SCHOOLS RUGBY: LEINSTER SENIOR CUP FIRST ROUND PREVIEW: NEWBRIDGE COLLEGE V CBC MONKSTOWN
Newbridge College start their opening Leinster Senior Cup tie as favourites
By Daire Walsh
CBC Monkstown will provide the opposition at Energia Park this Friday afternoon (kick-off 3pm) as Newbridge College begin their latest odyssey through the Leinster Schools Senior Cup.
Following a previous stint in the competition with south Dublin outfit St Mary’s College, former Munster and Leicester Tigers utility back Johne Murphy is in charge of Newbridge for the 2019/20 campaign. Having spent four seasons as player-coach of Naas in the All-Ireland League, Murphy will be aiming to make a big splash with his alma mater, who last reached the final at this grade in 1996.
‘Bridge lost out on that occasion to a Blackrock College that featured Maynooth native Bob Casey and current Leinster head coach Leo Cullen, a future team-mate of Murphy’s at Leicester.
The Rathangan man was in the opposite corner when Newbridge were last knocked out in the first round of the Senior Cup – a comprehensive 24-7 reversal to the aforementioned Mary’s in February 2017. Since then, they have enjoyed memorable opening day victories over Presentation College Bray and St Gerard’s, Bray before suffering consecutive quarter-final defeats at the hands of Belvedere College.
Despite their more recent struggles in the Donnybrook venue, Newbridge will once again be expected to advance into the last-eight.
While they ruthlessly swept pass the challenge of Pres Bray two years ago, the Belvedere reversals arrived either side of a league semi-final loss to Gonzaga College.
Their triumph at the expense of Gerard’s 12 months ago took place on Templeville Road – home of St Mary’s College RFC – and they will therefore be hell-bent on delivering the goods on Donnybrook’s pristine 4G surface. CBC Monkstown also reached the Senior Cup quarter-finals in 2019, when north Kildare school Clongowes Wood College brought their journey to an end.
They had eliminated CUS in the opening round and proceeded to claim the Vinnie Murray Cup against the same opponents a matter of weeks later.
This was their third second-tier Leinster title in just three seasons and their fifth in total.
Monkstown subsequently gained automatic qualification to this year’s Senior Cup – a clear sign that progress is being made in the Dun Laoghaire school.
Nevertheless, although they’ll be understandably wary of what CBC can offer, Newbridge remain confident in their own abilities.
The two sides have already met this season in Division 1A of the Leinster Senior League on October, a contest that ended in an emphatic 54-5 away victory for Newbridge. It can be dangerous to read too much into league form, but it’s worth noting that Monkstown did end their group campaign with a morale-boosting win against St Gerard’s in Donnybrook.
Newbridge will arrive in the capital with a number of players from the side that made it to the Junior Cup semi-final in 2017. They can also call upon several of last year’s senior squad, with the likes of Donal Conroy, Sam Cahill, Marcus Kiely and Conor McGroary hoping to play big roles in their quest for a quarter-final spot.