4 weeks ago 
This Sunday we have four Cup finals to look forward to with the Bank of Ireland Connacht U13, U15, U16 replay and U17 Boys Cup finals all held at The Sportsground.
Kick-off is at 11am for the U16 replay, 12:30pm for the U13 final, 2pm for the U15 final and 4pm for the U17 final and you can get the teams for all eight squads below
U13 BOYS CUP FINAL
| BUCCANEERS RFC | CORINTHIANS RFC | |
| Brian Rourke | 1 | Iustin Ababei |
| Callum McCormack | 2 | Cian Madden |
| Peter Daniels Sunny | 3 | Micheal Duignan |
| Myles Fallon | 4 | Darragh Dickson |
| Matthew Dolan | 5 | Cathal Keaveny |
| Patrick Finneran | 6 | Luke Carr |
| Harry Lowe | 7 | Eoin Healy |
| Jack McDonnell (joint-Captain) | 8 | Enda Colleran |
| Hugh Loftus | 9 | Charlie Garvey |
| Daragh Murray (joint-Captain) | 10 | Evan McDonagh (Captain) |
| Padraig O’Neill | 11 | Luke Dilleen |
| Conor Flynn | 12 | James Molloy |
| John Finnan | 13 | Aaron Hanrahan |
| Ronan Tynan | 14 | Harry Watterson |
| Donnchadh O’Dwyer | 15 | Colin Roche |
| Conor Doran | 16 | Dylan McGrath |
| Aidan Costello | 17 | Aidan Clarke |
| Paidi McKiernan | 18 | Julien Flynn |
| Eoin Carr | 19 | Jack Conroy |
| Cillian Donohoe | 20 | Donnacha Lawless |
| Michael Doolan | 21 | Padraic Kennedy |
| Aaron Delaney | 22 | Brion Kearney |
| Scott Lowe | 23 | James O’Connor |
Buccaneers Extended Squad
Chris Sylla (24), Oisin Donoghue (25), John Morris (26), Ruairi O’Connor (27), Rian Wheatley (28)
Coaches
David Flynn, Garret Tynan, Mick Loftus, John Murray, David Lowe
Corinthians Extended Squad
Ruairi Burke, Aidan Fahy, Rian Grealish, Ronan Kearney, Conor Niland
Coaches
Brian Clarke, Cian Baynes, Dave Watterson, Donal Murphy, John Dilleen, John Roche, Johnny McDonagh, Paul Gill, Sean Duignan
U15 BOYS CUP FINAL
| BUCCANEERS RFC | SLIGO RFC | |
| Elliot Rooney Digan | 1 | Kamsi Mojekwu |
| Stephen O’Connor | 2 | Ryan Burrows |
| Isacc Jocher | 3 | Roghan O’Neill |
| Tyler Mason | 4 | Naoise Fitzgerald |
| Dylan Ryan | 5 | James Mackey |
| Kailin Blessing | 6 | Sean Keaney |
| Conor McCormack | 7 | William Draper (Captain) |
| Kyle Byrne (Captain) | 8 | Jake Laws |
| Diarmuid Lyons | 9 | Andrew Ryan |
| Brian Doyle | 10 | Cillian O’Neill |
| Daire Burke | 11 | Logan Markey |
| Kyle Mahon | 12 | Ricardo Gambi-Whelan |
| Eoin McCormack | 13 | Patrick Brady |
| Matthew Turner | 14 | James McGettrick |
| Andrew Henson | 15 | Conor Van Rensburg |
| Jack O’Reilly | 16 | Samuel Garvey |
| Andrew McCormack | 17 | Michael Cosgrove |
| David Del Rosario | 18 | Cuthbert (Bertie) Bamber |
| Tadgh Trainor | 19 | Oscar O’Connor |
| Anthony Quinn | 20 | Conor McGoldrick |
| Matthew O’Connor | 21 | Harry Dennison |
| Paul O’Sullivan | 22 | Tadhg Murphy |
| Sean Duffy | 23 | Mark Greer |
Buccaneers Extended Squad
Nils Chapel, Calum Hudson, Daithi O’Leochain, Richard Heaslip, Pablo Vallarta and Cian Copeland
Coaches
David Dunning, Paul Byrne, Wes Hudson, Pat McCormack, Peter Mahon
Sligo Extended Squad
Michael Gaffney, Robbie Gilleece, Adam Feeney, Jacob Norris, Ted Keyes, James Dylan Barnicle, Feidhlin McGowan, Jayden Kelly, Odhran Buckley, Callum Scott, Heath Jeffrey, Keelan Gilmartin, Finnan O’Mahony
