Castleknock College R.I.P.

[madridlion]

Having lost 41-3 to St.Michael´s in the S.C.T. and now 21-0 to St.Michael´s in the J.C.T., I suggest my old school should concentrate on cross country running. I am ashamed by these results and hope that those involved take a serious look at what has happened to a once proud rugby school.

[gleesonisgod]

Bit harsh.....

Schools always struggle when boarding winds down. Roscrea, Newbridge, Knock and there's loads more.

[lebowski]

Will they now at least admit defeat and enter the Senior and Junior Leagues where they should be. Nobody believes that they are better than Gonzaga, CBC, Newbridge or Roscrea.

[gfo]

They took a proper spanking thats for sure. Donnybrook was focking rammers today, get off the roads you stupid kids

[bunty85]

They have reached one semi of the cup this decade. CBC, KCK, Gerrads, Roscrea and Newbridge have reached a semi (2 in some cases) this decade. Their last SCT final was 1976! How they continue in the 7 automatic places baffles me to be honest. I know that Newbridge moved to the league because they felt it was advantagous to them. Gonzaga were reluctant to go in automatically last year when the branch asked them and I know of a couple of other schools that when the idea was mooted it was shot down as they prefer where they are. I think it is all down to the school, personally I think the League hinders any chance of winning the Cup but League schools seem to like it for some reason (only Newbridge and Roscrea have got to the final since the League started, 0 teams this decade have got there). You could count on one hand the number of cup games they've won in the last few years, for their players it would make sense to drop as it must suck to be bashed year in year out in the first round.

[bunty85]

double post

[Reido]

Along with Newbridge they remain the best of the second tier teams, they always have a relatively decent, well organised team with some very talented players but they just don't have the strenght and depth to really challenge for a cup. There's no shame in that though as there are only 7 schools (at most) that actually ever do and even then Belvo, marys etc have some very bad years. Knock were in 2 senior cup semi finals in the last decade, a junior cup final (which I still can't believe they lost) and a couple of other junior semis, a respectable return and certainly far better than gonzaga, monkstown and co. The problem is the gulf between the top tiers is huge.

[bunty85]

…

[lebowski]

Marys is a tiny school yet has reached numerous semis and two finals winning one this decade. The excuse 'we don't have the depth' is horseshit if you want to be considered a top tier contender, even a best of the second tier teams.

These are the batch of second tier schools in no order in my opinion;
Gonzaga
CBC
Castleknock
Newbridge
Kilkenny College
Roscrea
Gerrads

Just below that you have Andrews, KH and probably Pres Bray.

Even though Gerards got to the semi finals of the senior cup this year they are nowhere near as consistant as any of the other schools mentioned. They won the league this year and last with the same team and that team has been recognised as a strong group for years. However if you look at their results from Junior level over the past decade, I think they have only ever reached the Junior Cup proper once and have always struggled in the Fr Godfrey. They lost to Navan this year in the cup. They are the only league school to have never reached a Junior league semi final. Kilkenny are another school who are not as consistant as the others.

While their results do not reflect favourably on the school, Pres Bray have been in far more senior cup proper campaigns than Andrews, KH or Gerards and probably the same amount as Newbridge and Roscrea. They also get to the Junior Cup proper nearly every year (I think they even got to a final in the last 10 years). My point is their is not much between most of the league teams apart from the gulf that exists between Templeogue, Wesley, High School (Gerards and Andrews at Junior) and the rest. Each have their fair share of good years and bad and it is this inconsistency (which they all share with Castleknock) that keeps them well below the big 6.

[Grumpy Old Man]

Marys is a tiny school yet has reached numerous semis and two finals winning one this decade. The excuse 'we don't have the depth' is horseshit if you want to be considered a top tier contender, even a best of the second tier teams.

3 finals - 2002, 2003 and 2008.

Given the numbers it a fine achievement.

[bunty85]

Marys is a tiny school yet has reached numerous semis and two finals winning one this decade. The excuse 'we don't have the depth' is horseshit if you want to be considered a top tier contender, even a best of the second tier teams.

3 finals - 2002, 2003 and 2008.

Given the numbers it a fine achievement.

Apologies, adds even greater weight to the argument!

