With all six Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Round 2 Cup matches postponed on Saturday 8th January, arrangements have been made to play one of the games on Wednesday 12th with the remaining five games rescheduled for Saturday 15th January. There are also a number of non-cup games scheduled to take place on Saturday morning.
Omagh Academy and Rainey Endowed School will meet on Wednesday 12th January with the Larne Grammar School v Portora RS, RS Dungannon v Antrim Grammar School, Carrickfergus Grammar School v Belfast High School, Cambridge House v Grosvenor Grammar School and Portadown College v Wellington College games rescheduled for Saturday 15th January.
Omagh Academy is a team that enjoy causing Schools’ Cup shocks on their home ground at the Campsie playing fields. Many schools have travelled to Omagh over the years in the Schools’ Cup only to come away with nothing in terms of a result. The current Omagh Academy team lacks nothing in commitment and effort and with players such as Harry Gibson, Gary Sherrard, Ashley McIlwaine, Dean Barr, Matthew Deazley and Adam Longwell available for selection when they host the Rainey Endowed team on Wednesday; this game has all the elements to be a classic Schools’ Cup encounter. The Rainey team may have a significant advantage in that they have managed to get games played in recent weeks. Good wins against Foyle and Londonderry College and Limavady Grammar School have given the Rainey team a renewed confidence in their ability. Experienced players such as Jamie Burrows, Damien McMurray, Luke Steele and Martin Connolly have been well supported by younger players such as Aaron Murphy, Matthew Stewart and Michael Dawson. This combination of youth and experience has helped the Rainey Endowed team to develop into one of the most improved teams in Ulster. They defeated the Omagh team earlier in the season and, despite having to travel to Omagh, I would expect a similar result in this Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Round 2 game which is scheduled to kick off at 2-00pm.
Carrickfergus Grammar School prepared for their cup campaign by travelling to Portugal and Spain at the end of last term. The Carrickfergus team worked hard prepared well at their base in Portugal. They recorded a handsome victory against Spanish opposition and feel confident about the visit of their near neighbours and close rivals from Belfast High School on Saturday. They will hope that all pre-Christmas injury worries will have cleared up. The Carrickfergus Grammar School team will look to players such as Marc Gordon, Andrew Fulton, Jonathan Moore, Josh Brown and Matthew Elliott to replicate the form they displayed on tour to see them through this interesting encounter. The Belfast High School team recorded a very positive recent victory against Portora Royal School, a team that the Carrickfergus squad defeated earlier in the season. This was one of the few victories recorded by the Belfast High School team in the course of the season so far. Players such as Jake Toan, Robbie Fryars, Aaron Blair, Matthew Boyd and Ryan McGonigle stood out in the game against Portora Royal School and took a huge psychological lift from the result. If they can carry the good form displayed against the Portora team into their visit to Carrickfergus, it will make for an interesting game. Carrickfergus Grammar School will see themselves as favourites to progress into the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Round 3 draw but they will need to be at their best if they are to withstand the Belfast High School challenge. This game has been scheduled to kick off at 10-30am.
Royal School, Dungannon is a notoriously difficult venue to travel to on any Schools’ Cup Saturday. They have a well-deserved reputation of always being difficult to beat at home in the Schools’ Cup and the current squad will feel they will want to add to that reputation. The Antrim Grammar School squad will be the visitors on Saturday and will provide an examination of the RS Dungannon credentials. The Antrim team will see Supreet Jayaprakash, Jake McClay, Aiden Howe, Callum McCrenaghan and Nathan Allen as key performers when they meet the Dungannon team. Aiden will have the unenviable task of playing against Peter Nelson, one of the most talented schoolboy players in Ireland. On his day, Peter has the ability to open up any defence. The Antrim team will need to monitor him closely. Peter receives great support from Andrew Clingan, Derek Martin, Jacob McCammon, Frankie Yeun and Gary Wong. If the RS Dungannon team plays as well as they did on their recent successful tour to Italy, the Antrim Grammar School team could be in for a torrid time. This game is due to kick off at 11-00am.
