The Leinster Schools Junior Challenge Cup is an under-age rugby union competition for schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the IRFU.
| Leinster Schools Rugby Junior Cup | |
| Sport: | Rugby union |
| Founded: | 1887 |
| Organiser: | Leinster Rugby |
| Teams: | 16 |
| Champions: | St Mary's College |
| Most Successful School: | Blackrock College (53 titles) |
The Leinster Schools Junior Cup competition is confined to students under the age of 16. The competition is held every year between January and March, with the final in late March.
The first recorded Junior Cup was held in 1909 where St. Andrew's College edged out Belvedere to take the "inaugural" cup.
In recent years the competition has been dominated by Blackrock College and St. Michael's College, who from 2011 to 2020 had a stranglehold on the trophy. Though Newbridge College have begun to emerge as Junior Cup contenders in recent years, sharing the cup with Blackrock in 2020 and beating them in the final in the delayed 2021 edition of the tournament. Only 12 different schools have lifted the Junior Cup, compared to the Senior Cup where 17 different schools have won the title.
Blackrock College have the most victories (53), followed by Belvedere College (17) with Terenure College the next best (10). Despite the domination of the rugby schools the Cup is much less prone to "runs" of victories by a single school, the longest being Belvedere's 4 (1916–1919) and Blackrock's 4s (1979–1982) and (2013–2016). Castleknock College dominated the competition in the 1920s, winning 6 titles including their three-in-a-row (1920–1922).
Only six schools have achieved the Senior and Junior Cup double. These are Blackrock, who have achieved this feat 26 times (1910, 1912, 1927, 1933, 1935–36, 1942–43, 1945, 1948, 1953–54, 1956–57, 1962, 1964, 1981–82, 1986–87, 1995, 2004, 2006, 2013–14, 2018), St Michaels twice (2012 and 2019), Newbridge College (2020), Belvedere (2005), Terenure (1958) and Castleknock (1920). Since the Junior Cup records began, only the decade of the 1970s did not produce a double.
On only twelve occasions schools have contested and lost both the Senior and Junior Cup Finals in the same year: Terenure College in four years (1957, 1964, 1969 & 1987), followed by Belvedere College with 3 (1930, 1944 & 1962), next Blackrock College (2017), St. Michael's College (2010), St Mary's College (1943), Newbridge College (1939) and Cistercian College Roscrea (1910) with 1 each. Blackrock College had never been beaten in both finals in the same year until 2017.
Blackrock College have only been defeated in successive finals on three occasions. In the 1919/20 they were runners up two times in a row, defeated by Belvedere in 1919 followed by a walkover by Castleknock in 1920. The second occasion was thirty years later in 1949/50 when they were defeated in successive finals by Clongowes Wood College and Newbridge College respectively. The third and last occasion was when Blackrock College were beaten in successive finals (three times in a row) by Terenure College in 1976, 1977 and 1978.
During the 16 years from 1975 to 1990 the Junior Cup was won by only three different schools. Blackrock College with 7 wins, Terenure College with 5 wins and Presentation College Bray with 4 wins.
In the 1971 JCT final, St Mary's College defeated Terenure College 6-5 in a replay, following an earlier 3-3 draw. St Mary's scored two penalties, and Terenure College scored a converted try, which at the time earned 5 points (3 plus 2 for a conversion).
In the 1977 JCT Final at Lansdowne Road, Terenure were trailing Blackrock by 10 points to 9 points at the end of full time when they were awarded a penalty inside their own half, directly in front of the posts. Their out-half converted the 60 yards (55 metre) penalty to win the cup.
The 1988 final was the third and last time that no Dublin-based school was represented in the final (Pres Bray V Clongowes). The other two occasions were 1939 (Roscrea V Newbridge) and 1947 (Clongowes V Newbridge).
St Michael's has the distinction of being runners-up in five finals in a row (2007-2011), losing to two Terenure sides back to back (2009 and 2010). St Michael's were eventual winners in the 6th final in a row in which they had participated, in 2012.
In 2018 St Mary's College once again lost a JCT final to Blackrock College. St Mary's College have never managed to defeat Blackrock College in either a JCT or SCT final, losing out on four occasions in both competitions.
In 2020 the final between Newbridge College and Blackrock College was not played due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The IRFU declared the titled shared for the first time and as a result Newbridge won the Double as they also shared the Senior title.
In 2021 the competition was delayed until September due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. Newbridge College triumphed over Blackrock College in the final 19-15, winning their 3rd ever Junior Cup.[1]
In 2022 the competition resumed its normal schedule. Cistercian College Roscrea made their first Junior Cup Final in 82 years (last appearance was 1940). They lost out to St. Michael's College 26-19.[2]
In 2023 both semi-finals ended in draws and were replayed. In the replays, Blackrock College beat Terenure College 11-7 and St Michaels College beat Belvedere College 22-14. Blackrock and St Michaels then went on to play one of the highest standard matches the jct had ever seen with Blackrock prevailing in the end.
In 2024 St Mary's College beat Terrenure College 10-8, winning their 7th Junior Cup and first Junior Cup title in 27 years.[3]
| School | Titles | Winning years |
|---|---|---|
| Blackrock College | 53 | 1910-11-12, 1923, 1927, 1932–33, 1935–36, 1941-42-43, 1945–46, 1948, 1951, 1953–54, 1956–57, 1959, 1962, 1964–65, 1968-69-70, 1972–73, 1979-80-81-82, 1984, 1986–87, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2011, 2013-14-15-16, 2018, 2020 (Shared), 2023SCT & JCT Double 26 times – 1910, 1912, 1927, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1942, 1943, 1945, 1948, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1962, 1964, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1995, 2004, 2006, 2013, 2014, 2018 |
| Belvedere College | 17 | 1913-14, 1916-17-18-19, 1925, 1929, 1931, 1937, 1940, 1960–61, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2005 (Double) |
| Terenure College | 10 | 1955, 1958 (Double), 1967, 1976-77-78, 1983, 1989, 2009-10 |
| Castleknock College | 8 | 1915, 1920 (Double)-21-22, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1966 |
| St. Mary's College | 7 | 1934, 1963, 1971, 1974, 1992, 1997, 2024 |
| St. Michael's College, Dublin | 6 | 1991, 2002, 2012 (Double), 2017, 2019 (Double), 2022 |
| Clongowes Wood College | 5 | 1944, 1947, 1949, 1952, 2008 |
| Presentation College, Bray | 5 | 1930, 1975, 1985, 1988, 1990 |
| Newbridge College | 3 | 1950, 2020 (Shared & Double) , 2021 |
| Cistercian College, Roscrea | 1 | 1939 |
| The High School | 1 | 1938 |
| St. Andrew's College, Dublin | 1 | 1909 |