A salute to schools rugby

March 2007
All that kicking practice outside Anabel's paid off

If you thought the scenes and the outpouring of joy for Clare in 1995 or Armagh in 2002 were something else, it paled in comparison to those in Donnybrook on Sunday as St Michael’s won their first Leinster Schools Cup. A great day for the close-knit community of Ailesbury Road. To steal that great Marty Morrissey quote 'there won't be a cow milked in Ailesbury Road for a week'.

Bravo St Michaels! Bravo for the Holy Ghost Fathers, who've every right to consider this one in the eye of the Jesuits. The hard work put in on the training field by the future politicians and captains of industry of tomorrow in the Michaelmas Term has paid off in the Hillary term. They'll now be able to spend the Trinity Term basking in the glory of their success in one of the most prestigious competitions on the international sporting calendar.

Jeroboams of Heino and blow-jobs from the rugger huggers of Mount Anville and Muckross all round!

Crushing blow for the Clongowes lads though. Apparently you never really recover from the scars of missing out on that hallowed piece of silverware, and they will no doubt be feeling a bit down facing back into school today. But they should get down to the books now and think of the academic and sporting inspiration that was the Belvedere 1954 Schools Cup losing captain, the young AJF O'Reilly. No matter how well he does with baked beans or selling newspapers, Sir Anthony is reputedly haunted by the memory of Belvedere's loss in '54. Ditto with Tony Ward, who ranks St Mary's shock defeat in the Cup Final as the biggest disappointment of his life. And I can't help feeling that despite all he's achieved, Brian O'Driscoll must still be haunted by those drop goal misses in the ‘97 semi final against Clongowes. There can be no greater achievement in a man’s life than winning the Rugby Schools Senior Cup. Winning the Nobel peace prize, said David Trimble in no way makes up for the disappointment of losing that Ulster Schools Cup Fnal with Coleraine Grammar School.

But in the hallowed halls of Ailesbury Road, this result, well in future it will be up there with the second coming of Christ.

As somebody with a meagre Christian Brothers education, I'm appreciative of my lowly rank in the grander scheme of things. I'm humble enough to realise the importance that the Holy Ghost Fathers and Jesuit establishments have in continuing to churn out such fine young men with officer class credentials, and therefore I salute these youthful paragons of excellence, safe in the knowledge that that this great competition has provided them with the character, the moral courage, and the fortitude to lead this country to new heights of prosperity!