Midleton handed toughest draw as Irish Schools comes to Cork

The draw for the group stages of the All-Ireland Schoolboys Championships was made this week and sees Midelton College draw what looks the toughest pool. Last year’s semi-finalists will face reigning champions Banbridge Academy who have a series of stars available to return with Josh Moffett, Owen Magee, Matthew Bell and Peter Brown among the town’s first team stars on the club side. They are likely to be coming into the three-day competition off the back of Bann’s EHL trip to Antwerp when they begin their defence of the title on October 26 in Ashton.

Seven-time winners RBAI are also involved in Group 4 while St Columba’s make up the quartet. Midleton have seen talisman Nick Burns move on but younger brother Alex is still around. Colton twins Andy and Adam will anchor the defensive effort, with Alex Simonin the key man in midfield and Marc Hornibrook a danger up top. Leinster contenders St Andrews’ bid for a third title is powered by David Cole and there are plenty of emerging talents to make them contenders like Eric Foy, Mark Loughrey and Ben Campbell who recently made his YMCA first team debut. The Booterstown academy faces Friends, Regent House and Bandon Grammar who have a quintet of Munster U18s including vice-captain Scott Sullivan, Fred McElroy, Ben Scott and Stuart Miller. Host school Ashton are lumped in with Wesley – plus Ulster schools Wallace HS and Sullivan Upper – but might fancy their chances given 10 sixth-years have moved on from the Dublin school, although Kirk Shimmins is a talisman who already has EuroHockey League experience with Pembroke Wanderers under his belt. Ashton’s efforts will revolve around Munster U18 captain Richard Lynch and last year’s U16 skipper Richard Sweetnam, the hosts having come through a nervy qualifier a few weeks back when they were two goals down to Newtown going into the final minutes only to pull a win out of the fire late on. In Group One, Leinster pair Sutton Park and Newpark have a very tough draw against Ulster giants Cookstown and Campbell College. Sutton have begun the new season in fine style with a big win over St Killian’s on the domestic front but will have their work cut out against Town whose centre-piece is Irish senior international Ian Sloan. His drag-flicking alone makes him a serious threat but his creative instincts can help bring in other players while Matthew Rollins and Daniel Crooks provide a strong defensive line. Newpark are outsiders in the group with Andrew Ramsey the midfield schemer and Stefan Gallagher a class act between the posts. The event runs for three days across Cork, played in Ashton, Bandon, Midleton and the Mardyke while Garryduff will host the final at 2.30pm on Friday, October 28. All-Ireland Schoolboy Championships draw Group 1: Cookstown, Campbell, Sutton Park, Newpark Group 2: St Andrews, Friends, Bandon Grammar, Regent House Group 3: Ashton, Wallace, Wesley, Sullivan Upper Group 4: Banbridge, RBAI, Midleton, St Columbas ** For the full fixture schedule, click here Adapted from Stephen Findlater’s original post on The Hook.