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Connacht Schools Senior Development Cup Final
Carrick Community School 24
(Krystian Kopczynski (2), Rory McNabola tries; Conor Kelly one pen, three cons)
St. Paul’s, Oughterard 22
(Cormac Forde, Simon Dalton, Dara Lowry tries; Adam Colton one pen, two cons)
Kevin Egan at the Dexcom Stadium
Why settle for just making history, when you can write folklore as well?
That appeared to be the approach taken by Carrick Community School in the Dexcom Stadium in Galway last week, where they wrote their names into the record books as the first Leitrim School to win a Connacht Senior Schools Cup.
That in itself would be a remarkable achievement and something to treasure, but for good measure, they captured their silverware with an incredible late comeback in a game where it looked like their Galway opponents had gradually, and then decisively, snatched away the initiative.
Even when Krystian Kopczynski burst between two tacklers to touch down in the left corner in stoppage time, even the most passionate and optimistic Carrick supporters would have struggled to believe that their team’s chance hadn’t come and gone.
But on a day where two of the defining traits were Carrick’s persistence and St. Paul’s indiscipline, another barnstorming run from Kopczynski down the stand-side touchline took play into the St. Paul’s half, and suddenly a window of opportunity had cracked open.
Now down to 14 players due to a late yellow card, Carrick piled into every ruck as if they were the team with the extra player, and a rash tackle from Joe Dalton, with no attempt to wrap his arms around the ball carrier, left referee Aaron O’Connor with an easy decision to award Carrick the penalty.
Ostensibly, Carrick outhalf Conor Kelly had the wind behind him when he placed the ball 30 metres out from the tryline, roughly 10 metres left of the posts. But the swirling, unpredictable nature of the wind made it a far-from-simple kick, and that was before the sheer importance of the moment was added into the mix.
Kelly’s conversion of the Kopczynski try a couple of minutes earlier was a sublime, elegant strike – hoisted up into the Galway sky for the breeze to hook it back between the posts.
This kick wasn’t as aesthetically beautiful, but it was on target, and as soon as it left his boot, Kelly turned to celebrate with his colleagues, appreciating the weight of what the group had collectively just achieved.
As a rugby match, the most remarkable aspect of the game was how not one, but both teams showed such an overwhelming instinct to run the ball at all times, even when kicking with the aid of the wind seemed like a cheat code.
All bar a couple of penalties – and there were plenty, with O’Connor taking a rigid approach to offside and to any misdemeanours in the ruck – were tapped and run, and a couple even saw wind-assisted teams take the scrum option.
In the early stages, that worked out in Carrick’s favour as they roared into a 14-3 lead by the midway point in the first half, Krystian Kopczynski and Rory McNabola touching down with quick darts off the base of the ruck to make it 14-3 with 20 minutes played. St. Paul’s flanker Ben Lyons picked up the first of their three yellow cards in the lead up to the second of those scores, but Carrick struggled to take advantage, allowing St. Paul’s back into the game.
Ryan Carr-Walsh was a huge threat on the wing for the Oughterard school and Carrick dodged a bullet when it looked like he was about to score from 50 metres out, only for the flag of the touch judge highlighting that he had put one foot over the whitewash.
Some good offloading helped St. Paul’s to gain a little bit more territory, and a try from Cormac Forde, converted by second row Adam Colton, left it 14-10 at half-time.
That should still have been a commanding position for Carrick but while their commitment to a running game made sense for the opening 35 minutes, they remained reluctant to use the boot too often even with the breeze at their backs, and it was the Galway school who dominated possession and territory for the majority of the second half, running the ball with power and purpose.
Fiachra Carr was a wrecking ball at number eight, Dara Lowry pulled the strings from outhalf and when Lowry read a planned Carrick lineout move perfectly to snatch in anterception and go in under the posts, it looked like Carrick’s ship had sailed. They were now 22-14 adrift and were finding it impossible to work the ball up the field.
As much out of desperation as anything, with the clock running out, Conor Kelly put boot to ball and after eating up nearly 70 metres of territory, a superb chase from an army of navy jerseys forced a holding on penalty, which three phases later resulted in Krystian Kopczynski adding his second score.
It could, and perhaps should – from a St. Paul’s perspective – have been just a footnote in the story of a game and a season that would have been all about Carrick Community School making incremental progress in their journey as a new addition to the Connacht Schools Rugby scene.
Instead, it was the first instalment in a sensational finale to a story that will have both historical and romantic resonance in the Carrick-on-Shannon hinterland for a long time to come.
CARRICK CS: Jack Foley; Nizar Dizar, Diarmuid Creighton, Brandon McKiernan, James Lynch; Conor Kelly, Rory McNabola; Jan Balog, Matthew Ffrench, Michael Farrell; Stephen Donohoe, Des Keane; Aaron Durkin Moyes, Timothy Tansey, Krystian Kopczynski.
Replacements used: Alain Patterson for Balog (35), Luke Charles for McKiernan (HT-45), John Boyd for McNabola (53).
Additional replacements: Kyle Breen, Philip Leonardi, Luke Collins, Donnacha Glancy, Matausz Klapuch.
- PAUL’S: Fionn Carr; Ryan Carr-Walsh, Ronan Delap, Simon Dalton, Eamon Lydon; Dara Lowry, Ciarán O’Hare; Darragh Geoghegan, Christopher McDonnell, Enda Kinneavy; Adam Colton, Devon Tierney; Cormac Forde, Ben Lyons, Fiachra Carr.
Replacements: Joe Dalton for Lowry (28-34), Dalton for Carr-Walsh (34), Stephen O’Flaherty for Lyons (60).
Referee: Aaron O’Connor.