The 2004 side was good too with Sexton a 6th year then playing his third year of cup rugby, I'll always remember that first round game. 17-0 up and Rock come back to win it. At that stage they hadn't won it in 5 years, a ridiculous length of time for their size and I'd say they would have blown a fuse if they suffered a 1st round loss that year. I remember after the game, everybody there was saying they would be unstoppable given the nature of the win and true enough they brushed by Kearney's Clongowes in the final.

[Blue Steel]

I don't know why Castleknock's headstone is only going up now.

They've been shite for at least 20 years.

[pulldownthemaul]

The seniors in particular have been appaling. 3 years ago when this crop were JCT they could compete with any other team and beat most. Were certainly not 40 points behind anyone. Coach Andy Kenny arrived from Belvo 2 years ago. He seems have made things go backwards. Watching them on Setanta - the line out could not function. The only ball caught was straight up at 2. He had Peter Reilly, Irish schools prop playing at hooker. probably the best 18 year old scrummager in the country, not at prop and the scrum going backwards. Reilly throwing in to the line out and obviously was new to the role !! What was the coach thinking. The team seemed to have no spirit or something big was missing from what are some decent players. Reilly must have thought he was in the middle of a bad dream, thrown in the deep end to play out of position on the big stage. The Michael's half backs ran the show and WHERE were the Castleknock centres in defence ??? Opened up like the red sea !!

[madridlion]

Bunty a couple of points. Castleknock were last in a S.C.T. final in 1983 when they lost to De La Salle Churchtown. As you include 85 in your name, this match was probably before your time.
They made a number of semi- finals under Mick and Charlie Quinn in the 1990´s. Except for Blackrock, Terenure, Clongowes, all other schools have been useless until Mary´s, Belvedere and Michael´s got their acts together in the last ten years. No other school has won the Senior Cup in the past 25 years and they are all equally cr@p. Gonzaga are good at chess.

[bunty85]

The seniors in particular have been appaling. 3 years ago when this crop were JCT they could compete with any other team and beat most. Were certainly not 40 points behind anyone. Coach Andy Kenny arrived from Belvo 2 years ago. He seems have made things go backwards. Watching them on Setanta - the line out could not function. The only ball caught was straight up at 2. He had Peter Reilly, Irish schools prop playing at hooker. probably the best 18 year old scrummager in the country, not at prop and the scrum going backwards. Reilly throwing in to the line out and obviously was new to the role !! What was the coach thinking. The team seemed to have no spirit or something big was missing from what are some decent players. Reilly must have thought he was in the middle of a bad dream, thrown in the deep end to play out of position on the big stage. The Michael's half backs ran the show and WHERE were the Castleknock centres in defence ??? Opened up like the red sea !!

No they didn't compete, the Castleknock JCT 3 years ago lost in the 1st round, I was there.

Apologies about not knowing '83, but you have to admit, Castleknock's recent record is appaling. Michaels had a farily poor run for 4/5 years before their recent success but they reached SCT finals in 88 and 92. In the last 25 years the 'Big 6' have reached nearly all the finals with a couple of exceptions, why Castleknock are still trying to go the automatic route astounds me.

[gleesonisgod]

How many pupils in Marys? Never knew they were in the small school category.

[Leinster BULL]

Knock had a few good junior and seniors players

[bunty85]

Knock had a few good junior and seniors players

Aye, their JCT was supposedly talanted enough.

[madridlion]

Having won the S.C.T. IN 1983 and 1985, the later final against a Rock team that included the Leinster, Irish scrum-half Alain Rolland who went on to referee a world cup final, De La Salle Churchtown were relegated from section B to section A a few years later. I agree Castleknock deserve nothing and should earn it´s place among the elite six by winning something in my lifetime, 44 years and counting.

[LeinsterGiant]

The last decemt team castlenock had was the 2006 team which lost to Mary's..Arguably by one of the better ties we've seen too.
Castleknock attacking the oppositons line when Mary's turned over the ball to crossfield kick into their winger who ran the pitch..That team had numerous underage internationals and leinster players:

Brian Collins- Made a show of Cipriani in Dubai and Irleand U20 Grandslam.
Tom Walsh- Leinster and Ireland but vanished?
Rory Murphy- Leinster Academy, Ireland u20 grandslam and now with Exeter.
and more lads who were with Leinster etc.
That was the last boarders too as far as I know, so it does seem as though the transition has had a major effect. Standard of SCT rugby has had a serious drop since then to say the least across the board.