Schools Rugby: Gavin Cummiskeylooks back at one of the finest sides to have won the Leinster Senior Cup competition.
In 1998 there was Clongowes Wood College and then there were the rest. No team in modern times had so dominated the schools landscape, but what made it really special was nobody saw it coming.
Sure, word was out about Gordon D'Arcy and Des Dillon and their performances en route to the 1997 final, which they lost to Terenure. But how many knew about the talent of the supporting cast?
It was the finest side the late Vinnie Murray ever sent out at Donnybrook or Lansdowne Road. That's saying something considering Clongowes won the 1991 final and were runners-up in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1997.
Des Dillon was commander-in-chief. A towering, athletic number eight, he was primed to replace Victor Costello at the back of the Leinster and even the Ireland scrum. Matters worked against him, however, and, despite having a year left on his Leinster contract, Dillon opted out of the professional game this season to start a new career with Davy Stockbrokers.
A recurring back problem curtailed opportunities at the highest level but he remains a prominent force in club rugby as captain of the Blackrock team that are currently making decent headway in Division One of the All-Ireland League. Now a lock, Dillon is streets ahead of most club opponents - Shane Byrne must love targeting his 6ft 6in team-mate at lineouts.
Henry Bourke (then a fifth year) turned pro with Connacht after school but back problems also curbed his longevity. A centre on the 1998 side, Bourke evolved into a hooker. That gives you an idea of the physicality of this team.
Dillon was a giant among schoolboys, while D'Arcy shrugged off tackles, well, much the way he does today but with more regularity. They had a monster winger in Gearóid Hayes (another whose adult rugby was curtailed by dodgy hamstrings). Hayes destroyed Blackrock in the quarter-final with two tries after D'Arcy produced a brilliant individual touchdown - the crucial body blow in that 24-6 result, a brutal dismantling of the school that had won the Junior Cup three years earlier.
Clongowes had already fired a warning shot with a seven-try battering of Pres Bray (43-3) and only then did they fully realise their immense potential.
"This was the first time the full team had played together all season," recalls Dillon. "Lads had been injured, I was out for a while and I know Darce was too. It only really clicked when the cup came around.
"The papers largely wrote us off; I think we were described as dark horses. This was how Vinnie preferred it anyway. He didn't want us going into the cup as favourites.
"Sure, we evolved as the competition went on, and beating Blackrock and St Mary's, two teams capable of winning the cup, was a feat in itself."
They evolved all right, from schoolboys into wrecking machines. Their supporters adopted the chant "We are the All Blacks" after the victory over Blackrock but it was against St Mary's in the semi-final that they painted a masterpiece. It finished 41-17 despite the presence of Gavin Hickie, Kieran Lewis, James Norton and Shane Jennings in the opposing ranks.
Ruthless stuff. D'Arcy's performance was noted in this newspaper: "at times it seemed like a personal benefit match for the unstoppable one."
His career path has been well documented. Shortly after the Schools Cup the new Ireland coach Warren Gatland approached him about touring South Africa. The teenager turned down the offer, opting to focus on the Leaving Certificate. He was capped a year later.
The current Leinster under-19 coach, Noel Murray, assistant to Murray and Fr Michael Shiel, remembers the attitude of the coaches and four surviving players from the previous team.
"That defeat to Terenure in 97 still lingers with me. We said it in team meetings that those lads didn't have another chance. We talked about not having any regrets.
"We constantly went to our two main assets in the cup. Gordon was used off every second ruck - be it down the blindside or through the middle. Then there was Des to pick and go. That hand-off . . ."
It must be reiterated that this was no two-man show. William Wallace and Darragh Kelly flanked Dillon's every break while Owen Brady and Richard O'Connor-Nash provided efficiency at halfback.
"They were a very easy team to lead," continued Dillon. "Rory MacEneaney, Gordon and Gavin Ryan had all played in the final the previous year when we lost to Terenure, because they wanted it more. That's four senior guys in fairly pivotal positions so they could talk to players around them."
The final was over after 25 minutes as the third try made it 22-5. The front row of Ryan (hooker), Nicky O'Connor and Aengus Kelly were enjoying themselves.
Dillon adds: "I remember in the final the referee telling me to calm our front row, as they were annihilating the opposition."
This was late in the game?
"No, it was the second scrum!"
Most of the group return to Clongowes later this year for a 10-year reunion but the squad are back together on February 22nd as Old Belvedere RFC hosts a gathering of the 1978, 1988 and 1998 cup-winning teams.
CLONGOWES WOOD (Final team v Terenure): G D'Arcy; G Hayes, R MacEneaney, H Burke, J Smyth; R O'Connor-Nash, O Brady; N O'Connor, G Ryan, A Kelly; D Lennon, A Proctor; W Wallace, D Kelly, D Dillon (capt). Replacement: L Manning for R MacEneaney (70 mins).
