Donncha recalls schools final pressure

Donncha O’Callaghan admitted yesterday the most pressurised time of his rugby life came in the build-up to the 1997 Munster Schools Cup final.

The Munster star said the weeks before that schools decider, the day and everything that went with it, was up there in terms of the biggest games he played during his career.

“I won a senior medal that year [with CBC Cork] but it was the most pressure rugby I ever played,” he said at SEAT’s official launch of their schools competitions sponsorship yesterday.

“I’ve played on Lions tours and in European Cup finals but I have never felt as much pressure as then. If I was asked to pinpoint the most nervous point of my life it was there.

“We played St Munchin’s College that day in Cork. They featured the likes of Jeremy Staunton and Jerry Flannery, standout players like that. We went 16-0 up and they came back and we got to scrape through eventually. We found it somewhere to come out and get the result but by just a few points in the end.”

Former Ireland skipper and Lions second row and MC at the event Donal Lenihan paid tribute to the competition which has produced thousands of quality players for province and country. He also eulogised former CBC coach Brother Philip O’Reilly who passed away just a few months ago after coaching the school to eight Munster Schools senior titles in ten years.

Lenihan also outlined the importance overall of schools rugby to Cork, Limerick and the rest of the province, to the success of the game in Munster.

“There are thousands of memories, heartaches no doubt, but the schools have always been hugely important to the development of the game throughout Ireland and that will continue to be the case.”

A number of innovations are being introduced to the competitions this year to generate more excitement, including a first ever team of 15 outstanding players and fair play award.