Club Focus: Carrigaline RFC

Founded in 1994, Carrigaline RFC is located at Ballyorban in Cork. Competing in the Junior 1 League at Division 3, Carrigaline was recently promoted off the back of a very successful 2012/13 season.

That year, the senior team claimed three pieces of silverware, including a J2 League and Cup double, while also winning the Kelly Cup for the club’s third year in a row.

“Carrigaline RFC started off as literally a social team in Junior 4 and as we developed, the players got more serious about it”, says Club Chairman Brendan Kelly. We went on to compete in the Junior 3 league and claimed our first trophy in 2005, winning the McCarthy Cup at Musgrave Park against Kanturk.

“This year we came off the back of a very successful season where we were promoted to the J1 League at Division 3”.

“We’ve had a good season so far, but it has also been a learning curve and there will be a lot of work put in over the summer months to make sure we are well prepared and get things right for next year.”

“Like every club we lost a few players through emigration, which has been hard so this year we have been concentrating on fielding just one adult team under our Head Coach James Kiernan, who has done great work over the last number of years.”

Underage Rugby

Due to a huge demand in a growing population, Carrigaline’s underage section was set up in 2007 and has blossomed ever since. The club caters for an average of 150 mini players every weekend and fields two youth teams at Under 14 and Under 16 age grade.

“We’ve a great batch of Under 12’s coming through and next year will be fielding a very strong Under 14 side. We also fielded an Under 16 squad last season, but we find that there is difficulty in maintaining players to compete at Under 18 level. This has been a big challenge for us and at present we are making serious efforts to field teams at every age grade, said Kelly.”

“We have a good schools programme going with the local Community School which is a huge plus. We’ve gained a few players from this initiative, so having a presence is proving worthwhile in terms of recruiting young players.”

Acknowledging the efforts of volunteers Kelly says the club’s success at underage is down to the commitment from the parents at mini level.

“There is great credit due to the parents of our minis, who literally got stuck in during the year which was great to see. Many of them completed the IRFU Mini Coaching Course to develop themselves and fair play to them for getting involved.”

“It’s great to see adults who have never played the game or indeed that have never been involved in rugby before enjoying it so much. Looking back over the season that has been a great plus for us and long may it continue.”

Girls Rugby

Carrigaline currently field a girls’ U18 team who recently claimed the Munster U18 Sevens Championship for the second year in a row.

“Ger Healy has coached this current crop of U18 players from U14’s. They have a great squad with many team and indeed individual successes, which have included Jayne Pennefather who last year was involved in the Ireland U17 Schools squad. Jane also went on to represent Munster last season at Under 18 level along with fellow club player Aoife O’Sullivan and we are very proud of the two girls”.

Challenges

In terms of overall challenges, Kelly says recruiting adult players is always a primary focus on Carrigaline’s agenda.

“The need for player recruitment is something that we are always aware of. There’s a lot of players out there who have come through our underage and may have drifted off for a while, but are coming back to play their adult rugby with Carrigaline which is very positive. We’re always on the lookout for new players and always have room for new recruits.”

“To solidify our positions we just need to keep the focus on building the club both externally and internally in terms of membership. It is very important that we keep the parents and the volunteers involved in the long run and put more focus on the squads at underage level in terms of coaching and indeed holding on to them.”

Future

As current tenants at Ballyorban, Kelly says one of the club’s future goals would be to secure their own property. He also pays tribute to the huge efforts the committee have put in to fundraising over the years which have included annual table quiz events.

“We are very committed to getting something we can call our own in Carrigaline", he says. Long term we would like to have our own clubhouse so we can leave something for the people coming after us. It’s there as a big challenge for us, but it’s something we will keep working on and hopefully achieve in the near future!”

Carrigaline RFC Officers

President: Billy Sullivan
Chairman: Brendan Kelly
Hon. Secretary: Billy Garrett
Club PRO: John Whitford
Fixtures Secretary: Niall O’Shea