Christian Brothers College Cork 48
Ardscoil Rís 12
Denis Hurley reports from Musgrave Park
A STRONG START stood to Christian Brothers College Cork as they advanced to the final of the Clayton Hotels Munster Schools Senior Cup final with a seven-try victory over Limerick’s Ardscoil Rís at Musgrave Park on Tuesday afternoon.
The city school, level at the top of the roll of honour with rivals Pres on 29 Senior Cups apiece, had two tries scored inside the opening six minutes, with Harry O’Riordan benefiting from Cian Hurley’s lovely pass for the opener before number eight Hurley touched down minutes later. The latter was converted by Billy Cian for a 12-0 lead.
O’Riordan’s second try, again converted, had them comfortable and, though Daniel Okeke had Ardscoil off the mark following a nice set-piece, Aaron Leahy replied for CBC to give them a commanding 24-5 lead approaching half-time.
While Alex Long got a second Ardscoil try and John Moloney converted before the whistle, Cain ensured that CBC led by 19 points — 31-12 — at the break as he scored the Cork school’s fifth try and added the extras.
The scoring rate wasn’t as high in the second half but Cain’s penalty was followed by a try from replacement Dylan McAuliffe to ensure that CBC weren’t troubled.
Out-half Cian Whooley added another late on, and converted as well.
Christians now await the winners of Wednesday’s all-Cork semi-final between Pres and Bandon Grammar at the same venue.
CHRISTIANS: Billy Cain; Patrick O’Hara, Killian Coughlan, Harry O’Riordan, Aaron Leahy; Cian Whooley, Mark O’Connor; Charlie Rasmussen, Scott Buckley, Mark Donnelly; Aidan Brien, John Willis; Ronán O’Sullivan, Cian Hurley, Conor Walsh
Replacements used: Alex O’Brien, Pádraig O’Brien, Dylan McAuliffe, Robbie Kelleher, James Moylan, Seán Kelly, Johnny Murphy, Oisín Leahy
ARDSCOIL RÍS: Lochlainn O’Keeffe; Eoghan Collins, Killian Dineen, Alex O’Halloran, John Salmon; John Moloney, Ian Leonard; Alex Long, Darragh Dineen, Oscar Czyszczon; Will O’Callaghan, James Hourigan; Stephen Clery, Daniel Okeke, Jack Ward Murphy.
Replacements used: Scott Fitzgerald, Gearóid Power, Gearóid Hanrahan, Cian Moloney, Rory Desmond, Cian O’Reilly, Josh Moore, Kevin Danaher
Referee: Christopher Harrington (MAR)
I’ve been saying it for a while, rugby football is in very bad shape in Limerick.
Clubs and schools really struggling. Cork is the rugby football powerhouse in Munster, led by the two big fee paying schools.
@Treaty Bhoy: How do you fix it? What needs to change?
6 city Clubs fielded at under 18.5 level this season and 2 qualified for Munster Cup, 2 for the Plate and 2 for Bowl while only Young Munster fielded at under 16 level
Thats because of the schools.
Adult level different reasons but struggling.
@Treaty Bhoy: I dont think there “big fee paying” schools any more.
CBC hurlers are drawn from rank and file GAA clubs in Cork city and county.
I think CBC are a bit more like Ard Scoil nowadays
@Treaty Bhoy: Cork City only has 2 rugby schools though so obviously they’re going to be good. Limerick has 5 or 6 and is smaller than Cork so will naturally be more diluted.
@Ormond: The first thing would be for the people involved in Limerick rugby (both school and club) to admit there is a problem within Limerick rugby.
Whether Limerick rugby wants to recognise it or not, St. Michaels (in particular) and Leinster schools in general have raised the standard of underage coaching. Limerick schools (with the possible exception of Glenstal) don’t seem to have embraced that level of coaching and their players are being left behind as a result. Investing sparse school money in an underage rugby programme probably isn’t the best use of resources so I can see why the schools have made that decision but it does leave the players at a disadvantage.
Limerick clubs will never have the amount of time with their players that schools have. A better relationship between the schools and clubs needs to be developed.
Keith Wood (rightly to some extent) was lauding St. Munchins amateur ethos in the Guardian recently. He’s right, but he’s also praising a system that ensures Munchins will win very little from here on out. A school that can afford pro coaches, pro nutritionists, pro video analysis is always likely to beat a school without those advantages.
Limerick schools/clubs haven’t produced a forward for Munster in over a decade (Kilcoyne is the last senior forward to play for a Limerick club in the current squad, and he’s 30 now). That’s a crisis by any measure but you never hear it mentioned.
@hlymrekr: underage club scene from u19 down is a shambles. best players are playing exclusively for their schools. at that level money talks e.g.Glenstals. schools and club rugby are pulling against each other. can’t see why the kids cannot play with their clubs and still compete in school competitions. competitive schools rugby doesn’t provide that many games. clubs are dying a death and the standard is pretty poor. at adult level ….economic / 3rd level education factors play a part so not much you can do about that outside of regional economic growth – which is a far bigger issue. per playing population, Limerick has too many clubs …..either numbers grow or clubs will fold / need to amalgamate…..easier said than done given the long history or clubs in Limerick. no easy answers
@hlymrekr: Limerick schools by and large cant be compared to others in terms of support as theyre not fee paying and dont have resources of many other schools countrywide.
Clubs can get access to players if the schools and clubs work together but that isnt the case in Limerick and many other areas.
Bandon Grammar and Bandon RFC are working very well together and it shows in results and improvement in both club and school.
Ard Scoil weren’t that bad CBC were just immense all over the park.All credit to Ard Scoil they scored 2 very well worked tried and deserved to be in Semi final today.Congrats CBC roll on 17th March.