Schools Cup 2014/2015 *mod warning post 1*

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Brilliant game. Defence from Clongowes was superb at the end, they deserved their win

Inspector Coptoor

What a grandstand finish.

One of the best games I've ever seen at schools level.

Connors for Clongowes was my man of the match with Deegan for Michael's a v close second.

.ak

Craicing end to the game. Kinda wanted michaels to score just to setup a conversion finish.

Synode

Some end to that game. Unbelievable defence by Clongowes. Looked certain that Michaels would pile over

Bridge93

Absolutely unbelievable defence.

ArmchairQB

Great game Clongowes were worthy winners, I thought Ryan was very quiet for Michaels, he has had a poor enough cup run for the talent he is, Osborne wad the difference for me but great defence from Clongowes at the end in what has been Michael's time

funtime93

Michaels are actually such bottlers.For the talent that has come through that school in recent years to only yield 2 cups is a joke.Their coaching set-up needs to be looked at seriously.

RedemptionZ

And yet again the conservative Brian O Meara is shown up for his dated and frankly stubborn and brainless tactics. Well done Clongowes. Can see Blackrock doing the three in a row now. Shame.

The price of not having a kicker in schools rugby is very high.

RedemptionZ

I'm going to be a cynic and say the defence from Clongowes wasn't particularly impressive. More that Michaels' penetration was so bad that it made them look good. Same goes for the Mary's match.

FrannoFan

RedemptionZ wrote: »

And yet again the conservative Brian O Meara is shown up for his dated and frankly stubborn and brainless tactics. Well done Clongowes. Can see Blackrock doing the three in a row now. Shame.

The price of not having a kicker in schools rugby is very high.

Totally agree. Omara has been in charge for three years and had great players at his disposal. Negative kicking style not suited to the schools game which rewards adventurous play.

RedemptionZ

funtime93 wrote: »

Michaels are actually such bottlers.For the talent that has come through that school in recent years to only yield 2 cups is a joke.Their coaching set-up needs to be looked at seriously.

Slightly harsh. At JC level they're consistent and have often overachieved. In senior level yes, they have bottled a lot of opportunities to win. But that's rugby. In 2013 it was an intercept try that got them. This wasn't a bottle, they didn't deserve to win this match, they didn't deserve to beat Mary's.

Bridge93

When they did win it in 2012 didn't they rob Roscrea with 20 minutes of injury time or something?

funtime93

RedemptionZ wrote: »

Slightly harsh. At JC level they're consistent and have often overachieved. In senior level yes, they have bottled a lot of opportunities to win. But that's rugby. In 2013 it was an intercept try that got them. This wasn't a bottle, they didn't deserve to win this match, they didn't deserve to beat Mary's.

When you have better players in you're team then the opposition numerous times over the past few years and consistently lose when it matters most id say yeh...that is bottling it.Btw how exactly have they overachieved at junior level?They bottled the J final of 2011 i think it was when their kicker missed a kick from infront of the posts

RedemptionZ

Bridge93 wrote: »

When they did win it in 2012 didn't they rob Roscrea with 20 minutes of injury time or something?

Won't get into it as it's not relevant for this years competition, but that's a very bitter way to look at it. They won fair and square in the eyes of the Leinster Branch which is all that matters.

Clongowes 21 was pretty good when he came on in the second half. They've got a solid team. Could go very far of a few bounces go their way.

funtime93

Its not necessarily how the games go themselves when i say bottling it I mean for the talent they have produced and given to Leinster in recent years they have seriously under-achieved at schools level.As another poster said a while back if they had a guy like Peter Smyth coaching them they would have at least another 2 cups by now.

RedemptionZ

funtime93 wrote: »

When you have better players in you're team then the opposition numerous times over the past few years and consistently lose when it matters most id say yeh...that is bottling it.Btw how exactly have they overachieved at junior level?They bottled the J final of 2011 i think it was when their kicker missed a kick from infront of the posts

2011 they beat a superior Newbridge team in the semis with a last minute try. Came up against the Timony rock side minus a few mercenaries and shouldn't have come anywhere close but still pushed them to the end. That's overachieving. If you look at that side on paper the 3rd years were extremely average.

Don't think you understand the difference between 'underachieving' and 'bottling'. Bottling implies you had the winning of the game and or tournament and didn't. When did Michaels look like they'd win this game comfortably? Or against Mary's?

