If you ever doubted that women and girls could generate intense sporting passion, take a trip to the Leinster Schoolgirls' Senior Cup hockey final. There you will find the joy, despair and skill that surely merits a far broader recognition, writes Mary Hannigan
If you happened to be taking a stroll down Rathfarnham's Grange Road in Dublin in early March it would be easy enough to assume Westlife had just taken to the stage inside in Marlay Park, their appearance triggering ear-mangling decibels from frenzied teenage girls.
But, actually, what's probably just happened is that, say, Mount Anville have won a penalty corner against Loreto Beaufort, the prospect of half a chance of a goal in the Leinster Senior Cup final initiating the mass hysteria.
There are some who might think the girls don't feel quite as passionately - nor, indeed, as irrationally - about their sport as the boys, but a trip to the home of Three Rock Rovers on Leinster Cup final day - if you're brave enough - would reveal that isn't exactly so, as evidenced by the feverishness that sets in amongst the supporters at key stages of the final, eg when the umpires signal for it to start.
Winning the Leinster Senior Cup matters. A lot. "It's the one everybody looks forward to, the competition everyone wants to win - it's definitely the big one," says Chloe Watkins who, at just 15, one would imagine is a relative newcomer to the cup, still learning about its significance. Not so. In fact Watkins, remarkably, is something of a cup veteran and has already experienced the best and worst of days, winning the final with St Andrew's in 2006 before losing it last year to Alexandra College.
"Of course it was so disappointing to lose, especially knowing what it felt like to win, but really you're just lucky to be even able to take part in a Leinster final, so many good players and teams don't even get that chance," she says.
For a player of Watkins's youth and ability - she was one of the four nominees for the Irish Hockey Association's Young Player of the Year award last year and was called up to the Irish under-18 squad - it might be safe enough to trust there'll always be next year, but for most, if the opportunity comes along at all, it will be the last. Defeat, then, means the coach must instantly transform into a counsellor to comfort her inconsolable, grief-stricken players. It's on days like that you begin to have sympathy for the view that kids shouldn't play competitive sport until they're, in or about, 30.
Watkins, whose older sister Courtney is also one of the key players on the Andrew's team, understands that feeling of devastation because she knows the level of commitment these girls have put in in the preceding months. "There's such a long run to get through to the final, so many matches, it becomes a really big part of your life," she says.
"We train twice a week and then there's a game so it does take up a lot of time, but because everyone's so up for it, because they want to win it so badly, you fit everything in, no problem. You just learn how to balance studies with hockey, it's fine. We train really hard, everyone's so dedicated, but that's how it has to be if you're going to have a chance.
"If you're lucky enough to reach the final then the buzz about the school is great, and the build-up really enjoyable. There's so much excitement with all the supporters, it's just a very special day. Both teams bring a load of supporters, the chants and singing drown out everything, you can't really hear anything on the pitch. It's just great to be part of it, it's such a special day." Any perks? Like getting off homework? "Unfortunately not," she sighs.
One perk that does come the way of many of the players with the leading hockey schools is that they get to be coached by some of the Irish game's biggest names, not least Andrew's, who have had Mary Logue, the former Irish captain, and Nikki King, the one-time Irish goalkeeper and a teacher at the school, at the helm the past few seasons.
Other schools have, in recent years, brought in outside coaches, including some of the Dutch "imports" who make their living from coaching hockey in Ireland, several of them hired by clubs at senior level.
But despite the advantages some schools have over others, not least those who have their own water-based AstroTurf pitch (the surface on which the semi-finals and finals are played at Three Rock Rovers), there has been a healthy spread of honours in the competition over the years, five different schools - Alexandra College, St Andrew's, Mount Anville, Loreto Bray and Wesley College - winning the cup in the last decade, nine in all reaching the last 10 finals.
The competition has, however, been without a title sponsor since 2002, which adds to the notion that it is the poor relation, in terms of schools' sport, of the Leinster Schools' Rugby Senior Cup. It did, though, receive a significant boost last year when television channel Setanta covered the semi-finals and the final - quite possibly one of the loudest sporting events the channel has thus far televised.
This season's first round is up and running, all roads leading to Grange Road in March. Alexandra College are seeking their third triumph in four years, having ended a lengthy drought in the competition in 2005. When, at full-time, their victorious players were reminded that their school hadn't won the cup since 1978 their response was a sombre reminder to some of us that we're not as young as we keep insisting we feel. "1978?! OH. MY. GOD," was the gist.
It may as well have been 1878 for those who made their earthly debuts in the last 1980s. Mind you, Chloe Watkins was born in the 1990s. And she's a veteran of the Leinster Senior Cup.
The final of theLeinster Schoolgirls' Senior Cup is at 2.30pm on Friday, February 29th at Three Rock Rovers, Grange Road, Rathfarnham
