THERE wasn’t the dream ending that they had hoped for, but Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí players can still hold their heads up high after their Munster Schools Senior Cup debut last Friday.
The Bantry school made history when they qualified for the knockout stages of the Pinergy Munster Schools Senior Cup for the first time, having earned the opportunity to take on the established powers of schools’ rugby in the province.
All roads led to the back-pitch of Thomond Park last Friday for a first-round tie against Castletroy College, but this is where Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí’s journey in this season’s competition came to an end.
The Limerick school was just too strong for Bantry as they won 31-3 to move forward to a quarter-final meeting against St Munchin’s College at the end of the month. Bantry gave as good as they got in the opening half and only trailed 5-0 at the break, but Castletroy’s power told in the second half as they scored four more tries.
After Castletroy’s second try, Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí’s Dylan Hicks nailed a penalty to reduce the gap to nine points. Try as they might, brave Bantry just couldn’t get any closer and instead it was Castletroy who kicked on and scored three more tries.
While it wasn’t the result that Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí had targeted, this group can still take huge pride from being the first team from the school to reach this stage of the competition. This is a platform to build on, just like it was in the 2019/20 season when they qualified for the Munster Schools Junior Cup for the first time.
There will be more West Cork interest in the Munster Schools Senior Cup as Bandon Grammar take on CBC in Musgrave Park on Wednesday, January 26th.
Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí: Oran Wiseman, Ciaran O’Sullivan, Joey O’Sullivan, Michael O’Donovan, Darragh O’Brien, Dylan Hicks, Rory Fitzgerald, Jack Ward, Dara McSweeney, Dean Cotter, Liam Harrington, Jack O’Donoghue, Fionn Barry, Cameron Murnane, Tadhg Cronin.
Replacements: Padraig O’Sullivan, Bryan Tooher, Tadgh O’Sullivan, Paddy Cronin, Cillian O’Brien, Conor Cronin, Owen O’Neill, Ruairi O’Shea.