I’ve always loved the schools cups.
There’s an incredible raw passion involved, and once the calendar strikes into the new year, I’m already ticking down the four weeks until they get underway.
Stars have been born on this stage, and all schools rugby fans have a list of players who went on to become the best that never was.
With the cup campaigns set to kick off in the coming week, we’re taking a look back at the ultimate 15 players still plying their trade, who lifted the Senior Cup crown with their schools.
15. Luke Fitzgerald (Blackrock College, 2004, 2006)
Fitz is a schools cup legend, starring in Blackrock’s Senior Cup wins in 2004 and 2006, as well as being a losing finalist in 2005. On top of that, he’s also had junior success, winning the cup in 2003. Marked down as a prodigy at an early age, Fitzgerald went straight into the senior Leinster and Ireland squad after leaving school, making his Irish debut just after turning 19. His career has been hampered badly with injuries, but when fit, he’s been magic.
14. Keith Earls (St Munchin’s, 2006)
I was a 16-year-old school kid when Keith Earls won the Senior Cup with Munchin’s, and the buzz around him at the time was insane. He scored the try that knocked out my own school Crescent in the semi final that year, and was the lone try scorer as they went on to lift their third cup in five years, beating PBC in a low-scoring 2006 final. As we all know, he’s lived up to his early potential and found his new home as a winger, but similarly to Fitzgerald, injury has robed him of a consistent run in recent seasons.
13. Robbie Henshaw (Marist College, 2012)
The heir to Brian O’Driscoll’s 13 jersey, Henshaw was part of the Marist side that won their first Senior Cup in 25 years in 2012, making his Connacht senior debut just six months later. His Irish debut came the following summer when he was just 19, and since O’Driscoll’s retirement, he’s naturally been earmarked as the next big thing in Irish rugby.
12. Gordon D’Arcy (Clongowes Wood, 1998)
Just as they did for Ireland’s win against Australia in November, D’Arcy and Henshaw partner each other in our midfield. D’Arcy is another schools cup legend, winning the Senior Cup in style against Terenure College in 1998, after they were defeated by the same side in the 97 decider. Just a couple of months after winning the title, Warren Gatland invited him into the Irish squad for that summer’s tour, but D’Arcy declined the invitation. Has gone down as an all-time schools great, getting nominated by the Irish Independent for the best schools team of the last 30 years in 2005.
11. Simon Zebo (Presentation Brothers, Cork, 2007)
I have vague memories of playing against Zebo in a schools friendly a long time ago, and at the time, he was bloody fast. A few years later he was part of PBC’s winning Senior Cup side in 2007, alongside Peter O’Mahony and former Munster man Scott Deasy. I was in Musgrave Park for the sensational try he scored against their Cork rivals that year, and the atmosphere was incredible. This video misses his final sidestep enroute to touching down, but you get the idea…
10. Johnny Sexton (St Mary’s, 2002)
Sexton, Ian Keatley and Paddy Jackson have all won Schools’ Senior Cups, but we just had to go for the St Mary’s man at outhalf. Sexton was just 16 when he won the Leinster crown with Mary’s in 2002, scoring a late dropgoal in the final to seal the 10-6 win against Belvedere. Here he is playing against CBC Monkstown as a 17-year-old the following season.
9. Conor Murray (St Munchin’s, 2006)
Despite not making it onto the pitch (as Keith Earls often reminds him), Murray was on the bench for Munchins’ cup success of 2006. Murray covered both scrum half and out half back then, as his school beat PBC 7-3 on one of the coldest days I’ve ever experienced in Thomond Park. Here’s the photo of their cup winning side, the 16-year old Murray looks quite young, middle row, third from the left, while you don’t need to be told where Keith Earls is, he hasn’t changed one bit.
1. Cian Healy (Belvedere College, 2005)
The Belvedere side that won its first Leinster Senior Cup final in 33 years proved to have plenty of future stars. Ian Keatley hit a penalty and a dropgoal in the famous win, Eoin O’Malley starred in the centre of the park, future UFC star Cathal Pendred was then a powerful second-row, while Cian Healy was a bull of a hooker. He’s since gone on to become one of the best loose-head props in the world, and is a shoe-in for this team.
