Leahy remembers glory days as Crescent aim to end drought

With his Crescent Comprehensive side a bundle of nervous energy in the dressing room before their first Munster Senior Schoolboys Cup final appearance in 20 years, captain Kelvin Leahy knew how to harness it.

Having spent a year in school at PBC Cork — Crescent’s opponents in that 1983 decider — as an eight-year-old, Leahy had a Pres jersey he knew he didn’t need. He produced it from his bag five minutes before the game, and his fired-up team-mates ripped it to shreds.

“The jersey incident was an example of the exuberance of youth,” Leahy, who went on to win a single Irish cap against the All Blacks in 1992, told the Limerick Leader this week. “You try to do something different. It didn’t need it. The lads themselves didn’t need to be motivated.”