Senior Women start with win, Senior Men away to Mullingar, Womens Rugby Feature, New underage tops...

By Padraig Murphy Longford RFC PRO Ph: 087 6063587 Email:  lrfconnects@gmail.com

Ladies’ 2022/23 Season under way. 

Longford Lionesses roared back into action against Arklow at CPL park on Sunday. Arklow Ladies, under the stewardship of former Ireland and Leinster rugby legend, Shane Byrne, were defeated by the Longford girls in slightly damp conditions, where it was difficult for both sides to hold onto the ball!  The Longford girl’s fitness in the later stages stood to them and were able to close out an impressive performance.

Match report by Irene Murtagh

Longford 22-05 Arklow

Longford faced Arklow in wet and windy conditions for the 1st game of the season. The Longford side started out very strongly with determination to start the season off well. New players, Judy Starzynska and Jasmine Smyth both earning their first cap with the senior team.

Longford ran in an early try from great teamwork between the forwards and backs, scored by Maria Kellegher. Tegan Evens kicked the conversion for Longford.  Arklow were equally determined and put pressure on Longford.  However, Longford’s defence held strong. As the weather worsened both sides played phases with a display of good passing skills.  Strong tackles from Tegan and Jessica Stewart stopped Arklow from gaining ground. A brilliant maul from a Longford line out and Longford made ground, working well inside the Arklow 22. A clever kick from Tegan, chased by Laura Gallagher and Leanne Keegan, with support from Amy Molloy and Jessica at the break down, allowed Leanne score the second try of the game giving Longford a 12-00 lead.

Longford, in the second half continued with pressure, working through several phases with forwards and backs working well together.  A solid Longford scrum gave the ball to Leanne who scored her second try for a 17-0 lead.  Arklow dug deep and camped in the Longford half of the pitch placing increasing pressure on the defence.  Despite Longford working very hard to keep the visitors scoreless, Arklow eventually scored their only try of the game.  Longford deployed clever kicking tactics despite the strong wind to get out of the Arklow half.  Jasmine Smyth worked very well on the wing to prevent Arklow making a break. Good support work from Rachel Farrell and then Megan Banahan on the attack from inside her own 10m to the opposition 22, led to Maria Kelleher score her second try under the post to bring the final score to 22-05. 

The upcoming Ladies Leinster league fixtures are as follows

16/10/22 Longford v Greystones

23/10/22 New Ross v Longford

6/11/22 Longford v Wicklow J1

13/11/22 Clontarf v Longford

20/11/22 Longford v Gorey

4/12/22 Athy v Longford

11/12/22 Arklow v Longford

8/01/23 Greystones v Longford

15/01/23 Longford v New Ross

29/01/23 Wicklow J1 v Longford

5/02/23Longford v Clontarf

12/02/23 Gorey v Longford

26/02/23 Longford v Athy

Training continues every Tuesday and Friday 7.30pm.  New players welcome always.

Contact Nuala McGoey  (086) 248 2005

Former Ireland hooker Shane Byrne with Longford’s provincial call ups, (L)Leanne Keegan & (R) Maria Kelleher who have been called into Leinster and Connacht ladies squads respectively. 

An Inclusive Sport- Womens Rugby in Longford by Karen Lennon – Vice President, Longford Rugby Club 

Women’s Rugby is one of the fastest growing sports these days. Longford Rugby Club have proudly fielded a Women’s side since 2006. Genny Butler took the initiative then and gathered a bunch of women with little or no experience of the game, many who are still involved in the club today.

It wasn’t the first attempt at founding a women’s team. Oonagh Flynn, Derick Turner and Pat Fitzgerald tried back in 1975 and would have succeeded if not for the lack of women’s teams at the time to play competitions. They were one of the first Women’s Rugby sides in Ireland. Not wanting to give up, the women joined with the men and played a number of mixed rugby games to raise funds for local charities.

Rugby appealed to these women for a couple of reasons. It is the perfect example of an inclusive sport. When chatting to some of our under 16 girls at a recent training, I asked them why they wanted to play rugby. Some said it was because their brother played but perhaps Shauna summed it up best. She reckons you don’t have to be the biggest or the fastest to play rugby. I tend to agree.

In rugby, everyone counts, from tall to the not so tall and from fast to the not as fast. There is a field position to suit all. Everyone is useful to the team.

The other reason is that a mutual respect forms the basis of our sport. We hold in high esteem our sport, the values and traditions and earn the respect of others in the way we behave. We respect our match officials and accept their decisions.

World rugby has taken great lengths to make rugby as inclusive as possible regardless of national, racial, or ethnic origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, language, religion, politics, or any other reason.

