Familiar foes reunited as Clongowes and Saints square-up

ALMOST from day one of this season’s Leinster Schools Senior Cup campaign, Clongowes Wood and St. Michael’s were lined up as two of the big favourites to make this afternoon’s St. Patrick’s Day decider at the RDS (3.30).

The neutrals in Leinster rugby will also be pleased to see that two schools with limited success — Clongowes have won just six times since 1926 and relative newcomers St. Michael’s just once since emerging to join the big players just over a decade ago — have a chance of glory.

Yet there will be an air of familiarity about this final between two schools who meet in a final for the fourth time, with Clongowes enjoying the best of the three previous encounters — 2 to 1.