BY SEÁN HOLLAND
HAMILTON High School, Bandon has forever been renowned for their successes on the GAA field, but recently it’s their triumphs with the oval ball on the rugby field that is making the headlines.
With victories in both the O’Brien Cup and Bowen Shield, Hammies have made an instant impact in rugby, and the feeling is that this is just the beginning.
‘Our school has always primarily been a GAA school, playing in the Harty Cup and Corn Uí Mhuirí, but this year Leona Foran, the principal, and the board of management asked if we would start a rugby team. So we did,’ coach Anthony Hutchinson explained.
‘We started with U18 and U19 teams. We had a lot of interest and ended up with a squad of approximately 40 players. The two coaches were myself and Shane McCarthy.’
The Bandon school’s students didn’t have to look too far for inspiration as Munster and Ireland star Jack Crowley started his trade only down the road in Bandon RFC’s fields in Old Chapel. Like Crowley with Valley Rovers, many of the students in Hamilton High School spend their summers playing GAA and then it’s rugby in the winter.
Hugh O'Mahony (U19 captain) and Harry O’Sullivan (U18 captain) with the O’ Brien Cup and the Bowen Shield B at the awards ceremony in the Coppergrove, Bandon.
‘Basically in the countryside with rugby, the lads play GAA in the summer and rugby in the GAA off-season. There were about seven or eight that only played rugby, the rest were GAA players first and rugby players second,’ Hutchinson said.
Starting from scratch, Hutchinson needed everyone to buy in to make this sporting venture worthwhile, and there was no shortage of help locally.
‘I said to lads, if we're going to do this we're going to need sponsorship and money for gear and training equipment. All the things that go with playing rugby – tackle bags, match balls, and all the training equipment – wouldn’t be cheap,’ he said.
‘A lot of our players were members of Bandon and Clonakilty rugby clubs so they were able to use their gym facilities. Then I put it out to parents to see if we could get some sponsors and we got three main sponsors – Dan Seaman Motors, Carl O’Mahony Solicitors, and McCarthy’s Coaches. They funded everything.’
As well as sponsorship, Hamilton High School reached out to the local rugby clubs for help. Hutchinson detailed where his teams trained during the year.
‘We trained at lunchtime on our own all-weather surface, which is only 20 metres wide and 60 metres long. It's small so we were lucky to have Bandon and Clon rugby clubs to let us use their pitches and facilities,’ the Hammies coach said.
‘We used Bandon’s pitches for matches and trained after school there. We played our U19 final in Virgin Media Park, so the fact we could use Clon’s new 4G pitch to get used to the surface on a bigger scale was ideal. It worked brilliantly and we couldn't have done it without their support. They got the ball rolling for us.’
Alan and Brian O’Regan with the O’Brien Cup and the Bowen Shield B.
Hutchinson also shared the exhilarating journeys both teams took to achieve their separate cup glories.
‘We contacted the Munster Branch to get entered into competitions. In U19 we played O’Brien Cup C grade, and in U18 we played in the Bowen Shield B grade,’ he explained.
‘In the U19 O'Brien Cup, we started off playing Carrigaline Community School and won 30-0. We played Coláiste Muire from Cobh next and we beat them 53-7. Our most difficult match in the run was in the semi-final against Kinsale Community School, which we won 24-15 in a very close game. In the final then in Virgin Media Park, we beat Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, 31-14.
‘In U18, we got a bye in the first round. Then we beat Middleton College 29-10 in the second round. We played Saint Patrick's Castleisland and won 35-15. The final was the most difficult game, against St Flannans in UL. It was basically their club team that we were up against. We beat them, scoring a try in the last minute – Paudie Hickey got the try, and Dan Coughlan converted it to win, 19-18. It was brilliant to win that.’
Is it the aim of the school to build on the successes of these teams to help entice more students to take up the sport in the school?
‘Definitely,’ Hutchinson stated.
‘We’re in the process of registering new teams and moving up to higher grades. Next year we hope to progress to the Mungret Cup at U19 level.
‘Then the hope is to get first and second years involved and start off with some blitzes and take it from there. It’s great to see the sport growing in the school’.
