BY JOHNNY CAROLAN
DEAN Cotter certainly picked a good time to score his first try in six years for Bantry Bay.
With minutes remaining, Bantry trailed Carrigaline-Dolphin 17-14 in the Munster U18 Cup final at Musgrave Park last Sunday. Not panicking, they worked their way up the pitch through a series of penalties and, metres from the line, out-half Dylan Hicks spread the ball wide for prop Cotter to cross over.
The Urhan native, who travels 60km just to get to training, had last touched down at U12 level but now his intervention gave them victory, sparking wild celebrations. For head coach Damien Hicks, the victory was the culmination of a journey.
‘It’s something that has been in the making for a long time,’ he says, ‘some of these lads have been playing for the club since they were five years of age.
‘It’s the first time that the club qualified for the cup competition full stop, whatever about making it to the final and winning it.
‘At the start of the season, when we met as a group of players and coaches, the aim was to qualify for the cup and that was agreed by everyone. Anything after that was a bonus.
‘This was something that many within the club have dreamed of for years. To be the first to make it is a dream come true for all involved. Many years of fantastic volunteers helping the players be the best they can be.
‘The amount of work put in by the players this year has been phenomenal and they have driven standards themselves every session – and there were lots of them.’
Bantry Bay captain Fionn Barry lifts the trophy.
Hicks headed up a strong coaching ticket that also included Gerdy Barry, Barry O’Donovan and head of strength and conditioning Kathy O’Sullivan.
After beating Bandon and Waterpark to make the final, they fell 5-0 behind before Joey O’Sullivan levelled with a try that Dylan Hicks converted. The lead was extended as Michael O’Donovan got over following a quick-tap penalty, again converted by Hicks.
Carrigaline-Dolphin came back strongly in the second half and hit the front in the closing stages. While the way Bantry won it was amazing, they certainly had to earn it.
‘When we were 14-5 up, we put ourselves in a really good position,’ Damien Hicks says, ‘but to be fair to Carrigaline-Dolphin, they got a lot of momentum in the second half.
‘As coaches, we were wondering if we were tired – we tried to design the season so that we’d peak towards the end of it but, on the day of the final, nerves can get to loads.
‘We brought a few players on – the finishers, as we call them – and they brought a bit of energy back into it.
‘I always back the lads – we played in two finals last season and both were won in the last couple of minutes. A good number of the lads from last season were still there and that was a big help.
‘They have got that mindset that you stay going until the end and it paid off again. I’d have much preferred to win it easier but it’s a final and how you win it doesn’t matter.
‘As a coaching group, you look for the perfect match but I don’t think there’s such a thing as the perfect final – it was the perfect way to win it, though!’
Bantry Bay's Dean Cotter celebrates scoring the winning try in the Munster Rugby U18 Cup final at Musgrave Park.(Photo: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO)
Hicks was especially delighted for the match-winner Cotter.
‘From the point of view of the coaching group, it was nice to see a player that hasn’t played representative rugby or anything like that – a normal club player – scoring the winning try,’ he says.
‘That’ll go down in club history forever more, you’ll be known as the guy who scored the last-minute try to win the cup.
‘There’s obviously Michael [O’Donovan] and Dylan [Hicks] and a few other lads who have played with Munster U18s and they get the limelight at times, but it was nice to see a player outside that circle take the opportunity and score.’
Now, the challenge is to build on the success and hopefully bring those players through to adult level.
‘We had a number of players last season that, when they finished the season, they probably had doubts in their minds about adult rugby at that age,’ Damien Hicks says.
‘We did have a bit of a rough patch with the adult team for a while, but, to be fair, they’re back out again and it’s the young lads from last year who are the driving force behind it.
‘Our location stands against us at times because, if there are lads gone to college and so on, it’s not possible to be travelling up and down.
‘We’ve been lucky, since Covid some of the younger lads have taken up apprenticeships locally.
‘It’s something the club has wanted for years, that progression from under-age to adult level. It might take a few years to really be seen, but eventually it will show.’
Bantry Bay squad: Kaleb Wiggan, Ben Clancy, John Joe Nicholas, Padraig O’Sullivan, Brian Tooher, Fionn Barry, Ciaran O’Sullivan, Stephen O’Donoghue, Jimmy O’Sullivan, Conor Bignell, Joey O’Sullivan, Michael O’Donovan, Cameron Murnane, Daniel Coughlan, Stephen O’Donovan, Tadgh O’Sullivan, Finbarr O’Driscoll, Eli Reynolds, Oran Wiseman, Alex Nel, Jerome O’Shea, Timmy Kelleher, Odhran Somers, Dean Cotter, Dylan Hicks, Sean O’Shea, Daire Kingston, Darragh O’Brien, Marc O’Shea, Joe Egan.
