 back from last year’s extended cup panel beaten by a particularly strong Bandon GS in the last eight. It includes key representative players in Munster under-19 lock and Ireland under-18 Paddy Kelly, in addition to current Munster under-18 prop Evan Sheehan O’Donnell, back-rower Mark Crowe and centre Jude Pendijito.
Two more returning again for duty are Hiram Wood Hennessy (nephew of former Munchin’s great Keith) and Alex Casey (nephew of former London Irish and Ireland as well as Blackrock College ‘dream team’ lock Bob Casey).
Opportunity knocks to make good the loss from last year when facing Bandon again, this time in the opening round. And while results overall have been mixed, victory over cross-city rivals Crescent in the inaugural (Dudley) Herbert/ Conneally (Sean) Cup at the Market’s Field just before Christmas has made for a timely boost.
A win in that opening game and, obviously depending on the draw, a place in the last eight looks a reasonable aspiration.