The Leinster Schools Junior Challenge Cup is an under-age rugby union competition for schools affiliated to the Leinster Branch of the IRFU.
Competition is confined to students under the age of 15. The cup is held every January - March with the final in late March. It is usually seen as a good forecast as who will win the Leinster Schools Senior Cup in the following years. Blackrock College are the current holders.
The first recorded Junior Cup was held in 1909 where St. Andrew's College edged out Belvedere to take the "inaugural" cup. There is speculation that the competition was in existence before this but there are no surviving records to prove this.
Like the Senior Cup the competition is dominated by the "big 6" rugby schools (Belvedere, Blackrock, St Michaels, Clongowes Wood, St. Marys and Terenure). That said, it has proved to be a more open competition than its Senior counterpart. Since the first recorded final in 1909, 17 different schools have been victorious compared to just 12 different schools in the Senior Cup. Recent years have seen schools like Pres Bray and Gonzaga make the final.
Blackrock College have the most victories (47), followed by Belvedere College (17) with Terenure College the next best (10). Despite the domination of the rugby schools the Cup is much less prone to "runs" of victories by a single school, the longest being Belvedere's 4 (1916-1919) and Blackrock's 4 (1979-1982)
To date only four schools have achieved the almost mythical "double", of which the Junior Cup is half. These are Blackrock, who have achieved this feat 23 times, Belvedere (2005), Castleknock (1925) and Terenure (1958).
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Note: This list is based on the information below which may be incomplete.