New format, same old favourites

Leinster Senior CupThe format of the Leinster Schools' Senior Cup may have changed but the list of the viable contenders to lift the silverware on St Patrick's Day can still be written on the back of a stamp.

It would be churlish to describe the introduction of a third tier, Section C, to the tournament as cosmetic but all it means this season is that the four qualifiers that make the last 16 will give a better account of themselves in defeat.

The introduction of the new format on a once-off basis for this season, and then to be reviewed, is the first step but the road to extending the list of potential winners disappears on the horizon.

Section A, traditionally the stomping ground of the weakest schools in the province has never had more teams come to the starting gate and this expansion deserves to be lauded but it won't affect the roll of honour come March.

The decision to group the four teams that made the semi-finals of Section A with what could politely be described as middle-tier schools - the latter based on their league results - into Section C offers several schools a second or third day out.

There is an opportunity to win a cup, appropriately named after the late Vincent Murray who did so much for the sport, and compete on a reasonably level playing field.

For years there has been the ludicrous prospect of more than 200 players across several schools training a minimum of three days a week for four months to play 70 minutes of rugby. That's a lot of blood and sweat for nothing more than tears in the majority of cases. At least that anomaly has been addressed.

However, the 12 teams that await the four qualifiers to emerge from Section C won't be quaking at the prospect.

A few are there on the merit of league results including champions Templeogue and beaten finalists High School but in reality any discussion on potential cup winners alights on the old reliables, Blackrock, Terenure, Clongowes, St Mary's and Belvedere.

It would be nice to consider a more egalitarian rugby society but that just isn't the case and it's not really the fault of the stronger schools. They are at a level to which others can only periodically aspire, the latter having to make do with the crumbs of a semi-final appearance every three or four years.

Of more concern to the schools committee should be the current teaching climate, one that threatens the future well-being of the sport.

DLS Churchtown won two Leinster Senior Cups in the 1980s; a couple of years ago they asked to be re-registered to Section A because of declining numbers of pupils.

Presentation College Brothers, Bray, under the canny tutelage of Brother Canice, boasted among the best junior records during the same decade. Since then they have been nothing more than peripheral competitors in the junior and senior competitions.

One school's decline was down to numbers, the others was to the absence of a driving force that allied knowledge, enthusiasm and purpose.

The numbers of priests in schools is declining, so there are fewer available to coach sport. The onus is therefore on the lay teachers to take up the gauntlet but they too are encountering stumbling blocks.

It is pathetic to consider that a teacher who supervises in a classroom after school hours could be paid money (€38 per hour was offered but turned down) for his extra-curricular activity but a colleague who coaches children, invests in their sporting development is entitled to nothing.

This Government purports to have an interest in sport but this country truly is a third-world sporting concern. It is impossible to blame anyone who has to pay a mortgage or rent in the current climate to turn down the opportunity to earn extra money.

Several schools are already losing teachers who had expressed an interest in coaching sport to giving grinds after school supervision. More and more educational institutions will become vulnerable, reliant on the dedication of a few. It is only when "little Johnny" can't play sport because there is no one to coach him that parents may finally be motivated to bring pressure to bear.

Like it or not schools rugby is still the golden goose in discerning the future of Irish rugby; it provides the lion's share of talent, quite aside from some of the most memorable matches of this or any other season.

Still, none of this will immediately impact on the next six weeks when the only concern is getting a half day to support the old school. The opening round in Section B throws up a couple of mouth-watering encounters.

Champions St Mary's will begin their defence against Clongowes, a clash that could provide one of the matches of the tournament. St Mary's have five of last year's team including captain and number eight Paul Nash, fellow Leinster players Stephen Grissing and Jonathan Sexton.

Clongowes won the pre-cup game between the sides. They have an excellent centre partnership in the interprovincial pair of David Sharkey and Morgan Hickey Crowe and a superb openside in captain Gavin Murphy.

Clongowes could sneak past - this now means avoiding Rodney O'Donnell indefinitely - and head for the semi-finals where they would face Blackrock.

The latter finished runners-up at the St Joseph's Festival in England and, despite the presence of very good players like Cillian Willis, Keelan O'Toole and David Blain, appear to lack the depth of previous years.

In the other half of the draw, St Michael's will offer a searching examination of last year's beaten finalists Belvedere but perhaps not enough to bounce them from the competition.

Templeogue have a fine side this year but in borrowing exclusively from the wisdom of others, it should be a Terenure-Belvedere semi-final.

In an effort to alienate even more readers of the newspaper, it is tentatively suggested that Clongowes and Belvedere will be at Lansdowne Road on St Patrick's Day, with the latter to make up for last year's disappointment by prevailing in a tight game. I await chastisement, hopefully later rather than sooner.