The Leinster Schools Senior Challenge Cup is the premier

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

competition for secondary schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the

IRFU The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

. First held in 1887, the competition celebrated its 120th anniversary in 2007. Attendances are high for a schoolboy competition, with up to 25,000 present at the final. This match traditionally takes place on

Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...

Aviva Stadium Aviva Stadium (also known as Lansdowne Road) is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,700 spectators (all seated). It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and r ...

(formerly

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...

). In 2008, the final was played at the Royal Dublin Society Grounds (RDS) after Donnybrook proved to be too small for the 2007 final, (Lansdowne Road was closed for redevelopment) and has been the home since. Since the move to the RDS and live television coverage , the attendance has decreased and is now typically 10,000 to 14,000. The competition has been subject to criticism from various quarters for putting undue pressure on its schoolboy participants, and for being "elitist" (most of the competing schools are fee-paying; as of 2020 the most recent tournament victory by a non fee-paying school was De La Salle Churchtown's 1985 win). It is also the subject of satire through the

Ross O'Carroll Kelly Ross O'Carroll-Kelly is a satirical fictional Irish character, a wealthy South County Dublin rugby union jock created by journalist Paul Howard. The character first appeared in a January 1998 column in the ''Sunday Tribune'' newspaper and late ...

newspaper column and novels. The competition and schools rugby in the four provinces has also been praised with "Irish (rugby) game in debt to schools rugby".

Blackrock College Blackrock College ( ga, Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe) is a voluntary secondary school, voluntary day school, day and boarding school, boarding Catholicism, Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, Dublin, Bl ...

are the most successful school in the cup's history, having won 70 times, an accumulative total larger than all other teams combined.Statistics compiled by Des Daly, Irish Rugby Statistician
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History

Three schools have won the cup at their first attempt;

in the competition's maiden year in 1887,

Castleknock College Castleknock College ( ga, Coláiste Caisleán Cnucha) is a voluntary Vincentian secondary school for boys, situated in the residential suburb of Castleknock, west of Dublin city centre, Ireland. Founded in 1835 by Philip Dowley, it is one o ...

who won the first of their eight Leinster titles at the first time of asking when they defeated Blackrock in the 1913 final and Clongowes Wood College who first won the cup in 1926. St. Fintan's High School and Temple Carrig School are the most recent 'new' schools to the competition, making their debuts in the 2016/17 and 2019/20 seasons respectively. To date, only six schools have achieved the Senior and Junior Cup "double". These are Blackrock, who have achieved this feat 26 times (1910, 1912, 1927, 1933, 1935–36, 1942–43, 1945, 1948, 1953–54, 1956–57, 1962, 1964, 1981–82, 1986–87, 1995, 2004, 2006, 2013–14, 2018), St Michaels twice (2012 & 2019), Gonzaga college 2020), Belvedere (2005), Terenure (1958) and Castleknock College (1920). Even more rare is to lose both the Senior and Junior Cup Finals in the same year. This outcome has been experienced by seven schools on 12 occasions. Terenure College leads with 4 (1957, 1964, 1969 & 1987), followed by Belvedere College with 3 (1930, 1944 & 1962), next St Michaels College (2010), St Mary's College (1943),

Newbridge College , latin_name = , logo = Newbridge College crest.gif , logo_size = 140px , seal_image = , image = Newbridge College.jpg , image_size = 270px , alt = Newbridge College and the R ...

(1939), Cistercian College Roscrea (1910) and

(2017) with 1 each. It happened to

for the first time in 2017. Blackrock College have only been defeated in successive finals on two occasions. In the 1920s they were runners up three times in a row, defeated by St Andrews in 1921 & 1922 followed by Belvedere in 1923. The second occasion was in 1979 & 1980 when they were defeated in successive finals by Terenure College. The 91st Leinster Senior Schools Cup Final in 1977 was between Blackrock College and St Mary's College, and finished level at 12 points each at the end of normal time. Having played 70 minutes, the two sides now faced an additional 15 minutes extra time. Six minutes into extra time Blackrock got a try and conversion. Two further penalties in the second half of extra time sealed victory for Blackrock. The 1977 Leinster Senior Schools Cup Final was played on Sunday 20 March 1977 and not the normal St Patrick's Day. This decision was made to protect the Lansdowne Road pitch following poor weather prior to the Ireland v France Five Nations fixture on 19 March. In September 1967, the then Minister for Education

Donogh O'Malley Donogh Brendan O'Malley (18 January 1921 – 10 March 1968) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician and rugby union player who served as Minister for Education from 1966 to 1968, Minister for Health from 1965 to 1966 and Parliamentary Secretary t ...

introduced free secondary school education. Only very few rugby playing secondary schools opted to join the "Free Education" scheme. To date, only one of these non-fee paying schools has managed to win the Senior Cup. In 1983 and 1985, De La Salle Churchtown beat Castleknock College and Blackrock College. Four captains have gained the distinction of lifting the cup twice, Larry McMahon (Blackrock College, 1929 and 1930), Garret Gill (Blackrock College, 1962 and 1963), Jonny Mion (

) in 1989 and 1990, Barry Gibney (Blackrock College) in 1995 and 1996. The cup, and the schools who play for it, have a history of producing rugby players who have gone on to play for the

Ireland national rugby union team The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Champi ...

