From Pinetree to blossoming talents

Leinster Senior Cup Interview: Gavin Cummiskey talks to the Leinster schools honorary secretary Kevin Kelleher about the great players he has watched and refereed over the years

Fifty-one years on a wooden bench in Donnybrook watching Schools Cup rugby is liable to give you splinters. It also guarantees the Leinster schools honorary secretary, Kevin Kelleher, has plenty of stories to pass on.

Snippets of history most people have long since forgotten: like when business magnate Tony O'Reilly graced the Dublin 4 sod or Brendan Mullin switched to outhalf to transform the 1982 final. The Dream Team. Gordon D'Arcy at pace.

Magical moments that launched so many legends. But his best yarn doesn't concern the schools game at all.

On December 2nd, 1967, Kelleher sent off the All Blacks' most revered player, Colin Meads, in a Test match against Scotland at Murrayfield.

For inhabitants of the Land of the Long White Cloud, this was akin to JFK's assassination in Dallas. They all remembered where they were when news filtered through of the great "Pinetree's" dismissal.

Sitting comfortably in the palatial front room of St Conleth's College on Clyde Road, Ballsbridge, where Kelleher is headmaster, the former referee explains how he became a household name among rugby-crazed Kiwis.

Although Meads was considered somewhat unlucky, the dismissal was hardly a ground-breaking decision. Pinetree was globally recognised as the All Blacks' enforcer of that era. If legend can be believed, he could have swatted Martin Johnson aside with one of his giant mitts.

Kelleher had already formally cautioned him for rampaging through a ruck despite the ball being clearly visible at the back door. When he aimed a kick - which missed the mark - at David Chisholm after 70 minutes, Kelleher didn't even blink when pointing to the touchline.

The next day's Daily Telegraph described it as "sending a burglar to prison for a parking offence".

"He kicked out at Chisholm," explains Kelleher, 38 years after the fact. "Now, New Zealanders always maintained that he didn't connect, but as far as I was concerned the intention was there. You kick to injure."

The whole affair afforded Kelleher Lee Harvey Oswald status in New Zealand. The two men at the centre of the storm, however, quickly buried the hatchet, Meads responding to a Kelleher letter and the pair subsequently exchanging Christmas cards ever since.

They met in Dublin when Meads travelled over for Kurt McQuilken's marriage a few years back. Meads and the naturalised Lansdowne and Ireland centre both hail from the King Country province. Kelleher is also a member of Lansdowne. Former Leinster manager Ken Ging it was who brought them back together.

Kelleher also flew down to New Zealand 10 years ago when, with Willie John McBride, he was a special guest on the This Is Your Life programme for the Kiwi legend. The whistle from the game that overshadowed Kelleher's 22 other internationals as referee from 1960 to 1971 found a home at the All Blacks museum in Palmerstown North.

"I've got an enormous amount of mileage out of it down the years. Many people like to claim I've sent them off but in 27 years of refereeing I only sent two players off: Meads and a Terenure player in the Leinster Cup final. There were a few handbags between the front rows that I was dealing with when some guy ran in from the centre and threw a punch. I had no choice."

With so many memories of the schools game, several questions must be asked to satisfy the anoraks: What was the greatest game he ever saw? Greatest player? What team really stands out?

"The Clongowes side (captained by Des Dillon and including Gordon D'Arcy) that scored 30 points in beating Terenure in the 1998 final (37-18) were special. Terenure teams are never beaten but Clongowes just blew them away. They also beat Blackrock and St Mary's on their way to the final.

"The Blackrock team from 10 years ago were also special. They were known as the Dream Team but Blackrock seem to produce a Dream Team every couple of years.

"One of the best finals was Tony O'Reilly's Belvedere against Niall Brophy's Blackrock in 1954. Many of the players involved went on to play for Ireland (both men subsequently toured New Zealand with the 1959 Lions).

"It was a smashing match. I remember Belvedere went in as favourites but an intercept try from Blackrock's Tom Cleary turned the contest. O'Reilly was a magnificent player, one of the best players I have ever seen at schools level. Brendan Mullin was another great player as was Victor Costello. Costello was a tremendous force.

"You can tell when a player is going to go on and play for Ireland. I remember saying 'O'Reilly will play for Ireland within a year'. In fact, he was capped that December."

There is a player in this year's competition that Kelleher puts in this lofty bracket but he declines to heap pressure on young shoulders by naming names. Injury permitting, the mystery player should be up in lights come St Patrick's Day.

Kelleher is still a little sceptical about the increased spotlight that inevitably came with Setanta Sports' coverage, now entering its second year, but accepts that time moves forward.

"Setanta's coverage, I suppose, is good for the game as it allows people who miss the games through work to get home and see them that evening. We didn't get as much a say as we would have liked over the whole issue - it was more thrust upon us - but it seems to be working out fine."

On Sunday he will take up his regular position in the committee box as Blackrock meet Terenure in a tasty Senior Cup opener. The two schools with the most titles in direct conflict. Not a bad start to yet another season.