My Club: St Mary's College

My Club: St Mary's College

Conor McGuinness is the St Mary's College scrum-half who burst onto the Ireland team for last year's clash with New Zealand at Lansdowne Road following a series of outstanding displays for Connacht. It marked a progressive graduation from Schools international (6 caps), through under-21 (2) to senior (5).

Membership: There are seven teams from senior to junior 6 in the club with about 140 playing members. The overall membership would probably be close to 400. We have three playing pitches at Templeville Road.

Status: St Mary's College were founded in 1900 and have won many titles including the Leinster Senior Cup and have arguably been the most successful club in recent years at junior level. They have enjoyed Division One status in the All-Ireland League since the inception of the competition.

Finest hour: There have been many for the club but I suppose a great night recently was the one held in the club to celebrate the fact that John McWeeney, Kevin Nowlan and myself joined Denis Hickie on the national side, all except Denis winning their first caps against the All Blacks.

Worst hour: I suppose the All-Ireland League defeat by Young Munster at Lansdowne Road where the team never really managed to recapture some of the performances during the season and were well beaten in the end.

Club hero: We have many here at Templeville Road but one who certainly facilitates the players is team manager Kevin Conboy. He smooths all those little wrinkles that can appear prior to matches and leaves the players to concentrate on the game.

Greatest rivals: Terenure College. This rivalry goes back to school days where the general dislike of our near neighbour is fostered and then extends to senior level. That is one match which neither club wants to lose whatever else the season holds.