The Connacht Schools Senior Cup celebrated its 100^th year this season, with Garbally College wining the first title in 1913.Since then there has been a long and illustrious history associated with the competition and to mark the centenary school principals and rugbymasters from across the province were invited to an event hosted by the Connacht Branch before last Friday’s RaboDirect PRO12 match at the Sportsground.

Schools Chairman Paul Kilraine was the MC for the evening, which was set in the Pavilion Club at the Sportsground and he introduced the guest speaker, former Irish Schools Selector and Connacht CEO, Gerry Kelly.

Mr Kelly entertained the 40 strong crowd and paid tribute to the competition, the schools that have been involved over the years and the people, and characters, that have kept it at such a high standard for the last century.

Following the event members headed to the stands to see Connacht take on Glasgow in the final match of the season. It was fitting that such a historic occasion was also marked by the end of an era, with Head Coach Eric Elwood stepping down after 24 years with the club, leaving this as one celebration of rugby that will live long in the memories of those involved.

Liam Callaghan has been introducing rugby to the Glenamaddy Community School over the last few months culminating in the second year boys having their first outing in the recent second year school blitz held in Buccaneers.

Participating with teams from Marist, Gallen,Garbally and other  surrounding schools they were more than able to hold their own.This first taste of competitive rugby has whetted the boys appetite for more and hopefully next season we might look at Connacht junior development league.

Thanks to principal Mr.James Duignan for all his support for the project and we look forward to a continued working relationship.

Route to final

Congratulations to the Bish U14 rugby team and all those involved, who successfully defended their U14 Connacht title yesterday in Ballyhaunis, defeating CBS Roscommon by 22 – 5. Under the expert guidance of Ambrose Conboy, Derek Murray, Neil Connolly and Stephen Mason the Bish matured as the tournament progressed. Initially, a tightly contested game against the Jes resulted in a narrow victory for the Bish lads, who then flexed their muscles by comprehensively defeating Calasanctius, Garbally, Clifden and St Enda’s. With an amassed total of 186 points the Bish finished top of their group and were drawn in the semi-final against the Jes who ended up being the highest scoring runners up in the competition. Due to the nature of the Jes victories in their ensuing  group matches it is fair to say that the Bish experienced some nervous anticipation leading into the semi-final game which took place in Galwegians Rugby Club, well at least on behalf of the coaching team.

Semi-final

The Bish started strong again in this match and took the lead with excellent handling skills and athleticism being displayed, in particular by Rob Hennessey at 9 and Ewan Heapes at 15 who blitzed the Jes defence in overwhelming fashion. Tries for Ronan Corless and team captain Jordan Fogarty  in the first half left the Bish in a strong position until a slight lapse in defence allowed the Jes in for a try which they converted just before half time. Some nervous handling errors allowed the Jes to pin the Bish back at the start of the second half before Rob Hennessey received a pass from Conor O’Regan at the back of a five meter scrum inside the Jes 22, resulting in Rob breaking the tackle and driving over the line. This was the only progress the Bish made into the opposing half for fifteen minutes of the second half.   Feeling among the Bish coaches was that the next try was vital and as the sun emerged from behind a cloud, it illuminated a glorious cross field kick from Rob Hennessey, which was plucked by the winged footed Sean Kilmartin, who effortlessly tucked it under his arm as he glided in over the line for a try. The Bish pack then began to assert their dominance at the breakdown with some bulldozing carries in particular from Conor O’Regan, Ruari Waldron, Jonny Joyce and team captain Jordan Fogarty in conjunction with Aodhfinn Broderick who showed an aptitude beyond his years. As the whistle blew The Bish came out on top by 27 – 7, positively declaring themselves as Connacht Schools U14 finalists and in the process defending the Frank Berry Cup; FBC is a competition between the Jes and the Bish each year to pay tribute to the late Frank Berry a referee, who was and still is held, in high esteem by both schools.

Final

The week of the 17^th of April was approached by The Bish Rugby fraternity with eager anticipation. The elements of the weather that week were mirrored by the spirits of the students as the sun and heat of the days radiated through the students and pulsated through the corridors as talk of the final approached. The fraternal qualities The Bish has become synonymous with throughout its illustrious history became apparent as the older lads including our Connacht and Ireland representatives went out of their way to congratulate and wish luck to their younger counterparts. The decision was made by management early on that it would be only fitting, to accommodate the entire first year group to support their classmates, on hopefully the first of many rugby finals.

