Hammies' Senior Cup progress has put them on schools rugby map

Overjoyed head coach Anthony Hutchinson hailed Hamilton High School’s qualification for the Munster Schools Senior Cup as putting them “on the map”.

Bandon Grammar School have long been synonymous with rugby in the West Cork town while, as recently as two years ago, Hamilton High School didn’t have a team.

However, their fairy-tale rise saw them win the Munster Senior C competition, the O’Brien Cup, as well as the U18 Bowen B Shield in their first year.

There was no hint of second-season syndrome as they overcame Midleton CBS, Villiers of Limerick, and Ballincollig’s Coláiste Choilm to qualify for the blue-riband competition.

“It’s immense. It puts the school on the map. There are four secondary schools in Bandon and for such a small town, you’ve got two Senior Cup teams now,” said Hutchinson.

I’m happy for the school. We’re a small school, we’ve only 450 pupils.” 

The dream match-up, of course, would be a local derby with the Grammar but Hutchinson backs his side to take on anyone.

“That would be the dream draw but I don’t know if it’s going to happen. Looking at the league stages of the Senior Cup, if we don’t play the Grammar, whoever we play we’ll give them a good run.

“It’s straight knockout from now on but we’ll give it a bash.” 

Hammies are more renowned for their GAA exploits and several of their rugby team, including fly-half Daniel Coughlan, full-back Dara Walsh, and centre Stephen Murphy, lined out for the hurlers the day before in their defeat to CBS Carrick-on-Suir.

“I couldn’t have done it without the support of Bandon Rugby Club. They’ve provided coaches and it makes my job easier in school because we are basically a GAA school,” added Hutchinson.

“We’re in the quarter-final of the Corn Uí Mhuirí, we’re out of the senior hurling, but it’s just great for the town of Bandon that there are two Senior Cup teams in the knockout stages.” 

COMEBACK

The qualification final was filled with drama and tension right down to the final moments.

Having trailed Coláiste Choilm by 20-7 at half-time, Louis O’Sullivan’s unconverted try brought them back within one point with six minutes of normal time to play.

In the 69th minute, the prop forced a penalty which Coughlan slotted to move Hammies ahead for the first time.

Their progression still wasn’t secure until Brian Galvin leapt upon a loose ball to clinch the final turnover of a 22-20 victory.

They showed a lot of character in the second half. 

"We were 13 points down and to come back in these conditions is enormous,” said Hutchinson.

“We would’ve played with the wind in the first half if we’d won the toss. I did tell them it’s worth at least 20 points and the other team put 20 points up. It was crucial to get that score in the first half.

“You just have to play the conditions. The plan for the second half was to keep pinning the ball back in their 22 and it worked for us.

“There was lots of handling errors and you’re going to get that on a day like that. We had a lot more than the opposition but we just got over the line.”