Schools Rugby Leinster Senior Cup final: No one likes to heap pressure on young shoulders, but this really is the best chance St Michael's have had to win the Powerade Leinster Senior Cup.
St Michael's v Clongowes Sunday, Donnybrook, 3.30 On TV: Setanta
The line, even before the competition kicked-off last January, has been that it is their Cup to lose, and with nine returnees from the side defeated by Blackrock in last year's decider they remain hot favourites.
The draw was cruel to them, placing three colossal obstacles in their path to the grail.
Belvedere outrucked them for 35 minutes in the quarter-final to take a 10-point lead before crumbling in the second half, while the welcome return from injury of their kicking machine Noel Reid helped them click.
The nemesis, Blackrock, were supposed to be next but in perhaps the most romantic twist this competition has produced, Kilkenny disdained Rock's historical invincibility in replays by beating the defending champions, only to be devoured in the semi-final, 22-zip.
Blackrock have always held an Indian sign over their former feeder school but this St Michael's team possess an impressive mental fortitude.
Yet, Clongowes coach Adam Lewis noted this week that questions remain about whether they have been truly tested.
"They will be on Sunday," he added.
The back row of Paddy Mallon, Rajan Reilly and Alex Byrne are the best schoolboy unit for 11 years. Ian Leonard is a proverbial beast of a loosehead prop. We could go on, because the stamp of quality is everywhere.
Captain Conor Cleary shades Mallon, Reilly, Trevor Conneely and David Kearney as the tournament's best player. A powerful centre with decent hands, airtight defence and an intelligent kicking game, he has it all really.
Cleary's midfield partner Rory Pratt also brings plenty to the party, and winger Paddy Brophy is rounding nicely into form.
As for Clongowes, they struggled to overcome non-vintage St Mary's and Terenure teams, even requiring a second attempt to dispose of the former.
And yet, that replay against St Mary's on a wild day in Naas was the best example of controlled rugby seen thus far. Forward grunt was needed, and Conneely (mystifyingly excluded from representative honours this season), Tommy Burns and Jack O'Connell were immense.
What we have yet to see is the crisp service that would allow Leinster under-18 backs David Kearney and Tom Fletcher attack the outside channels at pace.
Kearney is a clone of his elder brother Robert - the Leinster fullback - in that he always slips the initial tackler via guile or power.
Key battles? The forward collision will be enhanced by the tightness of the Donnybrook pitch. Conneely versus Mallon is a huge match-up at number eight, but Reilly and Byrne should tilt the scales here.
That is on the premise that Mallon (groin) and, more worryingly, Byrne (medial ligament) pass fitness tests today. As must tighthead prop Mark Kelly (thigh). St Michael's have already lost last season's prop Andrew Pollard to an ankle fracture.
The surface is cutting up so expect plenty of kicking from two clever halfback pairings.
The game could be decided here. Or by a kicking duel between Kearney and Reid. Or by a moment of magic from one of a dozen special players on view.
If any team can defy the formbook it's Clongowes. The Jesuit school overcame St Michael's in the 1988 and 1991 finals despite being underdogs both times. They seek a seventh title tomorrow.
Ed McWilliams, the brother of St Michael's coach Greg, was on the 1991 side.
"The day just passed them by. That can happen in schools rugby," noted the coach.
But teenagers do not carry the pain of other team's failures. Just their own. The open wounds from the last year's final still hurt.
On the evidence thus far, it would be astonishing if St Michael's underperformed. They seem like a group determined to gain full membership to the elite of Leinster schools rugby.
This looks like their day.
ST MICHAEL'S COLLEGE: M O'Malley; N Reid, R Pratt, C Cleary (capt), P Brophy; S Malone, F Mehigan; I Leonard, J Daniel, M Kelly; C O'Sullivan, S Mahony; A Byrne, R Reilly, P Mallon.
CLONGOWES WOOD COLLEGE: D Kearney; M Sheehy, T Fletcher, S Kennedy, S Lennon; C Wade, M McLoughlin; C Spelman, T Burns, J O'Connell; N Delehanty, N Mullen; B O'Keeffe, T Joyce, T Conneely (capt).
Referee: K Henley Willis(ARLB).
Odds(Paddy Power): 4/7 S Michael's, 5/4 Clongowes, 12/1 Draw.
Verdict: St Michael's to win.