. Players such as

Denis Hickie Denis Anthony Hickie (Irish name: ''Donnacadh Antoin Ó hIceadh''; born 13 February 1976), is a retired professional rugby union player formerly employed by the Irish Rugby Football Union. He played his club rugby for Leinster. His primary pos ...

, who captained his St. Mary's College team to win the cup in 1994, and

Gordon D'Arcy Gordon William D'Arcy (born 10 February 1980, in Ferns, County Wexford) is a retired Irish rugby player who played most of his career at inside centre. He played for Irish provincial side Leinster for his entire professional career and is secon ...

have extensive Leinster Senior Cup records. The most international players produced have come from

, with players such as Hugo MacNeill,

Brendan Mullin Brendan John Mullin (born Jerusalem, 31 October 1963) is a former Ireland international rugby union football player. He played as a centre. Profile Mullin spent his early life in Jerusalem, Israel and attended secondary school in Blackrock Col ...

Brian O'Driscoll Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster and for Ireland. He captained Ireland from 2003 until 2012, and captained the ...

, Victor Costello, Shane Byrne, Bob Casey, Leo Cullen,

Luke Fitzgerald Luke Matthew Fitzgerald (born 13 September 1987) is a former rugby union player. He played at Wing (rugby union), winger or Fullback (rugby union), fullback for Leinster Rugby, Leinster. He retired in June 2016. Having previously studied at Blac ...

Ian Madigan Ian Madigan (born 21 March 1989) is an Irish professional rugby union player for Ulster. His primary position is at fly-half, although he can also play at centre and full-back. Club career Madigan made his senior debut for Leinster in a Celtic L ...

Jordi Murphy Jordi Murphy (born 22 April 1991) is an Irish international rugby player. He plays for provincial and United Rugby Championship side Ulster as a loose forward, and also plays for the Ireland national rugby union team. Early life Murphy was b ...

Garry Ringrose Garry Ringrose (born 26 January 1995) is an Irish rugby union player for Leinster and the Ireland national rugby union team. He usually plays at Centre. Leinster Following Ringrose's performances for the Ireland under-20s, Leinster coach Leo C ...

and

Joey Carbery Joseph Carbery (born 1 November 1995) is an Irish rugby union player who plays for Munster in the United Rugby Championship and European Rugby Champions Cup and for the Ireland national team. He plays primarily as a fly-half, but can also p ...

. The 2020 season could not be completed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and as a result the title was deemed shared for the first time by Clongowes Wood College and Newbridge College. It was also only the forth time that no Dublin based school qualified for the final, 1932 (Pres Bray V Newbridge), 1941 (Newbridge V Roscrea), 2011 (Clongowes V Roscrea). The 2021 cup campaign did not take place due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Roll of honour

¹ Corrig School moved premises to Monkstown Park in 1950 and was renamed C.B.C. Monkstown. ² Mountjoy School was amalgamated with other schools in 1972 to become

Mount Temple Comprehensive School Mount Temple Comprehensive School is a secondary school in Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland. The school operates under the patronage of the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, and has, as a primary objective, the provision of state-funded second-le ...

Results

Finals

Drawn finals are replayed. In this table, the result of the replay is given below the result of the drawn game.

Point values

The point values of scores in

have changed many times in its history. This table summarises them.

Records

*Most consecutive wins: 6,

1900–05 *Greatest winning margin in final: 63 points, 1900:

63-0 Corrig School *Narrowest winning margin in final: 1 point, 1891:

1–0 Wesley College; 1969: St. Mary's College 10–9

Terenure College Terenure College is a Carmelite-run secondary school located in the suburb of Terenure, Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1860 and had an associated primary school until 2017. It is one of the "big six" Leinster Schools Rugby-playin ...

; 2008:

Belvedere College Belvedere College S.J. (sometimes St Francis Xavier's College) is a voluntary secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. The school has numerous alumni in the arts, politics, sports, science, and business. History Belvedere owes its origin ...

11–10 St. Mary's College *Highest aggregate score in final: 71 points, 2022:

50-21

Gonzaga College Gonzaga College SJ is a voluntary Catholic boys' secondary school in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1950, Gonzaga College is under the trusteeship of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), one of five Jesuit secondary schools in Irela ...