Portadown College will see themselves as favourites to win their game against the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Round 1 winners from Wellington College. The Portadown team has had an inconsistent season so far but have a lot of talented players available to them. Adam McMaster, Thomas Halliday, David and Michael Busby and Matthew Troughton are players in a Portadown backline that the Wellington team will need to monitor. This game could be won and lost in the back row encounters. The Portadsown team has players such as Josh McCullough and Matthew McCracken that will contest for every ball while the Wellington team rely heavily on the skills and determination of Gareth McCaughey. He provides inspirational leadership for his Wellington colleagues and gets great support from Kyle Walker, Adam Webb, Kyle Agnew and David Marshall. The Portadown team should win this game but if they in any way underestimate the ability of and commitment of the Wellington team, there could be a shock result on the cards. This game is scheduled for an 11-00am kick off.
Portora Royal School, after an encouraging start to the season, has found it difficult to win games in recent months. Like a lot of school teams, they have lost out on fixtures but the Portora squad has also had an unfortunate run of injuries with which to contend. The loss of their captain, Adam Farrell, during the warm up prior to their recent game against Belfast High School, has not helped their cause. On a positive note the return of the talented Rory Gibson will be a major boost when they host Larne Grammar School in the Schools’ Cup on Saturday. Other key players for the Portora team include Jonny Magwood, the speedster at full back, as well as Phil Dickie, Alex McCurry, Adam Baxter and Nik Doherty. If they can produce an injury free team for this Schools’ Cup game, the Portora team will see their home advantage as key to a win. The Larne Grammar School team has struggled to find consistency in the course of the season but has a sufficiently talented squad available for the trip to Enniskillen. Billy Brown, Ethan Kerr and Calum Paton combine to form an effective back row unit while Ross Williamson, as captain, provides inspirational leadership. They will travel with confidence knowing they have won two recent games against Cambridge House as well as Carrickfergus Grammar School. The Larne team will travel in the knowledge that recent results suggest they have the ability to win this game. They will have to work very hard to do so! This game is due to kick off at 11-15am.
Cambridge House had a successful pre-Christmas tour to Rome and will hope that the good form they displayed in their tour games can be carried forward into their Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup Round 2 clash at home against Grosvenor Grammar School. The Cambridge House team has come close to causing some major upsets in their games prior to Christmas. They travelled to Rome in a positive mood and despite losing their first game narrowly, went on to record a comprehensive win in their second game. Kristoffer Steele picked up a “Man of the Match” Award in the first game as did Jordan Robinson in the second game. Matthew Harkness was top try scorer on tour and his work in the back row with Mark Paine is crucial to the Cambridge House team. Andrew Hood and Timmy Small are other experienced Cambridge House players that the team will need to watch closely. The Grosvenor team has key players in Marc Foster, Scott Irvine and Peter Davidson. These players as well as their Grosvenor team mates will provide a severe test of the Cambridge House credentials. They have been instrumental in a number of the Grosvenor Grammar successes this season, including an impressive win against Sullivan Upper and the sharing of the IH Graham Trophy at their own tournament. Cambridge House will see themselves as favourites but this should a close game and it might take a replay to sort the result out. This game has been scheduled for a 10-30am kick off.
The draw for the 3rd Round of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup as well as the 1st Round of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Trophy will take place at Carrickfergus Grammar School after the Round 2 games have finished on Saturday morning.
Belfast Royal Academy hope to be back to full strength when they entertain a very powerful Castleknock College team from Dublin. The strength of the Castleknock team is in their pack where Irish Schools’ flanker, Jack O’ Neill, is their stand out player. The Belfast Royal Academy team can call on the services of some talented players of their own. They will look to the skills of Ryan Clarke, Robbie Jamison, Eoin Devlin and the pace of Matthew Robinson to see them through this tricky encounter.
There is a “Derby” game scheduled to take place when Foyle and Londonderry College host their very close rivals from nearby Limavady Grammar School. Both teams have been on the wrong end of recent results with both teams losing to the much improved Rainey Endowed School in the New Year period. The Foyle team lost at Bangor Grammar School last weekend meaning there is a lot at stake in this game. Foyle and Londonderry College won the North West “Derby” game earlier in the season and would be delighted for a repeat of that result. Players such as Ian Vance, Chris Campbell, Neil Burns and Connor Cummings will be doing their utmost to ensure they do. The Limavady Grammar School team played well, at times, in their last game against Rainey Endowed. With players such as Ryan McCool, Shay McIntosh, Nathan Barr and Conor Crampsie available for the game, it will ensure that the final result will be closely contested.
