Wallace High School head coach Derek Suffern hopes historic Schools' Cup success can inspire future generations

Having previously lost out in five finals and missed their showpiece opportunity in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, forward power helped propel Wallace towards St Patrick’s Day glory at Ravenhill with front-row stars Rio McDonagh and James Gould accounting for three of their four tries – centre Luke Dillon also crossed the line in a 24-15 victory.

Suffern hopes the success can help act as a source of inspiration for the next crop of potential Wallace stars coming through the ranks that were watching on from the stands in Belfast.

"We're delighted,” said Suffern. “A lot of hard work has gone into it over the years, even before these guys time, but credit to the group - they went after their own journey, have had a great season and it has been finished off with a top performance against a very good Armagh side.

"The boys are thrilled and you can see it in their celebrations afterwards.

"From the general public and people who have been involved with the school previously, they can say it's a monkey off the back.

"For this group I don't think it played into their thought process. Hopefully future generations and guys in the school now know it can be done and take confidence in that moving forward.

"I think the people watching and the younger players that see it can now see that it can be done and gives them confidence that the process is right and the people involved in the school game are doing the right thing.

"We want to keep going at it and chasing the stuff we're delivering on because it has been proven that we're doing the right thing."

It was an entertaining decider at the home of Ulster Rugby with Cameron Cummings and captain Thomas Dougan scoring for Armagh in a spectacle enjoyed by thousands, but Wallace held on.

"We know we have a strong forward pack and it's the balance of getting a gameplan that goes out to win games as supposed to entertain people,” he added. “I thought we played some good rugby, played with expanse at times, but the power of the forward pack when they got into the 22 throughout this cup run has been a big weapon of ours and we've been clinical.

"Today was no different. Our backline produced serious defence and it was a huge team performance."