Ben O'Connor, Danny and Jacob Sheahan in Ireland U19 rugby squad but Leinster dominating underage

THIS time last year the seemingly ever-widening gap between Munster and Leinster across the board became quite apparent when the four best teams in either province contested the opening round of the Frazer McMullen U20 Cup.

It’s confined to those two regions and results were stark in the extreme. Leinster teams won all four games by a combined total of 152 points, working out at an average of 38 points per game.

Munster’s leading quartet, UCC, Cork Constitution, Shannon and Young Munster were put to the sword in decisive fashion by the two universities in Dublin, UCD and Trinity College, along with Lansdowne and Old Belvedere, who conceded just 56 points in all, 14 on average.

It continued a long-running trend of Munster teams, professional, under-age, schools and clubs, being overtaken by their Leinster counterparts.

One of the main components of that eastern dominance stems from the highly organised and hugely competitive schools’ structure in Leinster, chiefly in the capital, where the production lines churn out ready-made players, the elite joining the professional set-up and the rest linking with clubs who’ve started to dominate the energia All-Ireland League now as well.

The Frazer McMullen Cup has come around again today (all 2.30) with three of the same Munster survivors joined by Old Crescent, who’ve taken Young Munster’s place and have the daunting task of travelling to play the holders Trinity, who pipped UCD 28-23 in last year’s final.

There will be a familiar figure in the Trinity side, hooker Conal Henchy captained a fine Crescent College Comprehensive side to senior cup glory against PBC in last year’s final.

Con are also on the road to Dublin to meet Lansdowne while UCC and Shannon are at home to UCD and Clontarf respectively, the latter elbowing Belvedere out of the frame.

The Con-Lansdowne game is a repeat of last season with the Dublin side winning by 61-24 while the College-UCD encounter is also in the same bracket, the visitors dominating the game at the Mardyke in a 42-17 victory.

Shannon, who face Clontarf at Coonagh, emerged as number one in Munster by defeating UCC in the final, but how many, if any, of the teams here survive to the semi-finals remains to be seen.

DISPARITY

On the same theme, the announcement of two Ireland under-age squads again showed up the disparity in representation with Leinster dominating once more.

The U18 club/schools squad of 23 for the game against Italy U18s in Ashbourne on Sunday at 2pm contains nine Leinster players, five each for Munster and Connacht, three from Ulster and one from the Irish Qualified programme in the UK.

Head coach Fiach O’Loughlin from Munster has retained only six players from the game between the two countries in Rome back in November when Ireland won 43-10.

One of those is the lone Cork representative, Midleton’s Eoghan Smyth, who joins Crescent College Comprehensive pair of Fionn Casserly and Marcus Lyons along with Jack Ryan (Rockwell College) and Matthew te Pau (St Munchin’s).

Leinster’s grip is even more pronounced in the U19 squad to travel to play France U19s in two games, the first next week on Easter Saturday and the second the following Wednesday, April 12.

Of the 28 players selected, half are from Leinster with eight from Ulster and six from Munster, including three from Cork.

They are Ben O’Connor (PBC) and cousins Danny and Jacob Sheahan (UCC) who are joined by Stephen Kiely (Old Crescent), Evan O’Connell (UL Bohemians) and Jake O’Riordan (St Munchin’s).

O’Connor, also a GAA dynamo with St Finbarr's, was one of the stars of Pres’s Munster Schools Senior Cup triumph operating as an attack-minded full-back with the onerous responsibility of the main goal-kicker, too.

He accounted for 42 points from the four games against CBC, twice, Rockwell College and St Munchin’s, comprising two tries in the victories over the Rock and Munchin’s and 32 points from the boot via 16 conversions.

The Sheahan cousins, hooker Danny and back-rower Jacob, were part of the Ireland U20 Grand Slam winning squad and are obviously eligible again next season.

Munster’s Mark Butler is Head Coach who used 41 players in the recent drawn series with Japan U-19, the visitors striking first, 22-19, and Ireland squaring the series, winning 42-41.