BANDON 28
OLD CHRISTIANS 13
WHAT a few days it was for rugby in Bandon. First, Bandon Grammar School won the Munster Junior Cup. And then Bandon Rugby Club were crowned Munster Clubs Boys U18.5 Cup champions after a dominant display against Old Christians at Virgin Media Park.
Add in Hamilton High School competing in the Mungret Cup final this Friday (4th) against Villiers School from Limerick (12.30pm in Thomond Park), and you appreciate that these are good times for rugby in the town.
‘It’s great for the lads given that they have been through so much throughout the year. It’s been a difficult year for the whole community, especially for the Enright and Gillain families,’ Bandon coach Keith Fuller pointed out.
Anne Enright, who attended Bandon convent, passed away in September while sixth-year student Oisín Gillain, who attended Hamilton High School, passed away last month, both in the same academic year.
‘Both would have been in social circles for the lads. All that was going on while they are studying for their Leaving Cert and playing rugby in the club. It has been a strange sort of year for them,’ Fuller explained.
‘For Bandon rugby, this was a spectacular win. There were seven or eight of the lads from the club that played with the Grammar and three of the lads from the school played with us,’ he added.
Bandon's Daniel Hyde and Gavin O'Shea celebrate. (Photo: Bryan Keane/INPHO)
In terms of winning the Munster competition, this is a huge boost to the rugby club itself. Rugby has grown exponentially in the town and now the school has the honours to show for it.
‘They are absolutely fabulous. It is probably the best squad that I have been involved in. That whole concept on whether you start or finish, the guys really bought into that. The guys that came on at half time made a huge impact on the game. You couldn’t underestimate it,’ their coach said.
‘In the second half especially, we gave Old Christians no chance. They got back to within a point but the lads just never gave up. We had a few missed opportunities that could have unsettled us but we kept going. Great credit to our captain Jack McNamara, Jyles Brennan and Alan O’Regan, the three of them especially brought a real calmness to the whole thing when it was needed.’
It wasn’t just the triumph in the competition but the way the team played their rugby that really pleased Fuller. The club that moulded and shaped Jack Crowley is still producing.
‘If you look at some of the rugby that the boys have played. To get to that final, there were over 40 teams that started that competition and some of the rugby they played throughout the year was spectacular. Younger boys and girls in the club are looking up and seeing what has passed them and hopefully they can go on to be bigger than that,’ Fuller added.
It was a rocky start for Bandon in the decider though as Old Christians touched down first. Brian Cassin barreled over beneath the posts on 11 minutes and Samuel Haberlin added the extras.
Bandon didn’t let that start affect them and responded in the 23rd minute with a Cillian O’Flynn try that Daniel Coughlan converted. Coughlan scored his own try six minutes later after a fantastic period of play from the backs, before he added the extras. Christians’ Haberlin converted a penalty for Old Christians to close the gap to four at half-time, 14-10.
The Glanmire club opened the scoring of the second spell with a penalty through Haberlin but the West Cork team then took full control. A try on 54 minutes by Seán Dooley and then on 66 minutes from captain fantastic McNamara, both converted by Coughlan, put a seal on what was a big performance for the big day.
Bandon: Eoghan Galgey; Gavin O’Shea, Cillian O’Flynn, Denis O’Mahony, Eddie O’Sullivan; Daniel Coughlan, Noah O’Sullivan; Jamie Aruste-Desmond, Brian Galvin, Louis O’Sullivan; Sean Dooley, Scott Brady; Mark Slattery, Charlie Callanan; Jack McNamara (captain).
Replacements: Adam Barry, Alan O’Regan, Brian O’Regan, Daniel Hyde, Jyles Brennan, Andrew Lane, Oran Coughlan, Nick Bourke.
Old Christians: Liam Kelleher; Samuel Haberlin, Ciarán Roche, Sean O’Regan, Mark O’Keeffe; Ben O’Connell, Louis Murphy; Mike White, William Maxwell, Brian Cassin; Conor Doherty, Ciarán Sneddon; Rhys Cambridge, Charlie O’Shea; Riain O’Farrell.
Replacements: Shane Harrington, Fionn Porta, Oscar O’Connor, Evyn O’Callaghan, Orin Hyde, Tadhg O’Sullivan, Darragh O’Donnabhain, Conor Manson.
