Leinster Schools' Senior Cup Preview And Draw

Belvedere College

Record: P15, W12, L3. Coaches: Dermot Kavanagh, Fr Jim Culliton.

Players from last year: Andrew Cullen, Donal Crotty, Sean Brophy, Niall Murray, Conor Sheehy, Damien O'Donoghue, Gary Kavanagh, James Downey, Martin Kennedy.

Prospects: Once again find themselves with an unfortunate draw, facing last year's nemesis, St Mary's College. Talented flanker Andrew Cullen and the other eight players from last season will covet revenge. Definitely the clash of the round and possibly of the competition between two good footballing teams.

Blackrock College

Record: P17, W16, L1. Coaches: Alan McGinty, Toirleac O'Brien, Niall Toolan.

Players from last year: Gary Brown, Paul Drew, Andrew Frame, Robert Lacey, John Sullivan (unavailable due to illness), John Walsh, Niall Walsh.

Prospects: Pristine record that underlines the weight of expectation they bear. New coach in Alan McGinty who seems to extract the best from his charges as his JCT record demonstrates. Tough opening task with the possibility of an equally formidable second contest. Will be very competitive but that might not be enough.

Castleknock College

Record: P15, W6, L9. Coaches: Mick Quinn, Charlie Quinn, Jimmy Bruen.

Players from last year: R McEntee, D Grimes, W Stafford, D O'Donovan, A Lynch, I Hopkins.

Prospects: Castleknock find themselves in the soft underbelly of the top half of the draw. Their main stumbling block to a place in the semi-finals at Lansdowne Road is presented by Roscrea, a hurdle which may be beyond them.

CBC Monkstown

Record: P15, W3, D1, L11. Coaches: Pat Fox, Gerry Berry.

Players from last year: George Mahon, Tom O'Reilly, Conal Boyd, Darren McKenna, Oscar Nolan, Simon Collins.

Prospects: As a past pupil it grieves me to say that the only thing CBC can aspire to is a good performance and the possibility of avoiding a mauling from a high class St Mary's College side. Sure to battle hard but equally certain to be a first match casualty.

Clongowes Wood College

Record: P11, W4, L7. Coaches: Vincent Murray, Noel Murray.

Players from last year: William Wallace, David Lennon, Aidan Proctor, Owen Brady, Richard O'Connor-Nash, John Smyth, Henry Bourke.

Prospects: Ignore the record. The defending champions are a far more accomplished team than their record suggests. Lack the star quality of last year in Gordon D'Arcy and Des Dillon but still possess a very strong spine. Potential finalists, but may find that Blackrock and St Mary's in successive matches is too tough an itinerary.

Cistercian College, Roscrea

Record: P11, W4, L7. Coach: Kevin West.

Players from last year: John Phelan, Brian Hall, Sean Byrne, Aaron Spring, Pat McCarthy, Barry McCann, Gordon Ross, Gavin Duffy.

Prospects: Beaten in the semi-final last season, Roscrea welcome back eight of last year's side. Favoured by the draw, they should manage to emulate last season's feat at least, facing Newbridge College at the penultimate stage. That's where they may bow out.

CUS

Record: P16, W5, D2, L9. Coaches: David O'Keeffe, Iain Synott.

Players from last year: Damien Lambert, Michael Brogen, Paul Flannery, Paul Maher, David O'Keeffe, Brian Darcy, David Casey, Alan Duffy, Gareth Pitcher.

Prospects: Tough first round match against a Gonzaga side that narrowly lost the league final. Led by Damien Lambert, CUS have nine of last year's squad which should allow them to produce a gallant if losing performance.

De La Salle Churchtown

Record: P17, W7, L10. Coaches: Lorcan Balfe, Thomas Leigh.

Players from last year: Kevin Scallan, Ross O'Neill, Garret O'Reilly, Mark O'Sullivan, Conor Lyden, Dave McManaman.

Prospects: Another school for whom the draw has been severe. Despite boasting half of last season's side they face a big Roscrea team that may travel all the way to the semi-final. Great cup fighters but should be outclassed.

