CBC Monkstown, De La Salle Churchtown and St Mary's College, take a bow: they are the only three schools in the last 25 years of the 20th century to win the Leinster Schools' Senior Cup when one excludes the `Big Three'. Between them Blackrock College (11), Terenure College (6) and Clongowes Wood College (4) have amassed 21 titles in that time and in the process cemented the belief that bridging the gap between the elite and the wannabes is a pipe- dream for most colleges, the success-rate politely described as sporadic. St Mary's victory in 1994, inspired by current international Denis Hickie, is the last time that the cartel was run out of town.
Churchtown was doubly blessed in the 1980's ('83, '85) while Monkstown's greatest rugby memory was inspired by a Bernard Maloney penalty which served to beat Castleknock in the 1976 final. Monkstown has competed in one decider in the interim, De La Salle also once since their triumphs while Mary's managed just one other final appearance in the last 25 years.
Of that trio only St Mary's has offered substance to the belief that they can regularly compete with the elite. St Michael's, Newbridge, Roscrea and Belvedere desperately cling to the coat tails of the Blackrock, Terenure, Clongowes axis and will possibly be permitted the occasional success. For the remainder ambition is measured in rounds.
The Leinster Branch acknowledged the anomaly by introducing a league competition, shorn of the top schools to facilitate the `weaker colleges' in a genuine quest for silverware. There is now three distinctive levels (possibly four): Section A, 16/17 schools in Section B and finally the top six or seven schools.
While the number of new schools popping up in Section A is to the credit of the IRFU and Leinster Branch, there is a growing need to address the widening gap in standards which threatens to leave a tiny minority on a plateau above the rest. This is hardly conducive to developing the schools rugby scene as a vibrant and competitive nursery for future national senior teams. One or possibly two seriously competitive outings per campaign should hardly be the staple diet of champions.
The problem is not endemic to Leinster: the domination by CBC Cork, PBC Cork and to a lesser extent Crescent College Comprehensive, Limerick in Munster is equally pronounced. Only two other colleges, St Munchin's (1982) and Rockwell (1985) have tasted victory in the senior cup since 1975. Methody aside, Ulster offers greater breadth in terms of winners, their primary concern should be trying to persuade more catholic schools to embrace the competition.
The Connacht Branch has made decent strides to open the parameters of what was traditionally a three-college dispute and the progress made is encouraging. There is a pressing need not only to address the rules governing the schools game to foster skills development but to re-examine the structure of the provincial competitions.
The IRFU need to pump serious finance into the middle order schools to make them more competitive or perhaps more practically remove the elite from the four provincial competitions: six from Leinster, four from Munster, three from Ulster and a combined Connacht Schools team. Divide the 14 teams into two groups playing 12 games home and away (at provincial grounds) followed by semi-finals and finals: enticing a sponsor for a national competition should not prove difficult. Blackrock College against Pres Cork in Donnybrook under lights, Methody against Clongowes at Ravenhill . . . the prospect is mouth-watering.
