Longford RFC Club News 30/12/2018

By Tommy Butler Longford RFC PRO tommylbutler@gmail.com 

Senior Men

Longford secured back to back Midland League Titles with a tough 31-10 win versus Edenderry in Tullamore on Saturday.  It is Longford’s first silverware of this season and will hopefully prove as a catalyst for both the Early/Late XVs, who are both in the mix for league honours.  The season is now entering a crucial phase with Longford welcoming third placed Monkstown and DLSP to CPL Park on successive weekends.  The two matches will go a long way towards deciding if Longford will remain in the shake up for league honours with just five matches to play.  These matches will be followed by an attractive home first round fixture in the Provincial Towns Cup versus Cill Dara.  It is by no means an easy draw for Longford, with Cill Dara lying in second place in Division 2A (the Division below Longford).  However, the lure of a home cup fixture is certain to draw a big crowd to CPL Park on January 20^th and with Longford’s good form in 1B this year the lads will be training hard looking to earn a good run in the famous competition. The Provincial Towns Cup is one of the oldest rugby cup competitions and widely regarded as one of the Premier Junior Rugby cup competitions in the world.

The draw was also recently made for the Provincial Towns Seconds Cup, which the Early XV will compete in.  They were drawn away to face Athy 2^nd XV on Sunday February 3^rd.  The Early XV are going well this season and will be looking to continue the progress with a good cup run.

Upcoming Fixtures

Sunday January 6^th Leinster League Monkstown (Home).

Sunday January 13^th Leinster League DLSP (Home).

Sunday January 20^th Provincial Towns Cup 1^st Round Cill Dara (Home).

Kick offs are 13:00/14:30 in January.

Longford Senior Men Team Huddle after Midland League Final Win

Longford Women (Warriors)

Longford Women have a break from League action until January 13^th.  However, they will continue training hard looking to keep their great three match winning streak going into 2019.

The Warriors train every Tuesday and Friday night at 7.30 PM. New players of all fitness levels are welcome, even if they have not played before. Contact Nuala on 082482005.

Upcoming Fixtures:

Sunday January 13^th Leinster League Greystones (Away).

Sunday January 20^th Leinster League Naas (Home).

Sunday Januarys 27^th Leinster League Portlaoise (Away)

All Kick Offs are at 1 PM.

Longford Mini/Youths

Training resumes next week.  Please check with your coaches for training days.  Longford U7, U8, U9, U10, U11 & U12s are travelling to Creggs next Saturday for a Blitz.  It is not too late to start playing Mini rugby.  Longford RFC welcome new players at all levels both boys/girls with no previous experience necessary.

Fixtures:

Saturday January 5^th

U18 v Portarlington (Home).

U17 v Gorey (Away).

U16 v Edenderry (Away).

U15 v Portlaoise (Away).

U13 v Clane (Away).

U7, U8, U9, U10, U11 & U12s Cregg’s (Away) 10 am.

Sunday January 6^th

U14 v Terenure (Home).

No Mini Training.

Training

Longford RFC field teams at Youth level from U6 to U18. Training and coaching information can be found below.  Gerry Carthy is Minis/Youths Chair. We are always looking for more coaches, managers, referees, administrators or helpers. If you can help out for even a few hours or make sandwiches for a game or have an ideas/concern’s please contact Gerry on; 086-8046857.

Youths

Longford Youths are back training at all levels. New players are welcome at all age levels throughout the season (it is never too late to join in!). There is no better time to start with the Rugby World Cup looming large on the horizon next November after Irelands record breaking 2018. Training times and Fixtures can be found on www.longfordrugby.com or at https://goo.gl/qAVBPv

New players are welcome at all age levels – just come to the club on the relevant training night or contact the contact the relevant coach via the link above for details. Don’t worry about not having played before – we have the coaching staff to teach the basics to any player. Jimmy Murphy is the Youth’s Co-ordinator and can be contacted at 086 2555621.

Minis (U6-U12)

Our future Leinster and Ireland stars train every Sunday at 10.30 am. New players are very welcome, we have a comprehensive team of trained coaches. Just remember to bring a gum shield and a bottle of water along with your training gear. Two new innovations for the coming season are that we have a new state of the art 4G training area, which are suitable for contact sports along with Girls Training from U8-U12.

The Full Mini (U7-U12) Season Planner can be downloaded at the following link; http://goo.gl/DAZ5GK  

Padraig Murphy is the Mini’s Co-ordinator and can be contacted at 086 2526741 or prgm@me.com 

Club News

Happy New Year

The President of Longford RFC Paul Trueick and the Board of Management would like to wish to wish all our players, coaches, administrators, helpers, members and friends a Very Happy New Year.  We can’t wait to see what 2019 brings.

Great Food/Events & Christmas Parties at Longford RFC

The Sin Bin at Longford RFC serves great quality and value food on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 12-3 and 12-7 on Saturday and Sunday. Booking for events such as birthdays, christening, confirmations, communions, weddings and funerals are available.

The Sin Bin also shows all Irish rugby/Leinster/Munster matches live.

For bookings and information phone Kris on 0872872357.

4G All Weather Pitch Rental

Our state of the art floodlight Mel Diffley 4G pitch is available for rental.  It contains shock absorption so that players can play contact sports/fall over without hurting themselves.  It is also perfect for 5 a side soccer.  If you would like to book it phone Damian on 0862757103.