Gonzaga

Record: P14, W11, L3. Coaches: Bobby Byrne, Kevin Whirdy.

Players from last year: Ronan Davy, Dermot Marah, Andrew Feeney, Brian McCloskey, Brian O'Riordan.

Prospects: Bobby Byrne's charges have enjoyed one of their more successful seasons to date, narrowly losing to St Andrew's in the league final at Donnybrook. Should make Roscrea work hard in Portlaoise in the second round but victory there would constitute a shock.

High School

Record: P17, W12, D1, L4.

Coaches: David Wright, Ray Walker.

Players from last year: Ross McNally, David Campbell, Hugh Hogan, Daniel Dunne, Mark McCullough, Greg O'Meara, Neil Stanley, Daniel Downey.

Prospects: Fate has been cruel, decreeing that when they finally manage to cobble together a decent senior team they are handed a difficult opening assignment. Could be a cruelly unrewarding and short campaign if Wesley prevail.

King's Hospital

Record: Not available.

Coaches: Dermot Kelleher, John Huggard.

Players from last year: Brendan McKeever, Brendan Milligan, Andrew Bennett, Daniel Murphy, Tim Lennon, Ronan Sheridan, David Watkins.

Prospects: The grapevine suggests that Joe McDonnell's St Gerard's boast a big, powerful pack, traditionally a feature of King's Hospital teams. This could be a very close contest but with King's Hospital just shading the issue. Should go out in second round.

Marian College

Record: P11, W7, L4.

Coaches: John Kelly, Louis Magee.

Players from last year: Albert Allen, Shane Healy, Gareth Dolan, Raymond Russell, Glen Trehy, David O'Reilly, Mark Egan, David Walsh, Nicholas O'Donovan, Cathal Daly, Declan Prior.

Prospects: Beaten finalists in Section A, Marian will be content with their preChristmas achievements. Fortunate to have avoided some of the heavyweights in the competition, they should manage an adequate performance against St Paul's before bowing out.

Mount Temple

Record: P12, W8, L4.

Coaches: Ross O'Toole, Tommy Kearns, Ken O'Carroll, Jim Casey.

Players from last year: Stephen Cairns, David Handcock, Jeff Moore, Tom Casey, Niall O'Carroll, Joe Fitzachary, Gavin Mercer, Robin Kiely, Keith Ellis, David Hickey.

Prospects: Section A winners, Mount Temple have been rewarded with a reasonable draw against Castleknock. An exercise in celebrating the quality of performance rather than any realistic chance of upsetting the odds..

Newbridge College

Record: P15, W9, D1, L5. Coaches: Greg McInerney, Declan Corbett.

Players from last year: John O'Sullivan, Garvan de Bruir, Diarmuid Keneally, Tony Buckley, Conor Rees, Ryan Cunningham, Paddy Noble.

Prospects: Any complacency in their opening assignment clash with St Andrew's College and they could be the victims of a cup upset. Suitably focused they should cruise to the semi-finals and probably the final. Well coached team with plenty of quality.

Presentation College, Bray

Record: P14, W3, D3, L8.

Coaches: Wayne Robertson, Breffni O'Hagan, Bobby O'Keeffe.

Players from last year: Brian Murphy, Niall McCarthy, Seamus Kennedy.

Prospects: Despite receiving a bye into the second round, their interests should last only 70 minutes. Belvedere would be a match for 90 per cent of the teams in this season's competition so Bray will not be shamed by an early exit.

St Andrew's College

Record: P16, W14, L2.

Coaches: David Boyd, Gordon Laing, Tony Ward.

Players from last year: Jeff Mackey, Shaun Ryan, Nick McQuade, Neil Menzies, Adam Shehabeddin, Arthur Molyneux, Graeme Bergin, Andrew O'Toole, Aaron O'Grady, Stefan Gill, Daniel Crean, Alan Dumbleton.

Prospects: Excellent victory in the league final but St Andrew's season should be brought to an abrupt conclusion against Newbridge. Well coached, decent footballing team, a kinder draw might have brought at least one victory.

