Young Munster Club Notes

Young Munster seniors are back in action this weekend in the Ulster Bank League as we play host to Lansdowne on Saturday November 26th at Tom Clifford Park.

Courtesy Of: Olivia O’Sullivan, PRO

We are holding a Pre-Match Lunch in the clubhouse from 1pm cost €;25 includes admission, lunch and match programme. Bookings: Brendan Collopy 086-6062606 or Fergal Deegan 086-2265692.

Limerick Women's Rugby Derby Weekend

On Sunday November 27th, Women¹s Rugby in Limerick will see its big derby weekend as Young Munster play host to Shannon in the All-Ireland League.

Young Munster currently lie in 3rd position on the Division 2S table with 12 points, with Shannon in 7th on 4 points with a game in hand. Both sides lost to table toppers Tralee in their last games ¬ it was Young Munster¹s only loss so far this season ¬ so both sides will be looking to come out on top from this fixture. This match is always a hard fought contest as Young Munster and Shannon are the only women¹s teams in Limerick to share a division making it a local women¹s rugby annual highlight. The game takes place in Derryknockane with a kick-off time of 1pm.

Daughter of Young Munster Club Founder visits Tom Clifford Park By John McLoughlin

On 15th, August 1907 a young man entered the United States of America through Ellis Island. The immigration records describe him as a 24-year-old carpenter from Limerick who had travelled to the USA on the liner Teutonic.

Richard Matthews emigrated from 77 Mungret St. Limerick where he lived with his mother, four sisters and his brother Augustine. His mother, Hanora, is described in the 1901 census as a drapery shopkeeper. She was already a widow at 38 years of age. Richard is described as a carpenter. He was an apprentice at that time. Each member of the family could read and write.
Remarkably for that time, four of the children could read and write in Irish.

Before Richard emigrated to America he made a major contribution to Young Munster Rugby club. With Michael Keyes, Con Carey, Thomas Hannon and Michael Quigley he was responsible for the revitalisation of the club in 1901.

The contribution of the five men is acknowledged on the clubhouse board that displays the names of the club¹s presidents and captains.

It was a delightful surprise when his daughter, Betty Redfearn, accompanied by her grand daughter Cindy, visited Tom Clifford Park during a brief visit to Limerick. She was greeted by the club President Nay Cantillon and members of the committee. Nay¹s father, Jimmy, was president on two occasions during the 1940¹s. A connection spanning one hundred and ten years was celebrated when Nay made a presentation to Betty beneath the board commemorating her father¹s contribution to the club.

Betty related how her father had to leave Ireland when he completed his apprenticeship due to lack of work. He must have been a talented craftsman because, while still an apprentice, he completed the geometric design and the template for the rose window in the Presbyterian Church in Henry Street.

After some years in New York he moved to Texas where Betty now resides.
She said that he managed to visit Limerick every four or five years until his last visit in 1945. This is borne out by the census of 1911 which recorded him present in his mother¹s house on census night.

Michael O¹Flaherty, in his history of Young Munster, lists Richard as a player in the Young Munster team beaten by Lansdowne(Limerick) after three replays in the final of ³A Special Seconds Junior² competition for a set of medals in 1903.
Little else is recorded of his playing activities but Betty stated that he continued to be involved in sports activities in the USA.

2 wins and 1 draw in Under 10s Blitz

Our U10¹s went to Ennis on Sunday to play in a blitz and once again played some very good rugby, winning two games and drawing one.
In our first game we played Old Crescent and drew on a scoreline of two tries each. We took an early lead with tries from Darragh Long and Donnacha O¹Callaghan. We fell asleep for a time afterwards and let Old Crescent back into the game conceding two very soft tries. We upped our play again though, and pushed hard for the winning try with Josh McCoy, Luke Moloney, Scott Sheehan and Lindsey O¹Dwyer all making strong runs. A great break by Patrick O¹Donnell almost ended with a try but with the pitch badly lined we could not see the line and the chance was lost.
Our second match was against the Ennis B team and we ran out convincing winners by 9 tries to 2. Scorers here were Cian Casey, Tarkan Pinarci, Ben Murphy, Darragh Long, and Donnacha O¹Callaghan. We had some very good play by Sean Farrell, Darragh O¹Sullivan, Liam Kelly, Adam Keating, Liam Kelly ,Conor Kerley and Ben Dillon.
In our last game we played against a very big Ennis team and had a very good win of one try to nil. A Darragh Long try proved to the winning of this game, he used his strength and speed to score a wonderful try. Colm Mohally had some very good runs and Cayden Malone tackling everything that moved in an Ennis jersey. The tackling in this game was fantastic by all especially considering this size of our opponents. Well done to all players and let¹s keep up the good work.

Results from last weekend:

Senior XV Friendly: Nenagh 0 ¬ 24 Young Munster Thirds Gleeson League: St. Senan¹s 20 ¬ 19 Young Munster Under 21s: Young Munster 12 ¬ 17 Dolphin Under 15s Friendly: Young Munster 25 – 17 Tralee Under 14s Friendly: Young Munster 17 – 19 Tralee

Underage fixtures for Sunday November 27th:
Under 17s League Ennis Vs Young Munster Showgrounds Ennis at 11am Under 15s League Bruff Vs Young Munster 11.30 Killballyowen Bruff Under 13s League Thomond Vs Young Munster at 10am Fitzgerald Park Woodview