Paddy Clancy kicks Blackrock to Leinster Schools Senior Cup glory
It is a school that has produced a plethora of provincial and international stars in the past and Blackrock College once again offered a glimpse into the future as they claimed their 72nd Leinster Schools Senior Cup title on St Patrick’s Day.
Playing in the novel venue of the Tallaght Stadium due to the ongoing redevelopment of the RDS Arena, defending champions ‘Rock had to fight tooth and nail for their latest success in this competition. 6-5 adrift at the interval after Terenure College’s Gareth Morgan had slotted over a brace of penalties in response to an early Harry O’Neill try, out-half Paddy Clancy kicked nine points off the kicking tee to ensure Blackrock came through a titanic battle with their fellow south Dubliners.
Clancy had already showcased his qualities en route to Monday’s showpiece as he accumulated a combined total of 21 points across games against St Mary’s College, St Michael’s College and Cistercian College Roscrea.
With the Ireland U20s having completed an underwhelming Six Nations Championship on Friday with just one win from five games played, he is someone who could very well feature at that particular age grade in the near future.
Of course, his ambitions may well extend beyond the underage provincial and international ranks and for an indication of how quickly a player can progress from this level up to the professional game, you need look no further than one of Blackrock’s more recent Senior Cup winning captains. Back in 2022, Gus McCarthy led the Dublin school to an impressive final victory against Gonzaga College at the RDS.
After playing an integral role for the Ireland U20s on their march towards a Six Nations Grand Slam in the spring of 2023, McCarthy made his Irish senior debut in an Autumn Nations Series clash against Fiji in November of the following year and he also enjoyed a short cameo for Ireland in their Championship clash with Italy in Rome on Saturday.
Blackrock’s current starting hooker Harry O’Neill will likely have a desire to follow in his footsteps and while not all of his line-out deliveries were inch perfect, the Blackrock number two rounded off a maul move for the game’s breakthrough try on seven minutes.
Given there are 18 former students of Blackrock College between the senior and academy squads in Leinster, a number of players from this success will be hoping to take giant strides in their careers over the next 12 months or so.
By contrast, Terenure College graduates have been few and far between since their last appearance in a senior cup showpiece in 2009, but this could be about to change.
He took this time to grow into the game, but ‘Nure captain Ben Blaney ultimately exerted a strong influence from the back-row for the 10-time champions. Inside centre Alvaro Swords was also prominent throughout with some powerful carries into enemy territory and thanks to fly-half Morgan’s place-kick accuracy, they were within sight of a first senior title in 22 years at the midway stage.
Yet the history of Blackrock in this competition meant that a one-point advantage was always going to be precarious and Clancy penalties in the 42nd and 50th minutes had the title holders very much back in the driving seat.
Terenure were perhaps unfortunate not to be awarded a try heading towards the final-quarter – referee Robbie Jenkinson ruled out a potential five-pointer for Swords following consultation with his match officials – but the play was brought back for Morgan to knock over his third penalty of the tie.
This left the game delicately poised, but even though they came under severe pressure after another Clancy place-kick had restored their five-point cushion, Blackrock ultimately held out for another memorable Senior Cup triumph.
Although try-scoring opportunities were largely at a premium on Whitestown Way, the defensive displays produced by both teams were extremely impressive and ‘Rock had to withstand a series of Terenure attacks before the final whistle was blown almost four minutes into stoppage-time.
After the retirements of Cian Healy, Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony from international duty over the weekend – and with a number of others in the Ireland squad now in their 30s – there might well be a need to inject some fresh blood into the provincial and international systems over the next few years.
It remains to be seen what kinds of careers the players in Tallaght on Monday will end up having, but finals like these have often served as launchpads for some of Leinster and Ireland’s brightest prospects of recent times.
Tries: H O’Neill Pens: P Clancy 3
Pens: G Morgan 3
J Reddan; J Browne, J O’Sullivan, B White, A Vetjens; P Clancy, A Lindner (L Coffey 63); B Guerin (L Golden 70), H O’Neill, S Bishti; G Wall, A Smykovskiy; M Walsh, M O’Sullivan, B Walsh.
G O’Sullivan; E Balamash, M Kennedy A Swords, B Dohnal (N Fallon 67); G Morgan, J Coleman; P Kelly (E McMonagle 45), L Zelman (C Hyland 60), A Cooper; L McNiff, F Maher; J Mooney (S Gavin 57), M Smyth, B Blaney.
R Jenkinson (LRR).