St. Mary's College RFC & The Guilfoyle-James Cup
The Guilfoyle-James Perpetual Cup — five wins in six seasons, and the club's search for the memories behind them.
The Guilfoyle-James Perpetual Cup began in 1976, when it was presented by Seapoint RC. It is the current name of the old Guilfoyle Cup.
The competition is contested by the club's lower Junior sides. In more recent times it has been a Metro J6 competition, and since 2016/17 it has been the cup for our J5s, though the club's Centenary Book records the original Guilfoyle Cup as a J8 competition.
St. Mary's College RFC won the Guilfoyle Cup on 5 occasions — 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982 & 1983 — a remarkable run of five titles in six seasons, and enough to make the club the competition's joint most successful, level with Blackrock.
Very little is recorded about these wins. If anyone has any information, memories or photographs from these cup runs, we would love to hear from you — please send them to archives@smcrfc.com and they'll be added below.
Click any year to expand what we know so far. Most of these finals are barely recorded — anything you can add would be very welcome.
1978 Guilfoyle Cup winners Won
The first of five Guilfoyle Cup wins came in 1978, in what the club's Centenary Book describes as the richest harvest of silverware St. Mary's had ever enjoyed. That season also brought the Leinster Senior League, the Winters Cup and the Greenlea Cup, along with three seven-a-side victories — Old Belvedere's International 7s, the Galwegians' Blake Sevens and the Omagh Academicals Sevens.
(Season context from the club's Centenary Book.)
Still needed for 1978: opponent, final score, venue, captain, team line-up, match report and a photo.
1979 Guilfoyle Cup winners Won
St. Mary's retained the Guilfoyle Cup in 1979.
Still needed for 1979: opponent, final score, venue, captain, team line-up, match report and a photo.
1980 Guilfoyle Cup winners Won
A third consecutive Guilfoyle Cup for St. Mary's in 1980.
Still needed for 1980: opponent, final score, venue, captain, team line-up, match report and a photo.
1982 Guilfoyle Cup winners Won
St. Mary's regained the Guilfoyle Cup in 1982, having missed out in 1981.
Still needed for 1982: opponent, final score, venue, captain, team line-up, match report and a photo.
1983 beat Palmerston 3–0 Won
Played at Seapoint against Palmerston. St. Mary's won 3–0, the only score of the game coming from a drop goal in the closing minutes.
A player's memory
We won the 1983 final. I still have the medal. We played in Seapoint against Palmerston and won 3–nil.
I don't have any photos. I just remember getting the drop goal from the side in the last minutes and putting it over the upright posts.
The referee was one-eyed! Johnny Kennedy was the youngest member of the team and will know all the details.
John Dennehy
Still needed for 1983: captain, team line-up, the date of the final, and a photo. John Dennehy suggests Johnny Kennedy — the youngest member of the team that day — would know the full details.
St. Mary's J5s reached the final again in 2019, losing 13–33 to Stillorgan-Rathfarnham at Energia Park. The match report, team and the preview published before the game are below.
2019 James Casey — lost to Stillorgan-Rathfarnham 33–13 Lost
Energia Park, Donnybrook — Wednesday 17th April 2019. St. Mary's College R.F.C. 13, Stillorgan-Rathfarnham R.F.C. 33. Captain James Casey scored the St. Mary's try and full back Dan Hurley kicked a conversion and two penalties; St. Mary's led 10–8 at half time and 13–11 with 20 minutes left.
Match report from the final
On a lovely evening for rugby a good crowd assembled from both St. Mary’s and Stillorgan to cheer on their respective sides. Family and friends joined past and current players from our junior rugby sides to cheer on the J5s as they took on Stillorgan-Rathfarnham. Unfortunately, on the night it wasn’t to be for St. Mary’s and Stillorgan came out on top that for the majority of the game, was very evenly contested.
Earlier that week at training we had received words of encouragement from Club President Jack Ebbs along with Flats and Pat Crawford. The day of the game, the team WhatsApp buzzed with messages of support from fellow players in the J4/J5 squad. The players were aiming for the first cup win this team had had since the 2012 O’Connor Cup victory.
The game began very tentatively, with both sides focusing on their defences. Attacking breaks came with hard carries some from Rob Dunleavy and Cian Cahill that moved the focus towards the Stillorgan end of the field. Some good work in the breakdown led to a penalty for St. Mary’s well taken by full back Dan Hurley to bring the score to 3-0.
Stillorgan posed a constant threat when they had the ball with a number of loop moves from their backline and their out half possessing an excellent boot which constantly kept us pinned back. Despite receiving a yellow card, Stillorgan had a period of dominance for which they got their first try with their number eight picking off the back of a scrum and running towards the wing to pass to their winger who scored. The try was unconverted but some minutes later, Stillorgan added a further 3 points from a penalty to bring them 3-8 ahead. For the remainder of the half Stillorgan held most of the ball, however some excellent defensive work from our team lead to their fullback being caught over their own line giving Mary’s a 5 metre scrum which captain James Casey later turned into a try which was converted by Dan Hurley to bring Mary’s 10-8 ahead at half time.