Regent House face the unenviable task of hosting an in form Ballymena Academy team. The Regent team struggled to get any consistency into their game when they played Omagh Academy in a recent game. They will look for an improved performance against the Ballymena team and will need the experience of players such as Nathan Burns, Willie Mayne, Matthew Ramsey and Steven Colwell to come to the fore if they are to get a result from this game. The Ballymena team has been in good form in recent games with players such as Caleb Morrison, Timothy Patton, Nicholas Sterling, George Hargy and Sam McNabney responding well to the promptings of their captain, John Andrew. The Ballymena team will see this game as an important outing as they step up preparations for their defence of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools’ Cup.
The Sullivan Upper 1stxv, like a large number of other school teams, has found it difficult to get game time in recent weeks. They host a Royal Belfast Academical Institution team that has recently returned from a successful tour to Barcelona. The Sullivan team has a lot of talented players in their senior squad but they have displayed unusual inconsistencies in some of their performances this season. Harry Eves, Ross Adair, Oliver Loughead and their captain, Michael Scott, will hope for a more consistent approach to the Sullivan team performance if they are to cause any real problems from a confident Belfast Inst team. Paddy Bell has his Belfast Inst team well organised and receives great support from players such as Zach Welsman, Kevin McLean, Matthew McGuigan and Nathan Dugan. The Inst team will see this game as a real challenge but one they can approach with confidence.
The Friends’ School team has not played since 27th November and will hope to get back into action, at home, to Dalriada on Saturday. There are talented players in the Lisburn team with a back division that can cause problems for any team. If the Friends’ pack, where Jonny MacCorkell, Joe Murphy, Aaron Bissett and David Seeds are vital players, can gain parity with the Dalriada pack, this could be an intriguing contest. The Dalriada pack relies on David Campbell, Andrew Skelton and Roger Bonnar to provide quality possession for their exciting back division where Ben Henderson and Jonny McLaughlin are key players. The Dalriada team will see themselves as favourites to win this game and the Friends’ team will need to monitor the Dalriada backs closely.
RS Armagh will hope to have Neil Faloon fully recovered from his injury when they entertain Coleraine AI on Saturday. His work with Stuart Hooks in the RS Armagh back row has been one of the factors that have helped the RS Armagh become one of the most efficient teams in the Province. Harry Boyd, Robbie Magowan and Timothy McNeice provide an attacking edge for the Armagh team and the Coleraine team will need to be aware of their prowess on Saturday. The Coleraine team did manage to get game time last Saturday when they lost out to St Mary’s College. However, they did enough in the first half of that game to suggest they can compete with the best. Paddy Farrell, Ali Ashgar, Stuart Caffrey and the rest of their Coleraine AI team mates will need to be on top of their game for the duration of the entire match if they are to get anything from this encounter.
Banbridge Academy will host a very confident Ballyclare High School team at the Lurgan Road venue on Saturday. This game will be a good test for the Banbridge team who have some very talented players in their squad. Tom Jess, Chrissy Craig, Hugo Harbinson and Michael Runciman will see this game as an opportunity to put in a good performance against one of the top schools currently playing in Ulster. They will need to pay particular attention to players such as Jonny Holmes, Jonny Darling, Andrew Butler, Kris McIntyre and Kirk Johnston who have been very consistent performers for the Ballyclare High School team throughout the season.
Methodist College travel to face Terenure College from Dublin in a game where the Methody team will be keen to preserve their good run of results against opposition from the other Provinces. The Methody squad has impressed in recent games and in particular, when they defeated the Spanish U18 team on their recent tour. James Harrison, Oliver McCollum, Ryan Annett, Rory Winters, Matthew McFaul and the rest of the Methody squad will see this game as another opportunity to further enhance their reputation as one of the top school teams in the country.
Supporters will be made welcome at all the games but should check with host schools to establish kick off times prior to departure.
