Ulster Schools' Cup FInal

in tandem with their academic targets, and to be part of the Danske Bank Schools’ Cup Final is the ultimate achievement – bar taking the trophy back to a rapturous reception at tomorrow morning’s Assembly! – for a squad which has been taught together, prepared for life together and trained together for years. A unique bond will have formed in the Methody and Campbell squads, and in decades to come they’ll reunite to support future generations on St Patrick’s Day, just as predecessors have gathered to support their 2019 successors. The Schools’ Cup has a way of fastening friendships just as it secures great rivalries. Another fabled chapter opens this afternoon when referee Dan Carson blows his whistle to begin what promises to be a compelling contest.

Final, accounting for the formidable Belfast ‘Inst’ and Wallace High en route to Ravenhill Park. Ironically, Campbell, despite its acknowledged strengths on the pitch and in the coaching team, entered 2019 relatively low in the rankings, but the ‘seeding’ committee was not to be misled and Brian Robinson, that great Irish No.8, with Jonny Cupitt at his side, had a group of players approaching its collective peak in the round of the last 16. Sullivan Upper, an ambitious Enniskillen Royal, then RS Armagh in the ‘semi’, were sterling opposition which has forged another excellent Schools’ Cup match-day squad. Last season the decider gave us a ‘Town versus Country’ contest, always a good formula for a colourful and rather different crowd in the state-of-the-art Kingspan Stadium stands and on its well-designed terraces. Royal School Armagh, whose name was the very first on the trophy in 1876, came off just second best to Campbell College, who return as holders this early Spring afternoon. Nowadays the literal professionalism of rugby in Ireland means many of those on show today will have already been earmarked as potential Ulster and Ireland players of the next decade. The schools game was always a rich recruiting talent for our top players, and with contemporary development and coaching in the hands of fully-staffed Academies, this will not be the last time the Kingspan Stadium sward will feature several of those determined on making their own mark on the history of this tournament. First-class prospects are identified well down the line nowadays, but be in no doubt that whatever ambitions are harboured in the very long term, each and every player today is focused completely on being part of a team which adds further lustre to the historically heavyweight achievements of Campbell and Methodist Colleges in sport generally, and in rugby in particular. This day, of all the game’s schooldays, stands out. Households will have been gripped by the Cup for months, not just the duration of the competition. The boys will have worked hard all year,

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