Cahirsiveen rugby club Iveragh Eagles experienced an incredible club first on St.Patrick's Day of this year when Michael O'Sullivan became the first club member to claim a coveted School's Leinster Senior Cup title. He started at flanker for Blackrock, who sealed their 72nd Leinster title against Terenure in Tallaght Stadium.
It took 16 years to reach that first, but only three days to emulate it. On the Thursday, Conall Cournane followed in the footsteps of his former teammate, starring at fullback in CBC Cork's Munster Senior Cup win over Presentation Brothers.
"For a club of our size down here in Cahirsiveen, in the peninsula of Iveragh, to win a Senior Cup for any member is hugely celebrated, but to win two in three days is just the stuff of dreams, there are people bouncing down here," says Tony Cournane, one of Iveragh Eagles RFC's founding members.
20 March 2025; Bobby O'Callaghan of Presentation Brothers College evades the tackle of Conall Cournane of Christian Brothers College during the Pinergy Munster Schools Boys Senior Cup final match between Christian Brothers College and Presentation Brothers College at Virgin Media Park in Cork. Photo by Tom Beary/Sportsfile
The pair hail from rural South Kerry, where 'you're on the road for an hour and a bit before you meet any decent road' and 'The Skellig Rock is what you're looking at'.
Tony Cournane is Conall's father and coached both his son and Michael from minis rugby all the way up to U18s, where the pair bounced off each other from day dot. Despite their upbringing in a GAA stronghold, the duo were always very talented rugby players.
"Both boys were very good footballers, there was talk of Conall playing for the Kerry minors," explains Tony. "But they were good rugby players obviously, they were always stand-out rugby players even coming through our minis and junior section".
In a lot of ways, they're two of a kind. Conall and Michael both represent Munster at underage level, and both became the first men from their club to represent Ireland when they claimed bronze for Ireland at the U18 Sevens championship in Strasbourg last year.
To the city-based juggernauts of rugby, these moments aren't uncommon. However, in the South of Kerry, they're nearly unprecedented, and just as they did when the lads came home with their bronze medals in hand, the Iveragh Eagles have no intention of letting the occasion pass by without celebration.
Oh we will (celebrate it). It's my dream to see if Michael can get the Leinster Senior Cup trophy down and I'll try get the one from Munster down and put the two of them together.
I'm not sure if that's ever happened before, certainly not for a Kerry club anyway.
There definitely is an (air of positivity around the club), we're looking to take a bounce factor off it as a club.
17 March 2025; Blackrock College players celebrate with the cup after the Bank of Ireland Leinster Rugby Boys Schools Senior Cup final match between Blackrock College and Terenure College at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Iveragh Eagles RFC celebrating Senior Cup first for two players
Conall had been playing in Iveragh since the age of three, Michael joined him not long after, and the pair played together under Tony until U18s. Suspecting that a more elite level of rugby was within reach for the duo, the time eventually came for them to leave the Kingdom and move into the school system.
"Conall would've been coming to training with me from the age of three. He scored his first competitive try when he was five," revealed Cournane.
"The boys were playing with Munster so they were achieving a decent level of rugby which to us was fantastic down in the club."
"The boys had no access to schools rugby, I was trying to build a team in the local secondary school but could never get the 25 lads I needed to build a team, and that's how the decision was made that the boys needed to go further, you give them the opportunity."
While Conall moved to Cork, and Michael to Dublin - they remain close friends, even if the current bragging rights lie with O'Sullivan.
Oh they are (mates), CBC played Blackrock in a friendly at Christmas and Michael was out, he was after getting an operation on his ankle. Blackrock beat the boys well, but the boys were on a night out in their head, they didn't play to their potential. Michael when he heard the result of course said: 'we beat you off the field and the best player was missing', so they'd have a bit of argey bargey alright!
Both Conall's sister also enjoyed success from their development in Iveragh, going on to play provincial-level rugby, paving a path their younger brother would follow.
Despite never having dreamt that a club founded in the South of Kerry in 2009 could produce Senior Cup-winning players, all eyes now look ahead in the scenic Kerry village, where the prospect of Ireland U20s caps are slowly changing from a dream to a hope.
A Senior Cup, definitely not. I didn't even know that much about schools rugby because we're a club down in the bottom corner of Kerry that started in 2009, only three years after the boys were born, so (I couldn't have seen them win) a senior cup, no.
First of all the dream is Ireland U20s, that would be the dream. Michael was exceptional in the Leinster Senior Cup final, he's just a workhorse, he's hugely aggressive, he's got a brain, he's a cracking kid. Conall has the dancing feet, he's very good under the high ball.
If either of the duo can reach the Ireland U20s or in fact senior provincial level, that too would be a first. If they could do it together, even better.
For the moment, however, there are rare celebrations to be planned in the South of Kerry.
h/t Gavan Casey
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