The second half began in a similar fashion to the first with the majority of play happening in the centre of the park. The Stillorgan 10 placing multiple high kicks and crossfield kicks into the Mary’s backline that kept us pinned back and opportunities to get forward were limited. Many players including, Jack Cosgrove and James Collery putting in great tackles to stop Stillorgan gaining momentum. An infringement in our defence gave Stillorgan the lead with a penalty 10-11. The team were able to rise once more and push forward with good link up play between our forwards and backs rewarding us with a penalty again converted by Dan Hurley to bring us back ahead 13-11 with 20 minutes remaining.
Unfortunately, this would be the last time St. Marys would be in the lead, soon after this, Stillorgan broke through our defence for a try and followed up with a penalty to bring them 13-19 ahead with ten minutes to go. St. Mary’s pushed forward and didn’t give up but tired legs after such an effort became a factor and while chasing to overcome the deficit Stillorgan were able to add two further tries including one impressive breakaway try from their own 22.
In the end it wasn’t to be and the squad gave everything but just were unable to gain a foothold against a very strong and well drilled Stillorgan team who were able to control the game at key periods. Although we were unable to get the victory today, the players and coaches put in a great effort to get us this far in a season, they can be proud of their achievements and hope to build on this for next season and take home the cup.
David Browne
Team
Replacements
Guilfoyle-James Cup Metro J6 Final Preview
St. Mary's College R.F.C. v Stillorgan-Rathfarnham R.F.C.
Energia Park, Donnybrook Stadium — Wednesday 17th April 2019, 8pm
Despite the great recent successes of the J4 / J5 squads in the league in recent years, the Cup has generally proved more elusive. Until this year, you would have had to go back to 2014 for the last time the team had reached a semi-final, in that year losing out to neighbours Terenure. For the last time St. Mary's tasted cup success at this level, you will have to go back to 2012 when they beat Clontarf in extra time in the O'Connor Cup. A few players from that campaign are still around this team, and you can read the report from that great night on the St. Mary's website.
The route to the final this year for St. Mary's has been a little unusual. In the first round they produced an excellent display to defeat Monkstown in Sydney Parade. In the quarter-final they were paired with their old friends Kilkenny Normans, who unfortunately had to concede the game due to injuries. In the semi-final they faced Coolmine in Templeville Road and were defeated 30–17 — however, in the following days it transpired Coolmine had fielded ineligible players, and the game was awarded to St. Mary's.
Stillorgan-Rathfarnham have had some very strong wins against Railway Union and Clontarf to reach this final, and their J4 team are competing in the O'Connor Cup final, so they are chasing a cup double. St. Mary's and Stillorgan have not played this season but have had several encounters in the previous season, with several closely contested games.
Captain James Casey and his squad know they are going to have to put in a top performance on Wednesday to secure victory. They have been given a great chance to cap off the hard work put in by the squad and coaches all season, and will need great support from the sidelines to cheer them on. The team are looking for a strong St. Mary's presence in Donnybrook to get past Stillorgan. In one of the final competitive games of the club's calendar, we need everyone to come along to Donnybrook!
Path to the final
| Round 1 | 16.02.2019 — Monkstown 21–30 St. Mary's (Sydney Parade) |
| Quarter Final | 30.03.2019 — Kilkenny Normans conceded (injuries) |
| Semi Final | 06.04.2019 — St. Mary's 17–30 Coolmine (Templeville Road) — game subsequently awarded to St. Mary's, Coolmine having fielded ineligible players |
| Final | 17.04.2019 — St. Mary's 13–33 Stillorgan-Rathfarnham (Energia Park, Donnybrook) |
(Scores from the Leinster Rugby results archive; report and team by David Browne on the club website, 23 April 2019)
Every St. Mary's tie in the competition since it returned in 2009/10, from the Leinster Rugby results archive. Click a season for the full story on the J5 XV hub.
| 2009–10 | Round 1: lost 10–20 to Wanderers (second J5 side) |
| 2010–11 | Semi-final: lost 7–62 to Blackrock College (second J5 side) |
| 2011–12 | Semi-final: lost 5–59 to Blackrock College (played by the J6/Vets XV) |
| 2016–17 | Round 1: lost 11–20 to MU Barnhall |
| 2017–18 | Round 2: lost 7–60 to Old Belvedere (round 1 walkover from Tallaght) |
| 2018–19 | Runners-up: lost the final 13–33 to Stillorgan-Rathfarnham |
| 2023–24 | Round 1: lost 19–47 to Clontarf |
| 2024–25 | Semi-final: lost 11–27 to Dublin Dogos (quarter-final walkover from Parkmore) |
| 2025–26 | Round 1: lost 5–59 to Bective Rangers |
No St. Mary's entry in 2012/13 to 2015/16 (the J5s played in the O'Connor Cup), 2019/20, or 2021/22 and 2022/23, when the club had no J5 team.
Every winner since the competition began in 1976. St. Mary's wins highlighted.
Most successful clubs in the competition's history.
Totals exclude 1994, 1995 and 1998, where the winner is not yet recorded.