For Reece Cunningham, success at Ince Rose Bridge wasn’t built overnight - it was forged across more than a decade of unglamorous, bone-crunching work in the engine room.
Cunningham’s route into rugby league was far from conventional. "I was playing football, did a bit of wrestling, and I broke my leg," he remembers. After spending time sidelined, a life-changing nudge brought the long-serving prop to the club: "I thought I was always too big for football - I was like a fridge, you know what I mean! But rugby kind of worked out."
That coach, Darren Blakeley, became far more than just a manager. "He's like my second dad really," Cunningham reflects. "He's always been at my side, Darren, to be honest with you."
That enduring loyalty paid off in a derby performance under the Friday night lights at Leigh Miners Rangers. In front of a vocal crowd, Ince Rose Bridge produced a commanding 38-20 victory in the BARLA National Cup Semi-Final to seal their place in the showpiece event.
Reflecting on the triumph, Cunningham beamed with pride: "Well, it feels brilliant. I think we deserved it. We built this team over a few years and we finally got somewhere," he said, with more than a nod also to last year's Play-Off success.
The victory came down to laying down a dominant physical marker right from the opening whistle in the first 20 minutes under Blakeley's charge. "It started with me and the middles to try and set the platform, so it's just easier for the lads to come off the bench and carry on and rotate," Cunningham explains. "It worked. I thought we won the arm wrestle."
Even a soft sin-binning for the prop couldn't disrupt the momentum, though Cunningham was quick to clarify what happened: "I literally went down just to wrap the legs, and I think at the top they've twisted and fell over. There's nothing malicious in it - literally just wrapped his legs up and he's twisting and fell on me."
The victory is the first of potentially three landmark games for the club during a thrilling end-of-season run. Next up is a Cross Conference Play-Off Series semi-final tie against Featherstone Lions at Victoria Park in Warrington. Beyond that lies a potential Play-Off Final at Odsal Stadium in Bradford, before they travel to Castleford at the end of October for the prestigious BARLA National Cup Final against amateur giants West Hull.
The semi-final success over Leigh Miners Rangers provided ideal preparation for the trials ahead. "We've recently played Featherstone Lions and a really physical Fryston. I think when you come up against a team like Leigh Miners, they were faster. But you see that today, I think it helped because you can see them gaps, it was not as physical, but it makes us faster when you want it more." Cunningham noted.
The current form is a dramatic turnaround for a side that had to confront its own mid-season struggles. "In mid-season, I'll be honest with you, I think we just thought it was going to be easier," Cunningham admits. "And then teams showed us that they never give up...I think we went three or four losses in a row. But we've come at the right time, we've won so many in a row."
Through every physical battle, the stalwart enforcer remains deeply modest about his crucial contribution in the middle unit.
"I'm just cannon fodder - the donkey in the middle!" he laughs, describing the relentless hard work he puts in before making way for the bench. "I just do all the hard work and then they just drag me off."
Yet as Ince Rose Bridge stand on the precipice of potential silverware on two fronts, there is no doubting the true value of Cunningham's unsung graft.
Big tests lie ahead against Featherstone Lions and West Hull - "It's a toughie, you know," he exclaimed - but with a career's worth of grit and coach Darren Blakeley's guidance behind him, Cunningham and the Ince Rose Bridge engine room are primed to lead a charge into history.
By Dave Parkinson
Photo Credit: 13 Pro-Am Community RL
