Terenure College

Terenure sits in the south of Dublin, the kind of suburb whose sporting life runs through its schools. Fr. Jackie Corbett called them together at the Hotel Lenehan in November 1940, and the first game, against the school's own senior team, went 8–3. For years afterwards the club made do with borrowed school pitches before finding a ground it could call its own.

That settling came late — Lakelands, in Terenure, became the club's secure home only in 2012 — and what followed was a rise through the All-Ireland League that took barely a decade: up from the second tier in 2013, into Division 1B a year later, and into the top flight, Division 1A, by 2017. Losing the 2022 final to Clontarf stung; beating the same opponents 50–24 at the Aviva Stadium the following season, with Caolan Dooley's boot doing much of the damage, gave the club its first league title. Last May the club appointed the former All Black fly-half Carlos Spencer as head coach on a three-year deal.

Terenure has produced Ireland internationals across generations, from Mick Hipwell, who toured New Zealand with the Lions in 1971, to Girvan Dempsey, capped a dozen times and part of the 2003 World Cup squad. The South Dublin Derby against St. Mary's College is one that has pulled crowds of close to 6,000 to Aviva Stadium finals. On other Saturdays it is Lansdowne, in the McCorry Cup, who bring the physical edge. Either way, it is Lakelands, with its 3,000 capacity in Royal Blue and White, that the club still calls home.