SENIOR BOYS FINAL: ST JOSEPH'S RUSH VS ST COLUMBA'S (TUES 21.5.2024)

The CL Schools Senior Boys Final is always a fantastic day in the cricketing calendar and this year the showpiece event will take place between St Joseph's Rush and St Columba's College Rathfarnham (St Columba's last won the Cup some 48 years ago in 1976). 

St Joseph's Rush will be looking to get their name on the trophy for the first time in its long history whilst St Columba's will be looking to go one better than last year when they were beaten by a well drilled CUS team in the Final.

This competition started in 1905 and has been played every year since then with the exception of 2020 and 2021 due to Covid restrictions at that time. It is one of the oldest sporting competitions in Ireland and indeed anywhere in the cricketing world. The first winners in 1905 were The King’s Hospital who defeated Mountjoy School (subsequently integrated to form Mount Temple) by 2 wickets at Observatory Lane.

From a historical perspective, the dominant school in the history of the competition is Belvedere College with 36 wins followed by the former Masonic School (with 17 wins). In recent years, the competition has been dominated by CUS (under the leadership of Stephen Tonge) who have won the competition in all recent years since 2017, a proud record for the Leeson Street school.

Not surprisingly, the team from St Joseph's Rush reads like a whose who of Rush Cricket Club with many familiar surnames from the vibrant Kenure club. The side is captained by Hassan Shahid (son of the legendary Shahid Iqbal) who has been a driving force in getting the team together and is a leader on the field. His pace bowling and sensible batting have been crucial in enabling St Joseph's to progress in the competition. Finn McGee (who is also an accomplished cricketer at Rush CC) is one of three sixth year students in the team and is a quality batsman and keeper with Kyle Rock (younger brother of Irish International Neil Rock) also keeping in his absence.

The bowling attack includes Shane Butterly, Conor Butterly, Callum Armstrong and Ben Morris along with Darragh Flynn & Reece Price who have shown their ability to close out games in earlier rounds. All in all, a talented, motivated and fiercely competitive outfit who have surpassed all expectations in reaching the Final this year.

The St Columba's side is underpinned by some very good young club cricketers including the Dijkstra brothers who will be on familiar terrain as they all play for Merrion CC. Seb Dijkstra spent the winter of 2022/23 in Durban on a CL Cricket/Educational programme and is well regarded on the club scene whilst the school captain, Isaac Dijkstra has already represented Merrion on 55 occasions in adult cricket with a best bowling of 5-33 versus Leinster CC. The team also includes club cricketers from Pembroke, YMCA amongst others.

The two squads who will compete in the Final are as follows:

CL Senior Boys Secondary Schools Final Tuesday 21st May, 2.00pm, Anglesea Rd)

St Joseph’s Rush
Hassan Shahid (captain), Finn McGee (vice captain), Shane Butterly, Kyle Rock, Max Ferguson, Callum Armstrong, Ben Morris, Louis Monks, Mobarack Salami, Reece Price, Dylan Wade Brady, Darragh Flynn, Conor Butterly

Manager: John Roche
Assistant Coaches: Aoife Beggs, Aisling Beggs, Ellie McGee

St Columba’s College

Isaac Dijkstra (captain), E.Farley, Jan Dijkstra, Harry St Leger, Seb Dijkstra, A.Morphew, H.Smith-Huskinson, D.Cron, S.Roets(vice captain), P.Butler (WK), R.O’Dowd, O Mann

Manager/Coach: Grant Glutz

Our thanks to all participating schools, to Merrion CC as the host club for the Final and to Rob Delaney who has done a brilliant job in co-ordinating the CL Secondary Schools Boys Programme for 2024.

LEINSTER SCHOOLBOYS REPRESENTATIVE FIXTURES
Just to note that there are also a couple of representative fixtures for Leinster Schools taking place over the coming weeks as follows:

Thursday 30th May: Leinster Schools vs MCC (The Village, Malahide)
Thursday 27th & Friday 28th June: Leinster Schools vs Ulster Schools (Belfast)