De La Salle High School took home a cup double at the Totally Wicked Stadium last week after their Year 10's won the Keiron Cunningham trophy before their Year 11's lifted the Alex Murphy Trophy as part of Saints Community Development Foundation's Schools Rugby League Cup Finals.
Year 10 Keiron Cunningham Final: De La Salle 23 – 22 St. Cuthbert’s
The Year 10 Final was a fantastic spectacle for all that attended. De La Salle struck first with a fantastic kick to the wing that was finished with ease and that set them on their way to a 22-6 half-time lead.
There oppenents, St. Cuthbert’s, made a real fight of it in the second half and scored a number of tries down the left hand side to level the game at 22–22. After a grueling arm wrestle in the final 20 minutes it was De La Salle that seized their opportunity kicking a last minute drop goal to win the Keiron Cunningham Final in dramatic fashion.
Fresh from signing his Saints contract, the Keiron Cunningham trophy was presented by first team player Aaron Smith, who knows all about junior rugby league having started his career playing for at Blackbrook ARLFC.
Year 11 Alex Murphy Final: De La Salle 24 – 16 Haydock High
The Year 11 final was an incredibly competitive game with both teams looking like they would come out on top, but it was Haydock High who took an early lead after a De La Salle knock on. Both teams then went over for tries, but on the half time hooter De La Salle scored a fantastic length of the field score to lead 18–12 at the break.
It was all De La Salle in the second half as back to back tries gave them a comfortable lead with the score at 24-12. To their credit though, Haydock scored a fantastic late try, however it wasn’t enough in the end as De La Salle took home their second trophy of the day.
Awards were presented by the man himself, club legend Alex Murphy. Alex was regarded as one of the greatest half backs in the history of the British game. He represented Great Britain in 27 tests and made 370 appearances and scored 175 tries for Saints at his time at the club. We would like to thank Alex for his time at the School Finals.
Steve Leonard, Saints Community Development Foundation Director paid credit to all teams.
“We are looking at mirroring the success of our Saints first team by replicating this in schools rugby league. The standard of rugby league in both cup finals at the Totally Wicked Stadium last Thursday was fantastic and it was great to see both games played in good spirits. We are now looking forward to the Year 7 and 8 Finals next week which I am sure again will highlight the standard of rugby league in our town.
“Saints Community Development Foundation would like to thank all teachers, volunteers, players and parents for making this year’s cup competition the standard that it is today. We look forward to working with teams that reach the regional and national stages soon with a view to profiling St. Helens’ school’s rugby league on the biggest stage of all.”
Our next batch of Schools Finals take place next Tuesday the 14th May 2019 with the Year 7 Final kicking off at 4pm for the Paul Wellens trophy before the Year 8’s kick off at 5:30pm for the Eric Chisnall trophy.
Platty Photo captured both finals
