Midleton Switch On Lights For Local Derby

This Friday night coming, 6th December (kick-off 7.45pm), Midleton RFC host Sundays Well RFC in the All Ireland League "under lights" at Towns Park.

This will be the first game at Midleton under the newly commissioned floodlights and marks the culmination of a great amount of efforts at all levels in the club to make the project a success.

Speaking ahead of the fixture Andrew McCarthy, Club President stated “As a club we are developing and growing; we now have 25 squads from U6 to seniors competing for scarce resources so the addition of floodlights to our facilities is going to revolutionise how we operate”.

“I am delighted, and would like to thank Sunday's Well for agreeing to be our first senior opponents in a what is not just a local derby game in the AIL, but what will be part of our club history as our first night time fixture”.

“It is important to also thank everyone who made this possible, while we had a grant for part, the support of members, volunteers and the over 100 local businesses and 400 people who supported our main fundraiser in October gave the final push that made the whole project possible. It is humbling to see that in these economic times the community can come together to make this a success and for that we are very grateful”.

In terms of squad preparation Head Coach Fergus Burke commented “Floodlights are an essential part of the facilities of any club that want to be serious about how they prepare for games when your season is in the winter months. I expect that this resource will be well utilised and I am delighted to be part of the process that sees them being put into use”.

Speaking on behalf of the club’s underage section Director of youth rugby, Dr Paul Simpson went on to add to “with so many teams at underage, finding the space in terms of scheduling to develop the players to the full potential has always been a challenge. We have nearly 300 now training, and the Floodlights will mean more access and better development of our squads”.

Munster Rugby would like to wish Midleton RFC every success with the launch of the club’s first ever Friday night fixture.