Rugby Rebel by Gerard Siggins

old doorways and colourful window boxes. Kevin looked up as they neared the top of the street.
    ‘That’s my old school,’ he sighed. ‘Happiest days of my life, or so they told me. What are you planning to do, Eoin?’
    ‘I thought I’d try to find the Belvo equivalent of Mr Finn,’ he said. ‘He might be able to help. Are you two going to tag along? Try to keep it quiet.’
    Eoin rang the bell on the big, black doorway, and waited while someone came to open it.
    ‘Hello, I wonder can you help me,’ he started. ‘I was looking for the school historian …’
    ‘Well, young man, I’m the school archivist, so perhaps I can help?’ said an elderly man dressed in black.
    ‘It’s a complicated story,’ Eoin began.
    ‘Well, you’d better come in and tell me then,’ he smiled. ‘I’m Brendan. What’s your name, and is that a Castlerock jumper I spy under your jacket?’
    ‘It is,’ said Eoin. ‘I’m Eoin Madden, I’m a student out there. I was doing some, eh, research and I found this old key. I’ve been led to believe that it has something to do with Belvedere.’
    ‘And how were you led to believe this?’ asked Brendan.
    ‘Well, I can’t really say yet,’ said Eoin. ‘I was wondering if you had any idea what connection it has to your school?’
    ‘Hmmm,’ said Brendan, ‘I’d have to think about that.There is one mystery in the archive that I’ve never quite understood, though. Come with me.’
    He led Eoin along a corridor, where his Castlerock gear drew some hostile glowers from other boys. Brian and Kevin followed, and Eoin grinned as he imagined what the Belvo boys would do if his ghostly pals suddenly appeared to them.
    Brendan showed him into a large room lined with bookcases and filing cabinets. He walked to a glass case in the middle, and Eoin was startled to see a series of artefacts to do with Kevin Barry, including an old browning photo of him charging up the wing at what was labelled ‘Lansdowne Road’, but looked nothing like the Aviva Stadium.
    ‘This cabinet concerns the school in the years from 1916 to 1922,’ Brendan explained. ‘I’m sure you’ve heard of Kevin Barry, who was a pupil here, and these other items also come from around that time.’
    He reached inside and picked out a wooden chest about the size of an egg box; Eoin spotted that Kevin had suddenly taken interest in what they were looking at.
    ‘Here it is,’ Brendan smiled. ‘This was hidden in the archives for many years. It was found with a note saying it had been delivered in the dead of night during theWar of Independence and that it came from another Dublin school. It’s locked tight and no-one ever got to the bottom of it. I wonder is this anything to do with your key?’
    Eoin gasped. Kevin and Brian had just reappeared behind Brendan and were closely examining the rest of the contents of the display case.
    Eoin took the key from his pocket and poked it into the keyhole. He turned it, and was delighted when it clicked and the little chest sprang open.
    ‘Oh my goodness,’ said the elderly archivist. ‘That was a great surprise. Let’s see what’s inside.’
    He lifted the lid, and there, lying on a purple velvet cushion, was another brass key.

Chapter 25
    . . . . . . . . .
    ‘ I THINK I know what that’s for,’ Eoin said, carefully. ‘There’s a lock back in Castlerock that’s been unopened for years. Could I possibly borrow it?’
    ‘Well … I’m sure there’s no harm in that, since you’re the one who found the key to open it after all these years, but I’ll have to get in touch with your headmaster to tell him. It’s Mr McCaffrey still, isn’t it?’
    ‘Yes,’ replied Eoin. ‘Or maybe Mr Finn – he’s the archivist – would be better?’
    ‘Well, maybe, if you think he might know what the key unlocks …’
    Brendan disappeared for a few minutes to call Mr Finn, and came back with a smile on his face.
    ‘Mr Finn told me you were the boy who won the Young