Can Newbridge College deliver first Leinster title in over a decade?

Newbridge College are set to embark on another season in the Leinster Schools Senior League Division 1A Playoffs when they host Bray school, St Gerard's, tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday 26th). Kick-off is at 2.30pm on the grounds of Newbridge College.

The Kildare school has a long and storied past in this competition, as does their Head Coach, Johne Murphy. Formerly of Munster and Leicester Tigers, Murphy gravitated towards coaching when he called time on his professional career and is currently at the helm of AIL side, Naas.

The Rathangan man also returned to his alma mater in 2019 to take over as Director of Rugby at Newbridge College. His first season in charge saw Newbridge reach the Leinster Schools Senior League Division 1A Final, only for them to be forced to share the 2020 title with Clongowes Wood due to the Covid pandemic.

Murphy guided Newbridge back to the final in each of the last three years, only for the competition’s most successful side, Gonzaga College, to win all three deciders.

It can’t be easy to pick lads up and prepare the squad for another season after so much disappointment in recent years, but Murphy is a glass-half-full kind of coach. “Year by year you have a big changeover of players and there's a different group that want to be involved,” he said.

“It's just a rejuvenation, you know, to re-energise and use the lads that have got the experience of missing out the previous year and try to get them to drive on a bit. But every year is different. It has its own challenges. It has its own strengths. You essentially start at zero and you build up all over again.

“They're a really good little team. They've got plenty of bottle, and we've a nice bit of quality there too. And they’re a real gritty bunch of lads across the board, which I suppose the Gaelic football background gives us over the other schools.” 

Four of the Newbridge panel are involved with the Ireland U18 Schools team, with prop, Jamie Bohan, playing for his country against South Africa in August. Another three players - Brion Donagh, Luke Kelly and Michael Kenny – were then selected to link up with the squad for an IRFU Training Camp in October.

Newbridge last won the league outright in 2014, and Murphy said “it would be amazing” to recapture the title more than a decade later. “It'd be nice for the lads and nice for the school as a whole to celebrate something again,” he said. “I'm going to sound very cliched, but the last three finals have come down to the last play each time. And look, in sport, it's those final minutes of the game, when it's two very equal sides, that make the difference.” 

But despite the pedigree at the school, Murphy take a pragmatic approach these provincial competitions. “I'd be fairly realistic about it all in the sense that there's a lot more to just the winning and losing,” he said. “And I know it's a bit cliché, but I think people sometimes can forget that at schools rugby.

“It's about the player and the team that you produce at the end. And I suppose the ups and downs of that journey and what they take from it going later on in sport, but also later on in life.

“I know it is quite cliché, but I do think schools rugby can forget that sometimes. And it's not a cop out, like, look, I don't like losing as much as the next man. But at the same time, you have to kind of check yourself every now and again.” 

Should Newbridge get past St Gerard’s they will then move on to the semi-finals to play Cistercian College Roscrea in Energia Park, Donnybrook, on Wednesday, December 3rd.