Women have been an integral part to the continued success of Longford Rugby Club, and it has had numerous women officers over the last 25 years sit on the various committees including the main Executive committee.

When the Hall of Fame was created in 2010, the club was quick to induct two women to it - Winne Harney and Columba Quinn. These two women never missed a match or a singsong and while they enjoyed the social side of rugby, they did trojan work on the various committees

I was one of the team set up by Genny in 2006 and am still very involved to this day. Longford Rugby Club has grown greatly in my time there. We field at every age grade from u6 right through to u18s. Our girl’s section is steadily growing too where we field at under 14s, under 16s and under18s. We have also started an under 12s side too just for girls. With our numbers steadily increasing, our playing facilities have been developed to become some of the finest facilities in Ireland.

I played for about 7 years, managing to gain a cap for Connacht in that time. We had a great bunch of women and steadily progressed through the Leinster leagues and played in the All-Ireland League. Wanting to stay involved, I coached the Women’s side, joined the youth’s section of the club for 5 years as Youth Coordinator before moving back to the senior section of the club in a managerial role with the senior men’s sides for the last 6 seasons. With the growth of the girl’s rugby in the club, I am again back in the youth’s section as Girl’s Coordinator.

Founded in 1888, Longford Rugby Club has a long history and as current Vice President, the first Lady to hold the title, I look forward to seeing the club grow and prosper for many years to come.

Men’s XV news

After a break in fixtures, Longford return to action next Sunday 16^th October in round 3 of the Leinster league.  Longford travel the short journey to Cullion, take on Mullingar in what is sure to be an intriguing affair as both sides seek their first win of the league campaign.  To add spice to the mix, both sides squared off earlier in the season in the Midlands League final, where it was Longford who spoiled the party in Mullingar to take the title.

Kick off in Mullingar at 3.00pm while the J2 sides kick off at the earlier time of 1.30pm.

LL Div. 1B Results & Fixtures

Results to date

25/09/22 Cill Dara 18 Longford 12

02/10/22 Longford 14 Wicklow 20

Upcoming Fixtures

16/10/22 Mullingar v Longford

23/10/22 Longford v Carlow

06/11/22 Tullow v Longford

13/11/22 Athy v Longford

27/11/22 Longford v Dundalk

04/12/22 Longford v Cill Dara

15/01/23 Wicklow v Longford

22/01/23 Longford v Mullingar

29/01/23 Carlow v Longford

19/02/23 Longford v Tullow

15/03/23 Longford v Athy

26/03/23 Dundalk v Longford

Men’s Senior training continues Tuesday and Friday evenings at 7.30pm.

Bus to Ireland v South Africa November 5th

A bus is being organised for the Ireland v South Africa match at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday November 5^th.  The bus will leave Longford RFC at 12pm and returning from Dublin at approximately 9.00pm.  The match kicks off at 5.30 pm. 

The cost is €30 return.  If interested, please contact Tommy Butler on 0863143968

Membership

Membership is due for all members, players, coaches, and those who wish to play for the first time with the club. Firstly, new members should register with the IRFU on the following link.

https://rugbyconnect.irfu.ie/

When prompted, select Leinster as the Provence, and then select Longford Rugby Club as your club. Once complete, note the player number.  You are then directed to https://sportsmanager.ie/sportlomo/users/login to complete the process. Please complete each line correctly or the player application will not go live.

Have a player head photo ready to upload also.

Payment is online and must be made as part of the process.  Players are only approved and available for match selection when full payment and forms are completed. 

Your Club Your Country

Irish Rugby’s popular annual draw returns with another list of fantastic prizes. All ticket sales proceeds go directly to the club and thus is the largest fundraising event of the year.  You can buy tickets by clicking here via links on the club social media or by searching for Your Club Your Country on Google and selecting Longford RFC.

Youth News

Match Results 

U18 Arklow v Longford Game off

U17 No Game

U16’s Longford 24-15 Portarlington

U15 Wexford Wanderers v Longford conceded by Wexford

U14  Longford 17-47 Tullow

U16 match report

Longford took on Portarlington on Friday night at CPL Park under lights in the first round of the Leinster league. Portarlington had the benefit of playing the previous week with Longford having last week’s game postponed.

The difference in size was immediately apparent as Longford players were swatted aside in the early exchanges. Both sides traded attack and Longford with the lighter squad were first to concede on 17 minutes.   At 0-5 down Longford took the fight to the visitors. Chop tackling was required and yielded possession.  Longford got a foothold on 20 minutes, with a good team effort to see Darragh Walsh crash through for the home sides first of the day to level the score at 05-05.  Confidence within the team was now growing and it didn’t take long for Daniel Corr to claim the next try from some classy handling through the backs and with the ball pushed back infield from the right, Daniel darted left to finish under pressure at the posts for the second Longford try.  Senan Murphy added the extras for a 12-05 lead after 20mins.