*Longest period without a win by

: 6 seasons 1967–73

Sponsorship and media coverage

The competition was known for several years as the "Coca-Cola Leinster Schools Senior Cup" and in later years the "Powerade Leinster Schools Senior Cup" (Powerade is also owned by the Coca-Cola Company). In September 2013, Beauchamps Solicitors became the title sponsor for the Leinster Schools Senior Cup. For the duration of this partnership with Beauchamps, the Senior Cup was known as the "Beauchamps Leinster Schools Senior Cup". The competition receives coverage in Ireland's broadsheets, in particular the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

'' and ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

''. Both publish previews of each year's competition and provide match reports for each game played. The competition's final on St Patrick's Day was previously broadcast on

TG4 TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known ...

, however, this was discontinued in the early 2000s. From 2005 onwards, however,

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...

began coverage of school's rugby. This included the finals of all provincial finals and coverage of the Leinster Schools Junior Cup. The Leinster Senior Cup was most prominent, however, with coverage from every game played at Donnybrook and every round of the competition.

FreeSports Viaplay Xtra is a British free-to-air sports television channel operated and owned by Viaplay Group. History Viaplay Xtra launched as FreeSports on 31 August 2017, with the aim to provide free-to-air sports coverage and become a top three ded ...

replaced

Eir Sport Eir Sport (stylised as eir Sport; formerly Setanta Sports) was a group of Irish television sports channels operated by Eircom Sport Limited, a subsidiary of Eir. In December 2015, Eir purchased original Setanta Sports operations in the Republic ...

as the competition broadcaster ahead of the 2019 competition where they will broadcast eight games live.

Leinster School of the Year Award

In 2008,

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby ...

instituted an award for overall performance of a school at every level of schools rugby. The award, "

Powerade Powerade is a sports drink created, manufactured and marketed by The Coca-Cola Company. Its primary competitor is Gatorade, owned by PepsiCo. History In 1988, Powerade became the official sports drink of the Olympics, alongside Aquarius, anot ...

Leinster Rugby School of the Year", has been given at an annual Leinster awards ceremony. The inaugural winners were C.B.C. Monkstown. They were followed in by

(2009),

St Gerard's School St Gerard's School is a lay Catholic co-educational independent day school in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. A fee-charging school, it is administered by a Board of Governors as a charitable trust. As of 2019, the student population was about ...

(2010),

Clongowes Wood College Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Yo ...

(2011), St. Michael's College (2012), (2019) and Blackrock College (2013), (2018). Gonzaga College (2017)

Tiers

Schools Senior Cup Rugby in Leinster is divided into 4 tiers in two sections, and each cup competition bears a name. These 'tiers', in ascending order, include: Section A Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Development Cup (effectively division 4), Section A Leinster Schools Rugby McMullen Cup (effectively division 3), Section B Leinster Schools Vinnie Murray Cup (effectively division 2), Section B Leinster Schools Senior Challenge Cup (effectively division 1). The second tier competition, the Leinster School's Vinnie Murray Cup, is contested by secondary schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the IRFU. It is named in memory of Vincent Murray, a teacher in Clongowes Wood college who trained the rugby team and died in December 1999.

Catholic University School Catholic University School ''(C.U.S.)'' is a private (voluntary) secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1867 by Bartholomew Woodlock as a preparatory school for the Catholic University of Ireland, the predecess ...

are the current champions. With five wins, C.B.C. Monkstown has won the Vinnie Murray Cup the most times. Wesley College the second most with four wins.

and

have won the trophy twice.

Kilkenny College Kilkenny College is an independent Church of Ireland co-educational day and boarding secondary school located in Kilkenny, in the South-East of Ireland. It is the largest co-educational boarding school in Ireland. The school's students are mainly ...

and Temple Carrig School have won the cup once.

In popular culture

* The

Ross O'Carroll-Kelly Ross O'Carroll-Kelly is a satirical fictional Irish character, a wealthy South County Dublin rugby union jock created by journalist Paul Howard. The character first appeared in a January 1998 column in the ''Sunday Tribune'' newspaper and late ...

character, created by Paul Howard, lives off the glory of winning a Leinster Senior Cup final medal with the fictional school "Castlerock College" in the novel ''

The Miseducation of Ross O'Carroll-Kelly ''The Miseducation of Ross O'Carroll-Kelly: The Diary of a Schools Rugby Player'' is a 2000 novel by Irish journalist and author Paul Howard, and the first in the best-selling Ross O'Carroll-Kelly series. It was adapted from a series of columns ...

''. * Gerard Siggins' series of novels, Rugby Spirit (2012), Rugby Warrior (2014), Rugby Rebel (2015), Rugby Flyer (2016) and Rugby Runner (2017) tell the story of a boy, Eoin Madden, who plays rugby for the fictional Dublin school "Castlerock College". He takes part in several campaigns with the school, including the Leinster Junior Cup. The school's name is an homage to that in Paul Howard's books, as Siggins had coined the name "Ross O'Carroll Kelly".

Notes

External links

CBC Monkstown Rugby
(archived)
Leinster Rugby

Statistics compiled by Des Daly, Irish Rugby Statistician

''The Irish Times'' {{Rugby union in Ireland High school rugby union competitions in Ireland Rugby union competitions in Leinster 1887 establishments in Ireland