Coaches
Roger Burrows, Ken O’Neill, Aidan Mackey, Carl Van Rensburg, Gavin Laws
Ball Boys
Sean Gaffney, Harry Brady, Edward Laws
U16 BOYS CUP FINAL REPLAY
| BUCCANEERS RFC | CORINTHIANS RFC | |
| Nathan Downes | 1 | Donagh Kilcommins |
| Eoin Naughton (captain) | 2 | Euan Kavanagh |
| Louis Clayburn | 3 | Miciog O’Shea |
| James Heaslip | 4 | Charlie Curling |
| Rian Claffey | 5 | Liam Cahill (Captain) |
| Tom Bourke | 6 | Ruairc Joyce |
| Oteaga Awhinawhi | 7 | Mark Farragher |
| Callum Kelly | 8 | Charlie Keane |
| Charlie O’Carroll | 9 | Darragh Conneely |
| Conor Naughton | 10 | Daniel Browne |
| Conor Dowling | 11 | Conor Dooley |
| Thomas Cotton | 12 | Sean Walsh |
| Niall Derwin | 13 | Finnan Strain |
| Tom Sheehan | 14 | Christopher Joyce |
| Dylan Bruton | 15 | Cian Heavey |
| Evan McMickan | 16 | Josh Gibson |
| Sam Slevin | 17 | Emmet Walsh |
| Jacques Bourdon | 18 | Dylan McDonagh |
| Brandon Conroy | 19 | Robbie Dolan |
| Camin Dolan | 20 | Peadar Delaney |
| Sean O’Donoghue | 21 | Cillian McCullough |
| Patrick Begley | 22 | Mark James Curry |
| Emilio Prada | 23 | Ben Cooke |
Buccaneers Extended Squad
Andrew Mitchell, Sam Radebe, Aaron McAteer, Sean Noone, Cian Duffy, Sean Walsh
Coaches
Eugene Forde, Graham Heaslip, John O’Carroll, Ger O’Donoghue
Corinthians Extended Squad
Eoin Higgins, Jo Hickey, Lorcan Daly, Jamie Allen, James Fahy, Stefan Ababei, Hari Arkani, Joshua Craig, Samuel Cahill, Paidi Griffin, Jack Maher, Cormac Morrin
Coach
Muriel Dooley, Eoin De Butlair, Cathal Ford, Simon Kavanagh, James Allen and Niall Browne
U17 BOYS CUP FINAL
| BUCCANEERS RFC | SLIGO RFC | |
| Sean Doyle | 1 | Aran Platt |
| Sean Rohan | 2 | Keelan Schoen |
| Padraig Brazil | 3 | Oisin Quinn |
| Josh McCormack | 4 | Matthew Gallagher |
| Conor Sheehan | 5 | Tom Walsh |
| Gabriel Murphy | 6 | Malachi Cullen |
| Patrick Egan | 7 | Max Hunter |
| Niall Tallon (Captain) | 8 | Ambrose Bamber (Captain) |
| Fionn Lyons | 9 | Gareth McGinty |
| Andy Quinn | 10 | Oisin O’Neill |
| James Clarke | 11 | Ronan O’Hehir |
| Ewan Joyce-Whyte | 12 | Conor Creaven |
| Leon Cassidy | 13 | Stefan Roche |
| Jack Donnelly | 14 | Gerard Murtagh |
| Donnacha Connolly | 15 | Robert O’Kelly Lynch |
| Peadar Dolan | 16 | Alex Harte |
| Aindriu Oates | 17 | Senan Fallon |
| Abu Saka | 18 | Luke McNamee |
| Matthew Fallon | 19 | James Horan |
| Jorge Prieto | 20 | Ronan O’Conor |
| Jack Pollard | 21 | Jack Deegan |
| Danny Reid | 22 | Aran Gilligan |
| Jules Antoine | 23 | Diarmaid O’Connell |
Buccaneers Extended Squad
Brian Mulvihill, Sonny Drummond, Oisin Byrne, Matthew Connor, Stephen Joyce, Hugh Hilliard, Jack Duffy, Sean McCarthy, Dillon Lally, Matas Jurginas, Michael Kenny, Andrew Warde, Lestin Gossy, Pepe Marquez, Ryan Gahan
Coaches
Brian Tallon, Shay Ronan, Charlie Couper, Seamus Lyons, Alex Hayman
Sligo Extended Squad
Eamon Keane (24), James Crawford (25), Matthew Quinn (26) and Lochlann Jordan (27)
Coaches
Joe Walsh, Stanley Hunter, Brian Roche and Sean Creaven