Portarlington piled on pressure with their reliable and somewhat unstoppable pick and go from the forwards used to great effect and the Longford pack had some heavy lifting to slow it and prevent success.  On a rare occasion that they spread out the ball, a fine interception by none other than Daniel Corr was on hand to score his second try.  Senan Murphy tapped over the conversion to give Longford a healthy 19-05 lead at the break.  

The message at half time was to soak up the inevitable purple patch the visitors would get, minimise the potential damage on the score board and up the ante in the latter stages.

The second half was very much similar to the first, as Port hammered the Longford defence line.  Longford had emptied the bench and the changes gave Port a slight advantage early in the half as they picked up two early tries from their highly effective power play. With the score at 19-15, one felt we could let the game slip away, however, Longford eventually got to grips with the game once again and Tadgh McCauley came close right at the posts, but Portarlington just managed to turn possession over at the crucial moment. Longford held on to more possession and pulled the tiring Port lads over and back to stretch them around the fringes.  Some high balls lofted over them were successfully contested to keep them on the back foot. We eventually got the ball over to the right and Daniel Corr managed to break through from 20m to score bringing the game to 24-15.

Longford had some defending to do in the final moments but held firm to take a good win against a vastly more powerful team. Final score Longford 24 Portarlington 15.

Prominent for Longford were Shane McGuigan, Joseph Davidson, and Harry Byrne with heavy work around the contact area, Daniel Corr in loose play, Darragh Walsh very effective at fullback. Tadgh McCauley gave a gritty and determined performance and the handling skills of the backs was excellent throughout. 

Longford scorers Daniel Corr 3 tries, Darragh Walsh 1 try, Senan Murphy 2 conversions.

Longford: Tadgh McCauley, James Cosgrove. Joseph Davidson, Conor O’Grady, Dan Donohue, Harry Byrne, Daniel Corr, Shane McGuigan, Donnacha Golden, Senan Murphy, Vianney Durand, Tom Murray, Jamie Donohue, Jonathan Groenewald, Darragh Walsh.  Finishers-George Burns, Niall Connaghton, Mel Mulligan,  Jack Brogan, Corey Harrington

Youths Fixtures 15/10/22

U18 Longford v Arklow

U17 Edenderry v Longford

U16 Arklow v Longford

U16G Longford v Edenderry

U15 Edenderry v Longford 

U14 Longford v Portlaoise 

Link to Leinster league and Midlands’s area competition fixtures and results can be found on the following link.

https://www.leinsterrugby.ie/domestic-rugby/domestic-fixtures-results/ or by using this website.

Youth’s training 

Training for all youths’ rugby teams continues weekly. Longford Rugby Club field girls only teams, training from U14 up to U18’s.

Age group, coach contact details and training schedule as follows:

Girls’ teams

U14 girls - Mags McKenna  087 6309653

Wednesday 7:00-8:15pm

U16 girls – Morag Rowan 087 4135962

Wednesday 7:00-8:15pm

U18 girls – Declan Smyth 085 1375973

Wednesday & and Fridays 7.30pm

Boy’s teams

U13 – Lisa Brady 087 6119960

Monday 7.00-8.45pm

Saturday 10.30-11.30am

U14 – Declan Elliott 086 8125363

Wednesday 7.00-8.15pm

U15 – Aoghan Clarke 087 6727002

Monday and Wednesdays 7.00-8.30pm

U16 – Padraig Murphy 087 6063587

Thursdays 6.30-8.30pm

U17 – Freddie Forde 086 1727145

Tuesdays and Thursdays 7.00-8.30pm

U18.5’s – Jimmy Murphy 086 2555621

Thursday 7.30-9.00pm

New players welcome at all age groups. Just turn up with a gumshield.

Please follow club social media for updates on our Instagram & Facebook profiles - Longford RFC

Sponsored training tops

Longford Rugby Club U15’s squad were recently presented with new training tops, sponsored by Panelto Foods.  Panelto Foods an Irish Bakery based here in Longford, produces a range of high-quality frozen par-baked breads for major retailer’s in-store bakeries and cafe chains across Ireland, UK, and Europe. Longford Rugby Club are very grateful to Panel to Foods for their extremely generous sponsorship and support of the Club.

Pictured recently at the presentation of contact training tops are Pierre Delannoy and Adriana Madej (Panelto Foods), Aoghan Clarke (U15 coach) and members of the  Squad.