2. Damien Varley (St Munchin’s, 2002)
Varley’s part of Munchin’s first Cup win in 20 years back in 2002 is absolute Roy of the Rovers stuff. Munchin’s won a dramatic final 20-19 against a PBC side that had beaten them in the previous year’s decider. Varley scored two tries in the fateful 2002 rematch, the second of which came in the dying stages of the game, giving Wayne Murphy the chance to win it with the conversion, which he put between the posts, sparking a run of three Senior Cup titles in just five years, after a 20 year wait for one.
3. Denis Coulson (St Michael’s 2012)
We’re throwing young Coulson in at the deep end here, due to the lack of Senior Cup winning tight head’s available. Coulson came off the bench in Michael’s 2012 final win against Clongowes, before playing a big part in their run to the final the following year. He was a part of the Irish u-20 side that made it to the semi-finals of the 2014 Junior World Cup, and has since been plucked off to France by Bernard Jackman to play in Grenoble’s academy side. One to watch for the future.
4. Donnacha Ryan (St Munchin’s, 2002)
It’s incredible to think, but Ryan didn’t play rugby until he turned 17-years-old, togging out with his local Nenagh Ormond, before going straight into the Munster and Irish youth sides. He switched from his local CBS to become a boarder at Munchin’s, and was quickly a vital part of the school’s Senior Cup side. Along with Varley, he went on to lift the 2002 cup after upsetting PBC.
5. Donncha O’Callaghan (Christian Brothers College, Cork, 1997)
Along with Gordon D’Arcy, O’Callaghan is the second member of our side that was nominated for the Irish Independent’s best Senior Cup selction of the last 30 years in 2005. The Munster legend was part of the CBC side that defeated St Munchins in the final that year, the Limerick school containing Jerry Flannery and Jeremy Staunton to name but two.
6. Peter O’Mahony (Presentation Brothers, Cork, 2007)
Along with Zebo and Scott Deasy (who scored the most sensational game-winning last minute touchline conversion in their semi-final win against Crescent), Peter O’Mahony was another star of the PBC winning team in 2007, as they defeated their Cork rivals CBC 13-3. O’Mahony is belting out a song (as usual), just beside those cartons of milk, while a certain winger is standing just over his right shoulder.
7. Jordi Murphy (Blackrock College, 2009)
As well as winning a Junior title with the school in 2006, Murphy captained them to Senior Cup success in 2009, when they defeated Terenure 18-9. He broke into the Leinster team for the first time during the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and his form last year earned him his first Irish caps during the Six Nations.
8. Roger Wilson (Royal Belfast Academical Institution, and 2000)
The lone Ulsterman in the team, Wilson was part of the RBAI sides that picked up Ulster silverware in 2000 (and possibly 1998, but we aren’t 100 percent on this). Along with D’Arcy and O’Callaghan, Wilson also picked up a nomination for the Indo’s best schools players of the last 30 years poll in 2005, and has had two spells with Ulster in between a four year stint at the Northampton Saints.
Best of the rest
There were plenty of close decisions to be made on this team, especially in the backline.
At scrum half, we opted for Murray but had a huge pool to choose from, all coming from Munster. Peter Stringer (PBC), Tomás O’Leary (CBC) and Duncan Williams (CBC) have all tasted Senior Cup success, and means we’d have plenty of cover should Murray choose not to participate in this fictional team who won’t ever play a match together.
There’s plenty of competition at out-half too, with Ian Keatley starring for Belvo in their 2005 win, Paddy Jackson winning back to back Ulster Senior cups with Methodist College in 2008 and 2009, and former Munster man Scott Deasy, who was part of PBC’s incredible 2007 side. Spare a thought for Ian Madigan though, who was a losing finalist with Blackrock in 2005 and also featured in 2007, but wasn’t part of their Senior Cup winning side of 2006.
The centres can be covered by Leinster trio Noel Reid (St Michael’s 2007), Brendan Macken (Blackrock College 2009) and Eoin O’Malley (Belvedere College 2005), while Andrew Conway (Blackrock College 2009), Craig Gilroy and Michael Allen (Methodist College 2008 and 2009) are on hand to help out on the wings.
Up front, Munster’s Billy Holland (CBC 2003), and Ulster second row Neil McComb (Campbell College 2002) can provide some cover, while if UFC star Cathal Pendred (Belvedere College 2005) ever fancies a break from the octagon, we may find a space for him on the panel, while we’ll be hoping to the high heavens that none of our props come a cropper in the imaginary game.
