MUNSTER SCHOOLS SENIOR CUP: ATTRACTING ATTENDANCES far in excess of most senior All-Ireland League games, the annual Avonmore Munster Schools' Senior Cup continues to provide a showcase of the province's elite under 19 rugby talent.

Seven schools are already assured of their participation with Midleton College awaiting the visit of Ard Scoil Rís on January 18th, a fixture that will decide who fills the eighth spot of the 2012 competition.

For holders Rockwell College, the prospect of retaining the trophy for the first time in over 50 years is an exciting one but the trend of the past two decades indicates that one of the two Cork schools, PBC and CBC, could deprive them of that achievement. The latter two have each won the title on 28 occasions, with PBC the winners in 1938, and the only surviving Limerick contenders to win back-to-back titles is Crescent College who were champions in 1989 and 1990.

Despite producing a sizeable number of Irish international players since former student WA “Bill” Mulcahy won his first cap against Australia in 1958 and went on to play with the Lions, Limerick’s St Munchin’s College have had limited success in the senior cup. A Larry Moloney drop goal in the 1968 final against Rockwell gave them their first title. There was a second in 1982 and the triple success during the first decade of the millennium, 2002, ’04 and ’06, coincided with the involvement of current team manager John Broderick.

Winning the title in 2006 was important for St Munchin’s because it marked the end of an era at Corbally: “We worked very hard that year. We wanted to show that we could win a cup without boarders,” said Broderick.

“We have been there or thereabouts since, but with the emergence of Castletroy College there has been a greater spread of quality players throughout the city. Once the competition went to under-19 rugby I felt that it was going to be very difficult for a Limerick school to win the senior cup.”

Shannonside schools still look enviously south with muted camparisons being made between the fee-paying Cork city schools and what some describe as Limerick’s “socio-economic mix” secondary schools.

The spread of players throughout the five Limerick rugby schools remains a factor and Broderick maintains the senior cup is still very much a Cork v Limerick competition with Tipperary’s representatives always a serious threat: “Rockwell won the title last season helped by four or five guys who joined them at fifth year. Admittedly, Donnacha Ryan, Keith Earls, Danny Barnes and Denis Hurley came to St Munchin’s at a similar stage of their education when we won it but we had to do that at the time to be competitive. It is the rivalry that makes this competition great.

“There is nothing that excites me more than Munster schools rugby, it has a magic all of its own and it’s a privilege to be part of it.”

Schools rugby has advanced so far over the past 20 years that it is now almost rubbing shoulders with the professional game. Students spend long hours in the gymnasium throughout the year, they follow strict diets, attend endless training and conditioning sessions and are at such a peak of fitness that many can advance with ease into senior club rugby immediately after leaving school.

Joining that conveyor belt to a higher echelon of the game is what most young players strive for and similar to the other provinces, schools rugby remains essential to the club game in Munster.

No club can replicate what a school is capable of providing for its young players, particularly during those final two years of education, and there is no greater moment in schools rugby than lifting the senior silverware on cup final day.

According to school coaches, success is all about finding the right formula on match day. Most have a good idea of their ideal starting 15 and although, there is a “back-door” system, winning that opening-round fixture is crucial.

Balancing sport and education remains a major challenge: “We find that throughout the province the boy who is training hard and is in peak fitness condition tends to get the better results academically as well,” added Broderick.

“Admittedly, the pressure on the guys is huge but most are also committed to night study as one of the requirements of being in the senior cup squad.”