By John O’Sullivan
The recently completed Connacht Rugby and Bank of Ireland For The Love of The Club virtual run/walk raised over €30,000 for Club and Community rugby in Connacht.
Over 2,000 people put on their running shoes in aid of the Connacht club of their choice or — for the unaffiliated — club and community rugby in the province generally with all of the money raised going directly to the cause.
The event wasn’t just confined to the four corners of the five western counties, and participants took part in 25 Irish counties and 11 different countries, which shows the breadth of the Connacht Rugby club & community footprint throughout the world.
We caught up with some of the international contingent who shared their stories, images of their walking/running route, and how the event helped them stay connected to their clubs and — by extension – their communities in the midst of a global pandemic.
John Gorham represented Connemara RFC from Chicago. The Clifden native said that the For The Love of The Club event enabled him — and his fellow participants, including the 2016 Rose of Tralee — to stay in touch with his home club.
“My friends and I really enjoyed our run,” he said.
“We started and finished at “the Kerryman pub” here in Chicago. We ran a 5k course that is used for the running club during the summer. We kept the runners to a minimum due to restrictions.
“When finishing we settled in for a “couple” of pints to watch Ireland beat England.
“Among our runners was the 2016 Rose of Tralee Maggie McEldowney and a couple of guys from the Chicago Lions Rugby Club.
“I love the fact that events like this help me stay in touch with my club back home. Connemara RFC has always had a place in my heart and with social media, online lotto, and now events like this I can stay in touch and contribute to the club.”
John Gorman, centre, and his fellow runners/walkers in Chicago.
Moving continents, Jonathan Cleary took part in the run/walk in aid of Ballyhaunis RFC in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Cleary was proud to represent the Mayo club, whom he described as a community focal point.
“Ballyhaunis RFC have a long and treasured tradition in the community and are a focal point for many a generation,” he said.
“It’s fantastic to see the progress the Club has made in terms of their underage programmes, facilities, and a wide network that reaches far beyond the town. I would like to wish them every success in the future and look forward to bigger, brighter, and better things once the lockdown has passed.”
Jonathan Cleary took part in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Elsewhere, Martin McDonagh ran in aid of Corinthians RFC in Melbourne, Australia.
“Connacht Rugby had been a huge part of my life from a very young age being involved with Corinthians and having had the opportunity to work and be involved in Connacht over the years so I found it important to show my support from Melbourne, Australia for a great cause,” he said.
Martin McDonagh’s running route through Melbourne
