History For Kinsale Community School As They Make Senior Cup Knockout Debut

December was a month to remember for Kinsale Community School as they punched their ticket to knock out Senior Cup rugby having defeated fellow West Cork outfit Hamilton High School Bandon in the Munster Schools Boys Senior Cup Qualifier Final.

We caught up with the school’s head coach Eddie Farren earlier this week to learn more about the schools pathway to knock out rugby.

Speaking about the journey the school has had so far coach Eddie Farren said:

“We only started playing rugby in the school in 2018. It was a joint effort from ourselves, Kinsale RFC and Munster Rugby, as we put a development plan and pathway in place for players coming through the school.

“We started off in 2018 with an Under-15 side who we entered into development blitzes. From there then we moved up to ‘C’ competitions with our Under-16 and Under-19 sides as we competed in both the King and O’Brien Cups.

“About two or so years ago we progressed again as we began entering the Under-15 McCarthy Cup and Bowen Shield ‘B’ and now this season we entered the qualifiers for the Senior and Junior Cup for the first time and thankfully have had fantastic success so far.”

After a season of success in the ‘B’ School competitions, the streak continued as they received a bye in the first round of the qualifiers before being awarded a walk over by Villers in the qualification semi final.

Hamilton High School Bandon awaited the side in the final and after a hard fought battle the seaside residents ran out winners with a final score of 12-20.

Farren went on to tell us what the success meant for the school.

“It meant a huge amount to the school.

“The support we have received has been absolutely fantastic. The day after qualifying the school made the effort to organise a home coming to congratulate the team on their success. So we had all the third and sixth class students clap the lads in which really meant a lot to them to see the support they were receiving from their peers.

“This success has put rugby on the map for the school almost and the community in Kinsale have rowed behind us massively. For example, tonight we are having a meal which has been sponsored by a local restaurant and here we will present the gear for the competition which was kindly sponsored by a student’s parent. It has really created a buzz around the place and the support has been immense.”

The countdown is on to Thursday’s game and preparations are well underway. Speaking about preparations he said:

“Preparations have been going great.

“Many of the lads still play with their clubs so they have been playing in the Pan-Munster competition and we also played a training game against Villiers.

“We would rely a lot on Kinsale RFC, who have been very supportive of us, as they would be doing the main training in the evenings with the lads while we would run extra add-on sessions, be it skills or strength and conditioning, on our own artificial pitch throughout the week.”

Kinsale Community School will face Glenstal Abbey in Dooradoyle tomorrow afternoon, kick off 2pm, in the first round of the knock out stages in the Pinergy Munster Schools Boys Senior Cup.

To read the report from the qualifier final click here.

To check out all of this season’s schools cup fixtures click here.