Kildare Catholic College are hoping to be back-to-back Hardy Shield winners as they prepare to face Kooringal High School in Monday's final. Captains Brayden O'Reilly and Noah Killeen are excited for the game and confident their sides will produce an entertaining evening of rugby. Kildare won the side's last meeting 18-0 but that isn't deterring Killeen, who believes Kooringal will step to the challenge. "We've only just clicked together, our first two games weren't the best, but that third game we just played showed we're there for it and can do it," Killeen said. "They're a pretty good team, they've got some good players, but we saw some weaknesses so we'll target them and exploit them a bit more." O'Reilly is hoping to see cleaner football from his side, not pleased with some of the fumbles he's seen in recent weeks. "We've been a bit scrappy over the last few round games but hopefully we can work it out for Monday night," O'Reilly said. "They've got some big boys but hopefully we can shut those big middles out and make our way forward." MORE SPORT NEWS Excited to be heading into the final, Kildare were careful not head into the competition cocky after last year's win. "We knew what we were capable of but we didn't get ahead of ourselves, we just had to game by game," O'Reilly said. Both in year 12, this is the final time the boy's will compete in the Hardy Shield, and they intend to make the most of it. "I'd love to see our team have a good time together, it is a lot of fun playing with all your mates from school, if we don't end up winning, but I'm confident we will, hopefully we'll just have a good time out of it and work together as a team," Killeen said. "I'm hoping to have a good game, it's our last time to play for Kildare," O'Rielly said. Monday's final will be played in two 30-minute halves, up from the 20-minutes played in the round games. Both captains were pleased for the additional game time, though raised the more time they have to score, the more time their opposition has to score against them. Kildare won all three of their round games to qualify for the final, while Kooringal were a last minute qualifier, taking down Mater Dei 36-4 on Wednesday to book their spot. The 2023 Hardy Shield grand final will kick off at 5.30pm at Equex Centre on Monday evening. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: