Didn't realize Conor Kyne was under 18. He's a big lad.

Full list of winners from the 2012/13 Connacht Awards Ceremony:

CONNACHT U18 SCHOOLS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Ciarán Gaffney

CONNACHT U18 CLUBS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Conor Kyne

CONNACHT U19 PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Connacht Tribune; presented by Dave Hickey, CEO Connacht Tribune
Sean O'Brien

CONNACHT U20 PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Deep Riverrock; presented by Huge Early, Depp Riverrock
Darragh Leader

CONNACHT WOMEN’S INTER-PRO PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Emma Clery

CONNACHT WOMEN’S CLUB PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Marian Sheridan, Tuam RFC

CONNACHT CLUB OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by Heineken; Presented by Jim Glynn, Heineken
Corinthians RFC

CONNACHT COACH OF THE YEAR
Pat Cunningham, Forwards Coach, Corinthians RFC

CONNACHT VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR
John Folan, Galwegians RFC

CONNACHT JUNIOR CLUB PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by The Connacht Hotel; Presented by Shay Livingstone, General Manager, The Connacht Hotel
Mickey Murphy, Ballina RFC

CONNACHT SENIOR CLUB PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Sponsored by iRadio; presented by Deborah Fagan, CEO, iRadio
Finn Gormley, Corinthians RFC

Will be tough to hold onto Parata but not impossible still haven't heard which way he has gone. I'm wondering is it smart of us to take Walshe and Meunargia straight into the academy? They're props surely a year of AIL would do them the world of good but on the other hand you don't want to lose them either. Moloney to me would be the real catch, would love to bag him for Connacht. Looks like we'll have to wait and see.

connachtexile wrote: Steve Crosbie is in the Leinster academy. Interestingly it looks like Rory Moloney of Roscrea might not be. There we hope that Connacht have snatched him? He joins the candidate list:

<strong>Academy Candidates:</strong>
1. Rory Parata
2. Sean O'Brien
3. Oisin Heffernan
4. Caolin Blade
5. Seuba Meunargia
6. Jacob Walshe
7. David Panter
8. Alex O'Meara
9. Ciaran Gaffney
10. Joe Bercis
11. Sean O'Hagan
12. Conor Kyne
13. Dwayne Corcoran
14. Mark Roche
15. Cathal Evans
16. Rory Moloney

Don't think ye'll get Parata. Think he might be in Munster
Think O Brien is a definite for ye, and think Seba and Jacob Walsh prob could be included. Don't think Corcoran or Blade will be near academy places this year

Sligo lost All Ireland under 17 final to Navan 30-18 in Naas today.

Steve Crosbie is in the Leinster academy. Interestingly it looks like Rory Moloney of Roscrea might not be. Dare we hope that Connacht have snatched him? He joins the candidate list:

Academy Candidates:
1. Rory Parratta
2. Sean O'Brien
3. Oisin Heffernan
4. Caolin Blade
5. Seuba Meunargia
6. Jacob Walshe
7. David Panter
8. Alex O'Meara
9. Ciaran Gaffney
10. Joe Bercis
11. Sean O'Hagan
12. Conor Kyne
13. Dwayne Corcoran
14. Mark Roche
15. Cathal Evans
16. Rory Moloney

Every team needs a good singer, Munster have Varley, All we could get was this fella

connachtexile wrote: Anyone hear about the academy? Provinces submitted lists today. Three got leaked in Munster. John Madigan and Darren O Shea of Dolphin and Niall Horan.

Jays that one direction fella is quare talented... :silly:

Anyone hear about the academy? Provinces submitted lists today. Three got leaked in Munster. John Madigan and Darren O Shea of Dolphin and Niall Horan.

Kevin O'Byrne leaving the academy and Gardiner already gone. With Henshaw and Marmion already promoted and Conneely and Qualter on development deals I expect a big influx this year. The academies are supposed to be finalised tomorrow for the IRFU so ears to the ground people!

As he played for the Irish clubs for two years, young O'Hagan is obviously well developed physically. He was very very good when I saw him play for our U18's last year. I also heard that he was a stand out player when the clubs beat England this season in a great win. I believe that he has family in Galway, so the signs are good that he would come here. The kind of player that we should sign to our Academy, a lad with Connacht connections.

The U18 Club drew against Italy and a lad there gave his review of the game:

My stand out player was Conor Kyne at prop, unbelievable game. He made more tackles than the rest of the forwards put together and made a fantastic try saving tackle on a winger when the full back was beaten once. Big, strong and mobile, a Cian Healy type.

Front Rows were good, like Quinlan, very good, Treadwell in second row was also very good. I liked Aron Hogan when he came on. Dow was ok and made lots of tackles but got binned for the last few minutes which did not help, Flankers were ok but out muscled at times.

Scrum half Jack Cullen has terrific hands, but boy did he look small out there.

Conor O'Brien did great, looks like a really good player, has good hands and moves well, set up a good try for McGibney in first half, could do with improving his kicking game and sent a restart dead once in second half after they scored when we needed it to stay in. James Nolan did well, tries hard tackles well and made some good runs in the first half, took all the kicks and could have done with getting the conversions but it was windy and cold. Moran at 13 was ok, did not get overly involved and did not let the ball go wide once when a big overlap was there in the second half, Wingers were good as well when given ball, Full back did ok but kept the ball in once when he should have just let it go out. O'Hagan came on for O'Brien who got injured with about 20 mins to go and showed real class. His try was out of nothing really, cut a line off the edge of a ruck from about 30m out at real pace and blasted through the gainline withstanding a few attempted tackles, wingers chasing him and the full back tried to tap tackle him as he dived for the line. The best moment of the match as the place went wild, got everyone jumping. Thing for me without being critical of the lad, he looks and runs more like a centre than a FH, he is very well built and strong.

Narrowing it down, Conor Kyne, Treadwell, Conor O'Brien and Sean O'Hagan looked like players who could step up a level.

It's likely O'Hagan could be coming to us and Kyne is already in the Connacht set-up. Apparently Treadwell has Ulster and Connacht interested in him if he decides to leave Harlequins.

Up-dated Academy Candidate list Cathal Evans added.

Academy Candidates:
1. Rory Parratta
2. Sean O'Brien
3. Oisin Heffernan
4. Caolin Blade
5. Seuba Meunargia
6. Jacob Walshe
7. David Panter
8. Alex O'Meara
9. Ciaran Gaffney
10. Joe Bercis
11. Sean O'Hagan
12. Conor Kyne
13. Dwayne Corcoran
14. Mark Roche
15. Cathal Evans

For anyone in Tipperary/Midland area, Cistercian College Roscrea SCT team, who lost in Leinster Senior Schools semi-final are hosting Galwegians in an Iain O'Brien memorial game. Iain passed away last year and was Galwegians Youth academy coach. Match is on Saturday next in CCR, kick off 2.30.

Heard we might we might be getting some exiles in the academy so I'm putting up the Ireland U-18 clubs teams so we can all wildly speculate at who we could get. Connacht players in bold. Evans usually play fullback.

IRELAND UNDER-18 CLUBS:
15. Sean O'Hagan (London Irish/Exile)
14. Anthony McGivney (Mullingar)
13. Sam Arnold (Harlequins/Exile)
12. James Nolan (Gorey) CAPTAIN
11. Robert Vallejo (New Ross)
10. Conor O'Brien (Mullingar)
9. Jack Cullen (Saracens/Exile)

1. Conor Kyne (Galwegians)
2. Jack McKenna (Wicklow)
3. Brendan Quinlan (Clanwilliam)
4. Colm Joyce-Ahearne (Wexford)
5. Kieran Treadwell (Harlequins/Exile)
6. Andrew Purcell (Mullingar)
7. Conor Oliver (Skerries)
8. Lorcan Dow (London Irish/Exile)
REPLACEMENTS:
16. Niall Hannon (Mullingar)
17. Liam Walshe (Wicklow)
18. Harry Hester (Navan)
19. Aaron Hogan (Youghal)
20. Idrs Rqibi (Skibbereen)
21. Joey Carberry (Athy)
22. Sean Moran (Kilkenny)
23. Cathal Evans (Corinthians)

Apparently the IRFU want the provinces to finalise their next year academy places next week some time. Hopefully we start hearing whose in and whose out soon.

It doesn't bother me so much with the younger lads, there young and they'll make mistakes you don't want them to become robots either. It's a learning curve and sometimes those lessons have to be harsh.

On the Leinster site it sounds like Joe Bercis is going to the Leinster academy not ours which is a shame.