A West Waterford school will battle it out for the All Ireland Senior A Volleyball title.
Dungarvan College will contest the grand finale against Munster rivals Douglas Community School on Monday, December 9th at the National Arena in Dublin.
The school qualified for the All-Ireland Volleyball Final at the Senior A level after defeating Sutton Park from Dublin.
The team have been led by joint-coaches John Prud'homme and Mark FitzSimons.
Prud'homme paid tribute to the work ethic within the squad:
"They've had to work really hard. Their work ethic is absolutely fantastic. They come and train as often as they can. We hold training during the day and we hold it after school and we can count on them to be there every single time, putting in 100%."
Dungarvan College's opponents are familiar foes in Douglas Community School from Cork with Dungarvan having gotten the better of their Munster rivals earlier this season.
However, the Cork side won in straight sets last year.
"I don't know whether it's a positive thing that we've beaten them once, but we're just hoping that, again, we play to the same standard we did that day when we met them," Prud'homme said.
Prud'homme says there has been a growing interest in the school to take up the sport as a result of the Senior team's success:
"Our first year uptake of volleyball is absolutely huge. The younger lads really look up to our senior team. It's what they want to do in PE, even though we cover a number of different sports."
Prud'homme admitted that it is hard for himself and joint coach Mark FitzSimons to switch off.
"We're often trying to come up with our strategies for training sessions and games. He's thinking about it at home. I'm thinking about it at home. Recently, we've been giving the lads some speeches, getting them to watch some videos, trying to get every single inch of play out of them."
Joint-Coach Mark FitzSimons outlined the pride the school has in the squad's achievement in reaching an All Ireland final.
"It's an unbelievable achievement. We've been with the lads since they were in first year and they're a mix of third, fourth, fifth and sixth years now. This was something we spoke about to the group. It was a two-year plan at the start of last year when they were of age to have a crack at senior A. They made the semi-final last year, which in itself was an unreal achievement," FitzSimons said.
Picture credit: Dungarvan College
FitzSimons is well aware of the quality within their Munster rivals squad:
"We're playing against Douglas Community School and they would have a couple of Irish internationals in their ranks. We know they're going to have good options, so we're going to have to make sure that the lads are ready."
FitzSimons believes that the Cork-Waterford matchup will add some extra spice to the final.
"We've spoke about that. We actually played Douglas in the first round this year. It's the highest standard match I've watched at senior A level. And look, there'll be that added bit of rivalry and our students here in the school are buzzing for it," FitzSimons said.
Dungarvan College plan to leave early on Monday morning to give the players to get adjusted to their new surroundings.
"We'll start to get into the mindset to be prepared and have them ready to go on court for their warm-up for half 12," FitzSimons said.
"There will be some travelling up but it'll be by cars. We have a bus of supporters going here from school as well. So they're leaving shortly after us, maybe around half eight. So we have a group going up from the school, which is great, you know, like to inspire the next, the next generations coming along behind. And then as well as that, some of the, some of the senior girls team are going to be going there as well to support as well."
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