Teams ready for last 16 of Schools' Cup

After the group stages in this season’s revamped competition the 10 qualifiers were joined by the top six seeded schools and two of the big boys have drawn each other to determine a place in the quarter finals, as Royal School Armagh will host Campbell College.

The sides have meet in the previous two years and Armagh coach Willie Faloon is hoping it’s third time lucky.

“We know them very well, they beat us in the semi final last year and beat us in the final the year before and we have beaten them in the friendlies previous to that, so it is a team that we are not going to take lightly at all,” he said.

“It’s great to get home advantage but home advantage doesn’t win anything either.

“A lot of guys have a lot of experience and that will stand by us as will that defeat - they will have tasted that and hopefully that will make them a bit hungrier when it comes to Campbell.”

Faloon feels his side’s preparation for the start of the tournament has been hampered by the new structure.

“We struggled for fixtures while the group stages were going on; it has been very stop-start and there were times when we went two or three weeks without a game and that’s terrible preparation to be honest.

“There needs to be some sort of benefit if you are going to be a top six side. We’re never always going to be a top six side but there needs to be something in place so those guys aren’t losing out and it meant our juniors lost out on fixtures,” added Faloon.

“We got Christmas over and now we’re starting to build towards the first round.”

Campbell assistant coach Johnny Cupitt knows it is going to be a difficult task going to Armagh but says it is one the Belfast School will embrace.

“It’s obviously a big game and the draw is never straightforward for us and it hasn’t been for the last three or four years, but we have come through that well,” he said.

“Armagh are a much fancied team and rightly so this year so we’ll just treat it like every other game and get ourselves prepped.

“We’ll back ourselves as a cup side, our form to date is tailored for the cup and we are happy that we have got senior guys coming back in there have been a couple of injuries.

“We love the cup experience and our players thrive on it but we’re fully aware of the challenge ahead because Armagh our excellent,” he added.

“We have three finals in four years, we’ve won it, we were beaten by a very good Methody side in the final last year and a very close game with Armagh in the semi, then we beat them the year before that.

“But you just take each year and each game and treat it completely differently.

“Armagh is a hard place to go but we’ll embrace the challenge and just give it everything we’ve got.

“We set ourselves high standards and there is our own internal pressure on ourselves to achieve the best and that is something we embrace, we’ll very much look forward to it.”

Last 16 Schools Cup draw: Ballyclare High School v Friends’ School, Lisburn; Royal School Armagh v Campbell College; Bangor Grammar School v Wallace High School; Grosvenor Grammar School v Enniskillen Royal Grammar School; Royal Belfast Academical Institution v Belfast Royal Academy; Cambridge House Grammar School v Methodist College; Down High School v Ballymena Academy; Coleraine Grammar School v Sullivan Upper School