U18 National Honours

The young guns of Munster are flying the flag at U18 Schools and Club level as they line out for their respective National teams in the Five Nations schools festival in Italy, and the FIRA/AER U18 European Championships in France.

The Irish U18 Schools side travelled to Parma, Italy to take part in the Five Nations Schools festival this week where they take on Wales, Italy and England. This annual festival was hosted by Ireland last year and took place in Cork with the six nations competing. France withdrew from competition this year.

The 26 man Irish squad includes five Munster Schools’ players, coming from Rockwell College, PBC and Crescent Comprehensive.

The side recorded their first win in the opening game against Wales, winning 22-15. Rockwell’s Shane Buckley, PBC’s David O’Mahony and Niall Scannell, and Crescent’s Gareth Quinn McDonagh all played their part in the match-day 22, and Quinn McDonagh found himself on the scoresheet with a well taken dropgoal in the opening half.

They made it two wins out of two after defeating the home nation Italy 29-3 on Wednesday evening. Munster players involved in the starting XV included Crescent’s Ben Sargent, PBC’s Niall Scannell capt. and David O’Mahony, and Rockwell’s Shane Buckley.

The Irish will go on to play an impressive England side on Saturday afternoon in Colorno, which will no doubt be their toughest encounter after England defeated Scotland 75 – 0 earlier in the week. The five Munster Schools’ Players have been named in the match 22, with Crescent’s Gareth Quinn McDonagh back in the number 10 shirt and PBC’s David O’Mahony named in the starting XV.

Management
Manager: Lorcan Balfe
Coach: Paul Barr (PBC)
Ass. Coach Kenny Hooks

Ireland U18 Schools Squad:
Andrew Conway (Blackrock College/Leinster); Tiarnan O’Halloran (Cistercian College Roscrea/Leinster), Brendan Macken (Blackrock College/Leinster), Alex Kelly (St. Michael’s College/Leinster), Chris Colvin (Royal School Armagh/Ulster); Gareth Quinn McDonagh (Crescent CC/Munster), Peter du Toit (King’s Hospital/Leinster); James Tracy (Newbridge College/Leinster), Niall Annett (Methodist College/Ulster) (capt), Martin Moore (Castleknock College/Leinster), David O’Mahony (Presentation College/Munster), Aaron Spring (Sligo Grammar School/Connacht), Stephen Leckey (Methodist College/Ulster), David Doyle (Gonzaga College/Leinster), Jordi Murphy (Blackrock College/Leinster), Shane Buckley (Rockwell College/Munster), Paddy Marks (RBAI/Ulster), Niall Scannell (Presentation College/Munster), Conor Carey (Methodist College/Ulster), Sam Coughlan Murray (Newbridge College/Leinster), Harry Doyle (Royal School Armagh/Ulster), Rory Harrison (Methodist College/Ulster), Colin Mallon (St. Michael’s College/Leinster), Luke Marshall (Ballymena Academy/Ulster), James McKinney (Campbell College/Ulster), Ben Sargent (Crescent CC/Munster).

The Irish U18 Clubs side was in competition in the FIRA/AER U18 European Championships on the Cote D’Azure in the south of France last week. The Irish side was seeded second in light of last year’s final placing and thirty two European Nations competed, divided into four divisions.

Ireland played Russia, England and Romania and finished third overall in the tournament.

Munster’s sole representation was prop Jake Considine from Young Munster who was named in the match 22 for all three games and started against Romania.

The Irish Management team included a few Munster names with Munster Rugby Elite Development Officer Ken O’Connell providing Technical Support, Len Browne as team Video Analyst and Tom Nyhan on board as Team Assistant.