CL SENIOR BOYS FINAL: WESLEY COLLEGE VS THE HIGH SCHOOL (TUES 19.5.2026)

The CL Schools Senior Boys Final is always a fantastic day in the cricketing calendar and this year the showpiece event will take place between Wesley College and The High School, Rathgar.

The High School will be looking to get their name on the trophy for the first time in 36 years whilst Wesley last won the Senior Cup as far back as 2001 (some 25 years ago). In all, Wesley has won the trophy on 14 occasions whilst The High School have 7 titles from previous years.

This competition started in 1905 and has been played every year since then with the exception of 2020 and 2021 due to Covid restrictions at that time. It is one of the oldest sporting competitions in Ireland and indeed anywhere in the cricketing world. The first winners in 1905 were The King’s Hospital who defeated Mountjoy School (subsequently integrated to form Mount Temple) by 2 wickets at Observatory Lane.

From a historical perspective, the dominant school in the history of the competition is Belvedere College with 36 wins followed by the former Masonic School (with 17 wins). In recent years, the competition has been dominated by CUS (under the leadership of Stephen Tonge) who won the competition in six of the last seven years in which it has been played.

The Wesley team will be led by the experienced Tom Squires who will be in familiar surroundings for the Final as a Merrion player and will be accompanied by no less than 5 other Anglesea Road regulars. The balance of the team is comprised of two from Railway Union (Johnny Woods and Marius Pienaar), two from Leinster (Jack Delany and Daniel Lydon) and Keegan Shipp who plays at Pembroke.

So all in all, a strong side of established club cricketers who have experienced success together at each schools age category on their way to the Senior side – many of this squad previously brought the CL Schools Junior Cup back to Ballinteer in 2024 when Johnny Woods (69) and Conor Fox (52*) led the way in overcoming The High School despite a brilliant hundred that day from Rob O’Brien (129*).

The High School will be looking to go one better this year having been last year’s runners-up losing out in a thrilling Final to CUS by 4 wickets with just three balls remaining. The High School had posted a credible 204 which included runs from Rob O’Brien (74), Gethin Kelleher (39) and Ethan Clarke who made 33. O’Brien and Clarke also took a couple of wickets apiece in two fine all-round performances on the day.

The High School team is led by Pembroke's Ethan Clarke, a promising cricketer who has already achieved underage cricket representative honours. The Vice-Captain is Ireland Under 19 player, Robert O'Brien, who has represented Leinster & Ireland at all underage categories and is a key player in Railway Union's First Team in the CL Premier League.

There is also plenty of club cricketing pedigree in The High School team – brothers Benjamin & Jake Dillon play their club cricket at Terenure whilst Sohan Katepally and Rhys Lennon have also both played for the D6W club. Eli Clarke is the younger brother of skipper Ethan who also plays his cricket at Pembroke, most recently taking 5/18 against Carlow.

The two squads who will compete in the Final (40-Over Match) are as follows:

CL Senior Boys Secondary Schools Final: Tuesday 19th May, 2.00pm, Anglesea Rd)

WESLEY COLLEGE SQUAD

Tom Squires (Captain), Alexander Casey (Vice-Captain), Daniel Lydon (Wkts), Johnny Woods, Conor Fox, Sam Bowling, Jack Delany, Keegan Shipp, Kian Fredericks, Ben Gogan, Marius Pienaar

Coach/Manager: Johnny Harte

THE HIGH SCHOOL SQUAD

Ethan Clarke (Captain), Rob O'Brien (Vice-Captain), Eli Clarke, Benjamin Dillon, Jake Dillon, Jamie Morton, Leon Russouw, Jack Wynne, Leo Dodd, Sohan Katepally, Sam Sheedy,  Rhys Lennon, Liam Walsh, Andrew Micks.

Coach/Manager: Dewald Barnard

Our thanks to all participating schools, to Merrion CC as the host club for the Final and to Rob Delaney who has done a brilliant job again this year in co-ordinating the CL Secondary Schools Boys Programme for 2026.

LEINSTER SCHOOLBOYS REPRESENTATIVE FIXTURES
Just to note that there are also a couple of representative fixtures for Leinster Schools taking place over the coming weeks as follows:

Thursday 28th May: Leinster Schools vs MCC (Civil Service)

Tuesday 23rd & Wednesday 24th June: Ulster Schools vs Leinster Schools (Osborne Park, Belfast)