Also while I'd be extremely critical of the Michaels management at times, that's a completely unfair and uneducated generalisation to make. 2008 CBC, Belvo and Mary's all had better teams. 2009 was the Conway and Macken blackrock team, considered by many to be the best ever schools team. Michaels had a weak team this year too and drew them in the second round if I recall correctly. 2010 and 2011 was the two Clongowes teams who at the very least were on par with Michaels talent wise, and in most peoples eyes were superior. 2012 Michaels won. 2013 is the only year I can see that would be considered a bottle. But that's one. 2014 Blackrock had their JC winners plus a few imported players for any weak positions. 2015, in my opinion they did have the best team in the competition but the results tell a different story. This is the first time I'd actually put it down to the coaching. 2013 the difference was an intercept try. These things happen. Michaels weren't even the favourites that year, Terenure had their Harrison Brewer dream team who went out early to Roscrea.

milosh

Michaels don't really help themselves by over hyping their teams on social media. There must be massive pressure on the teams with the amount of videos, tweets etc put out from seemingly official sources. Even the interview in the schools supplement this year where they said they didn't count wins over St Paul doesn't help(never mind it being disgraceful comment about another school). Schools like Clongowes and Rock just seem to go about their business in an understated way.

themont85

funtime93 wrote: »

Michaels are actually such bottlers.For the talent that has come through that school in recent years to only yield 2 cups is a joke.Their coaching set-up needs to be looked at seriously.

Um the talent is down to the improved coaching

aspin

milosh wrote: »

Michaels don't really help themselves by over hyping their teams on social media. There must be massive pressure on the teams with the amount of videos, tweets etc put out from seemingly official sources. Even the interview in the schools supplement this year where they said they didn't count wins over St Paul doesn't help(never mind it being disgraceful comment about another school). Schools like Clongowes and Rock just seem to go about their business in an understated way.

Agree with comment re how cwc in particular go about their business. Was really impressed again today by their footwork pre contact. Will Connors and the young 8 are massive talents though I'm not convinced about their half backs. Quality of coaching is shining through and this teams progression since j level has been much greater than michaels

Quint2010

Considering the size of their school and the fact they only won the cup for the first time ever in 2007 there is a strong arguement to say they have actually overachieved!

thebaz

milosh wrote: »

where they said they didn't count wins over St Paul doesn't help(never mind it being disgraceful comment about another school).

very strange thing in fact stupid thing to say - when I played there was very little between Michaels and Pauls - then against calling them bottlers is ridiculous , for a small school there record is super , the boarding schools have a big advantage , and too compete regularly with Rock given the size of schools is a great achievement. Clongowes have a super coaching setup , which is why I think they do so well, and they are fully boarding

Inspector Coptoor

It's not really a level playing field in the leinster schools cup at all.

Different schools have different pros & cons going for them, with Rock having more pros than anyone else.

Rock - huge numbers, excellent facilities, pitches on site

Michael's, decent numbers, good facilities, pitches on site

Clongowes - small numbers, excellent facilities including pool, astro pitch, pitches on site and the boarding element

Belvo - big numbers, 1000 boys, v good facilities, huge disadvantage is main pitches are miles away in Cabra and one pitch is 2km away, suffers/competes hugely with north Dublin & Co Meath GAA clubs/inter county teams at u-16 & minor level.

I won't go into the other schools but thd same issues keep coming up

Ailsbury

milosh wrote: »

Michaels don't really help themselves by over hyping their teams on social media. There must be massive pressure on the teams with the amount of videos, tweets etc put out from seemingly official sources. Even the interview in the schools supplement this year where they said they didn't count wins over St Paul doesn't help(never mind it being disgraceful comment about another school). Schools like Clongowes and Rock just seem to go about their business in an understated way.

Agree whole heartily here

themont85

milosh wrote: »

Michaels don't really help themselves by over hyping their teams on social media. There must be massive pressure on the teams with the amount of videos, tweets etc put out from seemingly official sources. Even the interview in the schools supplement this year where they said they didn't count wins over St Paul doesn't help(never mind it being disgraceful comment about another school). Schools like Clongowes and Rock just seem to go about their business in an understated way.

Particularly when around the period they were talking about 1998, Michaels had taken one of the best players St Pauls ever produced, Aidan Kearney, over to their school. Silly comment to make in public, not a good look.

On the social media thing as a whole, I'm not sure how big an impact it genuinely has. Overall Michaels have been walking the walk for the last 10 years. This thread 10 years ago would have said the opposite.

