“The Invincibles” is a term sometimes bandied about in sports circles but it’s not often a sports team really earns this sobriquet. On Sunday the under 13s entered the final game of the season with the tantalizing prospect of going through the season having won every single game they played in, they were on the road a long time had beaten the best all the big clubs could throw at them and now they stood on the precipice of completing the triple crown of Pat Lawlor, league and cup victories at this level.

We faced in the cup final a very able and well coached Bruff team, but also very fresh with 3 weeks off to prepare while we were involved in massive battles all along the way. That’s probably why this feat is so difficult to achieve as eventually you run out of gas competing on all fronts. We knew during the warm up that this could be the day we were caught, the lads looked tired while Bruff were hopping off the ground. We gathered them in one last time and set them off for kick off hoping we could find one last effort to push us over the line so to speak. I won’t go into a detailed match report as this wouldn’t do justice to the monumental season effort but we scored early which settled the nerves and then led 10-5 at half time. Two more tries, one converted and a Bruff converted try left it at 22-17 to us in the end. 

This reporter has watched, played and been involved with rugby for going on 4 decades at this stage and has never seen a display of character, guts and resilience in a group so young. Bruff absolutely had the game by the neck and for 15 minutes it looked a formality that they would get the score they needed to finish us off. However it never came, with our lads producing their greatest defensive effort of the season to keep them at bay. Once the siege was lifted our lads managed to break up the field and get a foothold in the Bruff 22 for the last few minutes and it was fitting that the last penalty was awarded to us in the Bruff 22 allowing us to kick to touch and end the game. Our lads to a man were absolutely out on their feet at the end but somehow found one last effort with no little pride added in to stand alone, victorious in every competition they entered. A feat that may well never be repeated. These lads gave some displays all year beating some of the best clubs in the country in the North Munster bear pit. And to do it with only one home game and be undefeated is any incredibly impressive achievement. It was a monumental squad effort from start to finish and these lads are now  bound together forever. In years to come when they are old and grey, no matter where they are or what they have played or done they will still meet and regale each other with memories of the year they went undefeated. Truly they can now call themselves “The Invincibles “