St Saran's, Ferbane, in Offaly, may be on the verge of a rare achievement, one that cannot be replicated in the foreseeable future - certainly not in the next 14 months - by a single college entered in the senior or junior rugby schools' cups in any of the four provinces.

If they were to win the Connacht Schools' Senior or Junior Cups, this season and next, they would accomplish that success under two different names.

St Saran's, Ferbane, will cease to be in September of this year, when they are due to merge with the local community college to form Gallen Community School.

The amalgamation is recognition of dwindling numbers, and St Saran's - a mixed school with a total of just 130 boys - will benefit from the increased roll call.

The school has long been a highly regarded nursery of excellent Gaelic footballers and hurlers but about 10 years ago a teacher, Ray O'Loughlin, decided to try to include rugby on the curriculum.

"We had no real home ground and so we approached the nuns, who are the trustees, about releasing some land for a pitch," O'Loughlin said.

"We were given some IRFU funding and then developed and drained a proper pitch with a very good playing surface. Finally, we had a home of our own."

The one, and to date only, Connacht Schools Senior Cup final that I covered was in 1998 at the old Dr Keane Park in Athlone, renamed recently Dubarry Park. St Saran's were contesting their first final, against the might of Garbally. Even though the Offaly school lost, I recall being struck by their athleticism and comfort in possession.

The finer points of front-row play probably weren't absorbed as naturally, but they weren't daunted and produced stout-hearted resistance before succumbing.

Having travelled such a huge distance from novices in a short space of time, St Saran's have continued to progress and this season finished as runners-up to another relative tyro in Clifden Community College in the Connacht Schools' League.

When the two teams met in the opening match of that competition, Clifden won 5-0, the only try that St Saran's would concede in a five-match run that included victories over Garbally, St Joseph's, Coláiste Iognáid and Portumna.

O'Loughlin explains the progress made in a short time that saw them reach a second Schools' Senior Cup final in 2000, this time losing to Sligo Grammar School.

"I believe that Gaelic players make natural rugby players and that is reflected in the way that the boys take to the sport," he says.

St Saran's have produced three underage internationals: Damien Hunt (Irish Youths, 1996), David Kelly (Irish Youths, Ireland Under-19, 2000) and Conor O'Loughlin, Ray's son (Irish Youths, Ireland Under-21), the latter enjoying a contract with Connacht.

Indeed, he'll line out at scrumhalf for today's Parker Pen Challenge Cup second-leg game against Narbonne at the Sportsground.

This season, St Saran's managed to get three players on the Connacht Schools' team, Trevor Phelan - he also made the final Irish Schools' trial - Aidan Kernaghan and Colin Malone; they had another three in the squad. Kernaghan and Phelan both played for the Offaly minor Gaelic footballers. O'Loughlin smiles: "They'd nearly need a washing machine in the school. Barely a day goes by when they don't have their kit bags with them."

Buccaneers have been hugely co-operative in helping out the school, not least in the contribution of IRFU Youth Development Officer and Dubarry Park native Charlie Couper, who has been "invaluable".

St Saran's have twice won the IRFU's Developing School of the Year award, evidence that even on limited resources they're thriving.

They're not content to sit back with the hand out either, having built what O'Loughlin refers to as "a country-and-western gym with some free weights". The players know that to compete at this level, bulk is required in certain positions.

And as to this season's Connacht Schools' Senior Cup?

St Saran's are expected to face Gort in the quarter-finals and if they negotiate that game would probably meet Garbally in the semi-final.

The latter match would throw up the absolutely ludicrous statistic of St Saran's meeting Garbally, in Garbally, in the semi-final for three years in succession. It beggars belief that the game is not played at a neutral venue or - in the event of the teams being drawn against each other not just for a second year but for a third - at the St Saran's pitch.

The Connacht Schools' committee must stand indicted for perpetuating the nonsense of draws like this.

If St Saran's do somehow make it to the final and prevail then there is no doubt they will have defied not only the odds but also the organisers.

Connacht Senior Cup

John O'Sullivan

Senior Cup quarter-finals.

Tuesday - St Mary's, Ballgar v Sligo Grammar School, Creggs Road (1 p.m.). Wednesday - Coláiste Iognaid v Clifden Community College, Sportsground (2.0); Gort v St Saran's, Gort (2.0); Portumna v Garbally, Portumna (11.0, tbc).