Connacht Schools Rugby Senior Cup

The Connacht School's Rugby Senior Cup is an annual rugby union competition for secondary schools affiliated to the Connacht Rugby Branch of the IRFU.

Connacht Schools Senior Cup
Connacht Rugby Schools Senior Cup
SportRugby Union
Founded1913
No. of teams7 (season 2021-22)
Most recent
champion(s)		Sligo Grammar School (2023)
Most titlesGarbally College
48

History

The Connacht School's Rugby Senior Cup is an annual rugby union schools competition organised by the Connacht Rugby Branch of the IRFU. Boys, usually of seventeen or eighteen years of age, compete for the cup with rival schools from within the province of Connacht. The competition was first held in 1913, with Garbally College, Ballinasloe the first Champions.

The first round matches are typically played towards the end of January, with the final being played in the Galway Sportsgrounds the week before Saint Patrick's Day.

Historically, Garbally College have been the most successful school in the competition lifting the cup 48 times, while Coláiste Iognáid have been the most successful team since the turn of the millennium winning eight titles in years 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2016 and 2017.

The current holders (2023) are Sligo Grammar School who defended the title won in 2022 by beating Marist College, Athlone by 28-07 on 22 March 2023 in the Galway Sportsgrounds.

Competition structure

The Connacht Rugby Schools Cup is a three tier competition;

Senior Cup [Senior A Cup]

The premier competition played by the strongest rugby playing schools in the region. Current competition format is two pools [A & B] of three teams playing each other round robin. The Winners & Runner Up in each pool proceeding to the Semi-Finals.

  • Winner Pool A vs Runner Up Pool B
  • Winner Pool B vs Runner Up Pool A

The two other tiers cater for schools who cannot consistently compete at Senior Cup level by reason of playing population or experience.

In total 30 Schools representing all five provincial counties participated in the various Connacht Rugby Senior Schools Cups in 2019.

Connacht Senior Development Cup [Senior B Cup]

Is the Second Tier Competition for schools with established Rugby programs but who due to lower playing numbers or do not have the high level of population experience to consistently compete at Senior Cup Level.
Nine schools compete in three pools of three, leading to semifinals and a final.

Connacht Senior Emerging Cup [Senior C Cup]

Is the Third Tier Competition for Schools who have recently introduced Rugby programs within their schools.
Nine schools compete in three pools of three, leading to semifinals and a final.

The target is for schools to establish themselves within the lowest tier initially, and progress through to the highest tier.

Roll of honour
School Location Outright Titles Shared Titles Runners-Up +1 Total Finals +2 Last Title
Garbally College Ballinasloe, County Galway 48 0 6 54 2020
Colaiste Iognaid (The Jes) Galway, County Galway 14 0 4 18 2017
Sligo Grammar School Sligo, County Sligo 12 0 11 23 2023
St. Josephs College (The Bish) Galway, County Galway 12 1 2 15 1994
Marist College Athlone, County Westmeath 3 0 3 6 2013
Ranelagh College, Athlone (2) Athlone, County Westmeath 2 0 0 2 1923
Galway Grammar School (2) Galway, County Galway 1 0 0 1 1941
Collegians (2) Galway, County Galway 1 1 0 2 1951
St Sarans College (1) Ferbane, County Offaly 1 0 2 3 2004
Wilsons Hospital Multyfarnham, County Westmeath 1 0 1 2 1966
Clifden Community School Clifden, County Galway 1 0 0 1 1975
Summerhill College Sligo, County Sligo 0 0 2 2 N/A
CBS Roscommon Roscommon, County Roscommon 0 0 1 1 N/A
Portumna Community School Portumna, County Galway 0 0 1 1 N/A

Cup final results [Senior A Cup]

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Other cup competitions

2010s

2020s

2010s

2020s

Galway City Senior Cup
  • 2006 Coláiste Iognáid
  • 2007 Coláiste Iognáid
  • 2008 Coláiste Iognáid beat Calasanctius College, Oranmore
  • 2009 Coláiste Iognáid
  • 2010 Coláiste Iognáid
  • 2011 Coláiste Iognáid

Other competitions

Senior B Cup

2000's

2010's

From 2014-15 onward the league competition winner is determined as the team finishing top after all rounds are completed.

For year 2017-18, the winner is determined after a playoff final between the winners of Two Group sections.

2020's

Senior and Junior Cup Doubles

See also

References
  1. Mackenzie, Linley (10 March 2011). "Coláiste Iognáid grab their sixth title". The Irish Times.
  2. "Coopers star as Marist College claim title". The Irish Examiner. 15 March 2012.
  3. "Back-to-back titles for balanced Marist". Irish Independent. 14 March 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  4. "Sligo's late rally secures cup glory in Connacht". Irish Examiner. 28 March 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  5. "Keller the hero as Garbally take title Garbally College 19 Summerhill College 18 Connacht Schools Snr Cup final". Irish Independent. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  6. "Masterful Simon Keller boots Garbally College to 45th title". Irish Examiner. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  7. Linley, MacKenzie (16 March 2016). "Jes win Connacht Schools Rugby Cup". Galway Advertiser.
  8. "Codyre holds nerve to take glory for Jes". Irish Independent. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  9. "Coláiste Iognáid Win Top Oil Senior Cup - Connacht Rugby". Connacht Rugby. 15 March 2017.
  10. Small, Daragh. "Moment of brilliance the difference as Coláiste Iognáid claim back-to-back Connacht Senior Cups". The42. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
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  13. "Three-in-a-row for Garbally as they survive second-half Sligo onslaught to clinch Connacht Schools Senior Cup". independent.ie.
  14. MacKenzie, Linlley. "Garbally show resilience to retain their Connacht crown". The Irish Times.
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  19. "Mayo leads the way in schooling new players". Independent.ie. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
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  21. GBFM, Sport (13 March 2019). "School's Cup Rugby Final Day – Live". Galway Bay FM. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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  23. "Connacht Rugby - Match Report: St. Pauls Oughterard Vs Colaiste Einda". Connacht Rugby. 15 March 2022.
  24. "Enniscrone Win Senior Emerging Cup - Connacht Rugby". Connacht Rugby. 22 March 2017.
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  29. Ward, Tony. "2015/16 Connacht School-by-school guide". Irish Independent. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  30. "League Table - Connacht Rugby". Connacht Rugby. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  31. "Rugby League Cup Winners | Sligo Grammar School". Sligo Grammar School. 7 December 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  32. "Connacht Schools Senior Rugby League 2017-18". Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  33. School, Sligo Grammar (12 December 2019). "Grammar wins League against Garbally College today. Score: 21-12. You're Fantastic!!#sgsachievers". @SligoGrammar.
  34. "Sligo Grammar win's 2022 Senior League". Twitter. Sligo Grammar.
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