Pierre himself, has had a long association with the Club, as a former player while Adriana's children play at under-age level.

Pierre Delannoy and Adriana Madej (Panelto Foods), Aoghan Clarke (U15 coach) and members of the U15 Squad at the presentation of team training tops kindly sponsored by Panelto Foods.

Mini Rugby 

Blitz updates

This weekend our U10’s travelled to Tullamore on Saturday taking on teams from Tullamore, Birr, Roscrea, & Mullingar at a Midlands Blitz

U10’s pic with coaches Colm Glynn & Wayne Kelly

Our U11’s braved the elements on Sunday and travelled to Birr for a Midlands Blitz with Birr, Mullingar, Tullamore, Roscrea & West Offaly Lions

U11’s pic with coaches Donagh McDonnell, Mark Quinn and Ted O’Reilly

Well, done to all our boys and girls on a superb team effort.

The U6/7/8’s will travel to Mullingar on Saturday 15th October for a Midlands Blitz.

On Sunday 16^th next, all our minis are in action at home against Cavan RFC.

For further information on all mini’s rugby, please contact your coach or our Mini’s Co-ordinator, Pauline Marlowe on Mob - 087 632 3373.

For all other teams not involved in blitz, Longford Mini Rugby continues on Sunday mornings, 10.30am at the club.

Players should wear football boots, appropriate clothing, and a gum shield. Blade type boots are not permitted.

We cater for all age grades from U6 up to U12 for both boys and girls with a girls’ team at U12. This group is for girls born 2010 & 2011.

Please note the following if your child was born in/Age Grade/Team contact:

2011 - Age Grade U12's - Pauline Marlowe 087 6323373

2012 - Age Grade U11's – Mark Quinn 085 8642266

2013 - Age Grade U10's – Colm Glynn 087 1520428

2014 - Age Grade U9's – John Healy 0879884240

2015 - Age Grade U8's - TBC

2016 - Age Grade U7's - TBC

2017 - Age Grade U6's* - TBC

2011 & 2012 Age Grade U12 Girls – Gerry Carthy 086 8046857

* Children born in 2018 are welcome to try out training with our U6 Age grade team. They should be able to take instructions as part of the group without taking too much coach time from the group.  

Membership is now due. Returning players registration can be updated on the player portal on this link

https://sportsmanager.ie/sportlomo/users/login?

New players can be registered via this link

https://rugbyconnect.irfu.ie/

For further information please contact Pauline Marlowe, Mini Co-ordinator, Longford RFC.  Mob - 087 632 3373

New coaches are needed at the younger age groups. If you are interested in helping, please contact Pauline Marlowe or Gerry Carthy. 

Please follow club social media for updates on our Instagram & Facebook profiles- Longford RFC

Boot room

Parents - we all know how quick the kids grow up and requirements to have a new pair of boots as they have outgrown the most recent, expensive pair. Why not check out the hugely popular Boot room here at Longford rugby club where we have a self replenishing stock of replacement boots.  The idea is that you drop in a pair you no longer need and replace it with a pair that fits your child. That way your pair of boots doesn’t go to waste and someone else gets to benefit also, thus also helping someone else save a few Euros. 

If you have any boots that you wish to donate or exchange, please bring them into minis training and drop off the office for the attention of Gerry Carty or Pauline Marlowe who will assist with selecting the replacement pair.  Boots should be clean, laces intact and no missing studs.  No blades will be taken in. 

Please note it is not possible to guarantee there will be a suitable replacement available however we have rarely not had some to choose across a wide range of sizes.

URC Comment

Leinster played out an absolute cracker of a game against the Sharks at the RDS.  While the Sharks lament missing their Springbok contingent, Leinster were also without 6-7 significant names like Lowe, Keenan, Conan, and Furlong among others.  Munster were a poor second best to a Connacht side who had a sting to offload after a tough first three games on the road.  Ulster had a decent win against the Ospreys.

Pitch Rental

Our state-of-the-art 4G artificial surface pitch is available for rent. There are a limited number of slots available during the week and weekends.  The pitch includes a full-size football pitch with full sized goals or can be spilt for reduced numbers of games with reduced size goals.  For details, contact Gerry Larkin on (086) 819 5519.

Sin Bin

The Sin Bin is open for Sunday Lunch and is available for functions/events outside these times.  It is also open on match days. 

Phone 087 346 4914 for bookings or email sinbinbookings@outlook.com. 

Check out the Sin Bins Facebook page for update, specials, and updated opening hours;  www.facebook.com/sinbinlongford/