On Wednesday the 17^th the Bish hoards arrived into the peaceful hamlet of Ballyhaunis in 3 large coaches with the belief that win or lose, we were all in it together. The weather was certainly a concern, but when we arrived we could see that the pitch was in good condition, as promised by the good men of Ballyhaunis RFC. It brightened up long enough for us to kick off and it seemed that we were in Gods good graces as straight away Ewan Heapes went wide on the wing and burned his opposing numbers on the outside to touch down with the whistle barely parted from the referees’ lips. The conditions played a part in the day for both sides with strong winds making it near on impossible for Ewan to convert from wide. Again we asserted ourselves with the forwards building strong foundations for quick ball out to the backs as we had worked on in training. Then suddenly the weather turned foul and with it, handling errors crept in to both teams. The game developed into series of turnovers, undoubtedly a consequence of the heavy rain, yet we managed to eke out another try, this time through Sean Kilmartin whose pace on the wing was causing concern for the Roscommon lads. Conversion missed, we went in at halftime winning 10-0. The talk at halftime was to keep doing what we were doing and be aware of the CBS number 8 who we felt was going to try to attack the blind from the scrums and also that we had to be aware of our positional  play as the wind was against us leaving us vulnerable to a long kicking game. The Bish did just that and passing combinations between our halfbacks and midfield started to click as we started to pick gaps in the CBS line through the middle with Marcus Burke and Max Payton gelling at the right moments and Brian O’Malley and Rob Hennessey playing some breathtaking passes, eventually leading to both Kilmartin and Heapes achieving a brace a piece for the day. Ewan against the elements converted one of the two opportunities. CBS did however get over for a try before our last score which they too were unable to convert. The Bish support lived up to their name up to and beyond the final whistle. Their singing and chants were jovial and the good grace shown to their opponents meant they represented their school with distinction. Jordan Fogarty who captained his team by example all year went up to collect the trophy and say some kind words to our unlucky opponents, who we hail for giving us our toughest game of the campaign and recognised that we will meet them again down the line.

Team

1. John Joyce
2. Ruari Waldron

3.       Ronan Corless

4.       Eric Flynn

5.       Jordan Fogarty  (captain)

6.       Aodhfinn Broderick

7.       Liam Melia

8.       Conor O’Regan

9.       Brian O’Malley

10.   Rob Hennessey

11.   Sean Kilmartin   **

12.   Marcus Burke

13.   Max Payton

14.   Daniel Johnson

15.   Ewan Heapes     **”

16.   Dan Clarke

17.   Clyde Dockery

18.   Cathal Murphy

19.   Dara Folan

20.   Darren Dooley

21.   Ben Lavelle

22.   Eoghan Cullen

23.   Darren Caulfield

Coaches

Derek Murray, Ambrose Conboy, Stephen Mason and Neil Connolly.

* indicates try scored

“ indicates conversion

St Enda’s Galway won the Connacht Schools Senior Development Trophy at the Sportsground on Wednesday when they overcame Clifden Community School.

Clifden CS led the first half thanks to a late Patrick King try converted by Jack Shannon but St Enda’s came crashing into the second half with a try of their own from prop Joseph Ugbo which was converted by fullback Stephen Killeen. Killeen put St Enda’s in front with a well struck penalty halfway through the second half and they were able to close out the final stages to win 10-7

St Endas:

Stephen Killeen, John Gately, Finn Stoneman, Emmet Stanley Lundy, Rory Phelan, Dean Connolly, Killian Mularkey, Ruairi Ryan, Aaron Byrne, Joesph Ugbo, Felipe Amaya Aguilar, Sebastian, Strohmayer, Dillion Griffin, Michael O’Connell, Rory O’Connor Replacements: Luke Fahy, Svetlin Nachev, Conor Kilbane Ryan Folen, Gareth Small, Hanraoi Whyte, Shane Carroll

Clifden CS:

Conor Clarke, Benjamin Rima, Daniel Doyle, Jack Shannon, Cian Lafey, Patrick Link (C) John Prendergast, James O’Toole, Alan Conroy, Michael Kane, Thomas James Berry, Emmet Madden, Gerard Croxford, Thomas Joyce, John Joyce Replacements: Christopher Joyce, Brian Keaney, Kevin Ryan, Jason Canavan, Shane Joyce, Jason Lee, Daniel Hannon

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