St Gerard's College

Record: Not available.

Coach: Joe McDonnell.

Players from last year: Michael Costigan, Daragh Devlin, Niall Crean, Anthony Durkan, Simon Hunt, Rory Moran, Dan Silverlock, Ciaran Vance, Breffni Behan.

Prospects: Would be an excellent performance to slip past the opening hurdles and defeat King's Hospital. Accomplishing that would hand them the equally difficult task of a tilt at Castleknock. First round losers.

St Mary's College

Record: P15, W13, D1, L1. Coach: Derek Jennings.

Players from last year: Louis Burke, Kieran Lewis, Paul Madden, Conor Queenan, James Norton, Karl Daly, Shane Jennings.

Prospects: Apologise in advance but have to tip somebody. Probable champions if they beat Belvedere, Clongowes or Blackrock and then Newbridge or Roscrea. Three internationals in Kieran Lewis, James Norton and Shane Jennings and plenty of ability elsewhere.

St Michael's College

Record: P16, W12, D1, L3. Coaches: Paul Barr, Gary Coakley, Dave Schmuda.

Players from last year: Gerry Cleary, John Byrne, Simon Byrne, Fiachra Baynes.

Prospects: Face a daunting experience against Blackrock College despite a good pre-cup record. Captain Gerry Cleary playing for the fourth year on SCT.

St Paul's College

Record: P15, W3, D1, L11. Coach: Alan Dignam.

Players from last year: Mark Buckley, Mark Cahill, Brendan Cole, Paul Henry, Tommy Markham, David O'Siochain, Andrew Yule, Eoin Carroll, J J Grogan, Mick O'Shea, Mark O'Siochain, Jack Quinn, Gareth Rossi.

Prospects: Fortunate draw pits them against Marian but despite the presence of Ireland Under-19 international Gareth Rossi they will not progress further against either Clongowes or Terenure College.

Templeogue College

Record: P15, W6, D1, L8. Coaches: Gary Byrne, Fr Noel Redmond, Pat Fogarty, Colin McEntee.

Players from last year: Conor McPhillips, Johnny Hughes, Conor Nevin, Enda Gormley.

Prospects: Captain Conor McPhilipps equals the mark of St Michael's College counterpart Gerry Cleary of being in his fourth year on the SCT. Cup battlers, they may find that former Section A side Kilkenny are too competent.

Terenure College

Record: P17, W10, L7. Coaches: Des Thornton, Gerry Murphy, Conor O'Sullivan.

Players from last year: T Byrne, T Cater, G English, P Smyth.

Prospects: Contested the last two finals against Clongowes with honours even but tomorrow's first round encounter may go the way of the Kildare side. Dangerous underdogs, Terenure certainly have the pedigree to cause an upset.

Wesley College

Record: P15, W10, D1, L4. Coaches: Fred O'Brien, Keith Lemon.

Players from last year: David Popplewell, Harry Leach, Gary Wynne, Kevin Corrigan, John Corrigan, Stewart Abbot, Robert Cullen, Craig Sowman.

Prospects: Liberal sprinkling of players for whom cup fare is not a new phenomenon. In any other year David Popplewell, younger brother of Lions prop Nick, would expect to lead his side through the opening match but they face a touch match against High School. May shade it.

Junior Cup Draw

First round - (A) St Michael's v Kilkenny; (B) Presentation Bray v DLS Churchtown; (C) Skerries v CBC Monkstown; (D) Templeogue v Mount Temple; (E) King's Hospital v Castleknock; (F) Roscrea v Clongowes; (G) High School v Newbridge, all February 3rd; second round - Blackrock v St Andrew's, February 16th; St Paul's v Terenure, February 14th; winners A v Winner B, February 17th; Winners C v winners D, February 18th; winners E v winners F, February 15th; winners G v St Mary's, February 15th; Gonzaga v Wesley, February 16th; CUS v Belvedere, February 15th; quarter-finals, February 28th - March 1st; semi-finals, March 10th and 11th; final, March 28th.