RedemptionZ

Yeah that's a bit of a PR disaster and feeds into the 'stuck up d4 snobs' stereotype that the media eats up, and that Leinster rugby are trying to shake off. I mean you know what they mean but it could have been worded a lot better.

FrannoFan

Calling a whole school "bottlers" is a bit much considering you are often talking about totally different groups of players over given years. (particularly in JCT) The cup they won over the Clongowes side going for three in a row was an upset so does that make CLongowes bottlers?I wouldn't think so.
I would question the coaching of Brian O'Mara over the past three seasons. Kelvin Leahy and Greg McWilliams both were innovators who played a nice brand of rugby. Recently they have had a stellar back line and failed to utilise it.

Annabella1

Thought it was a fantastic game between two great cup sides playing at their peak
Clongowes simply wanted it more
Calling this great Michaels team 'bottlers' is totally wrong

Ed The Equalizer

Annabella1 wrote: »

Thought it was a fantastic game between two great cup sides playing at their peak
Clongowes simply wanted it more
Calling this great Michaels team 'bottlers' is totally wrong

Spot on - because of being new together in first year Clongowes have the unusual edge of being a somewhat inferior team to Rock/Michaels for most of the previous 5.5 years and therefore 'wanting it more'

errlloyd

Andrews have an absolutely dominant backrow, and are losing everywhere else.

Bridge93

Newbridge looking comfortable against Andrews. 10-0 at the start of the 2nd half.

Setanta sports showing it live

Andrews 7 is a 5th year who was on the Rock JCT 2 years ago I believe.

Hagz

Apparently that Andrew's 13 (Peter Sullivan) is only in 4th year. Some unit for a 4th year.

Bridge93

Hagz wrote: »

Apparently that Andrew's 13 (Peter Sullivan) is only in 4th year. Some unit for a 4th year.

Yeah he's in 4th year, big guy

its_phil

Clear accidental offside a few times before that try, but Newbridge have taken their foot off the pedal and Andrews probably deserve that.

Bridge93

Yep game on here

The Lost Sheep

Munster Quarter final results from today
Rockwell 14 St Munchins 6
Ardscoil Rís 18 CBC Cork 16

OceanSixteen

Watched the game, wasnt very impressed by either side was expecting more from Newbridge, the remaining teams will be delighted if they get Newbridge in the Semi finals

vienne86

Yes, I watched the game last night - Newbridge deserved the win, but I don't think they will be feared by other teams.

funtime93

Hon the screa

Hagz

That's a killer for Roscrea. Lovely run from the scrum-half.

Quint2010

Ref giving 'Rock a lot of 50:50 decisons here. Roscrea just shunted 'Rock off their own ball under the 'Rock posts and ref brings it back for a re-scrum.

Quint2010

Yes!!!! Roscrea 15-14!!! Last play 'Rock are out!!

JPCN1

Arrah shyte!

Great win and great heart from Roscrea. Well deserved and well done, hope ye go on and win it.

Hagz

I think a comment's been deleted somewhere along the way :P.

Before the match I thought 'Rock were a shoe in, although in fairness losing Conor Dean was a hammer blow. I wouldn't bet against them next year though with the amount of 4/5th years involved.

Who's favourites now? Clongowes?

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Great comeback from Roscrea, I didn't think they were going to win after leaving behind a good few points in the first half. My money is on Clongowes to lift the cup now

ken76

I think there is no clear favourite now, but if they avoid each other i think it will be a Belvo v Clongowes final, but then i didn't think Rock or Micks would lose

jony_dols

Quint2010 wrote: »

Ref giving 'Rock a lot of 50:50 decisons here. Roscrea just shunted 'Rock off their own ball under the 'Rock posts and ref brings it back for a re-scrum.

Quint, what happened to 'Rock being 'head & shoulders above the rest'? Nice little stealth edit

Inspector Coptoor

Could this be the first year since '03 the Cup isn't won by CWC, Rock, Michaels or Belvo?

Interesting times ahead

Tables

Anyones cup now. But the big winners are the bookies with SM and Blackrock out now.

Inspector Coptoor

€20 on Belvo at 10-1 on my betting slip is looking much more likely now

Quint2010

jony_dols wrote: »

Quint, what happened to 'Rock being 'head & shoulders above the rest'? Nice little stealth edit

Turns out they werent! Delighted Roscrea won. Great for them and the competition!