Club Notes: Week Ending 05.3.17

This week we remember the late Thurles clubman Bobby O’Brien, and have notes from Waterford City

Thurles RFC
Courtesy of Brian Scanlon

An Appreciation Bobby O’Brien 1937-2017

It was with great sadness that the news of Bobby O Brien filtered through the club on Thursday last after a short illness in St Joseph’s Hospital in Clonmel.

Bobby gave a Lifetime of commitment and service to Thurles Rugby Club and to rugby in Tipperary and Munster, His involvement was full, complete and lifelong.

Bobby was Thurles Rugby. As a player he had dedication and had shown that he was made of tough stuff indeed, when he was playing for Thurles from 1955-1967. It was quite a good time for Thurles Rugby with both the First and Seconds playing strongly. Bobby was on the Winning teams that took home the Evans Cup in 57, 58, 59, and 61. He also won the Mansergh cup in 1962.

Bobby epitomised everything that’s great about Club sport, he decided at a very young age to get involved with the administration of the club and became Hon Secretary in 1957 until 1995 and then the fixture secretary since then. That’s 60 years involved at the engine of the club. Bobby was the constant that flowed through the club, over all the years, giving his wisdom and advice to the incumbent President his influence was immense.

Not being busy enough with rugby administration in Thurles, Bobby got involved with the Tipperary sub-committee and was the county secretory for so many years members can’t recall when he first joined. He then advanced to The Junior Committee of Munster Branch of IRFU and then He proceeded to the Junior Club delegacy for North Munster to the Munster Senior branch of the IRFU. The high esteem that Bobby was held was reflected in the large attendance by the Branch members at his funeral. A minutes silence was held before the Munster Senior Cup final in Musgrave Park between Cork Con and Young Munster on Sunday afternoon.

In all these roles Bobby was meticulous in adhering to the regulations and had unquestionable integrity in his dealings with every club. This integrity and honesty was carried through all his dealings at all levels of administration and this is indicative of the very high esteem that he was held by the members of the Munster Branch.

Bobby was a guiding presence and influence at all stages of Thurles club development – acting as officer of the club when the field was purchased in 1967, the building of the club house and subsequent extensions. As the club flourished from the 70’s to where we are since with thousands of children and adults Male & Female playing and enjoying the game of rugby, and using the facilities, he was ever influential. Bobby was a fantastic source of help and encouragement He was a great sounding board for advancing the club and the advice he gave was sharp, sensible and worthwhile.

Where most people came across Bobby was as International / Munster Ticket contact. Bobby didn’t believe in excel spread sheets. His operation was a copy book, ruler and pen and you didn’t get your tickets until every column was filled in to his standards. It was imperative to firstly get onto his List and then stay on it. As soon as you didn’t take a booked ticket you were off the list, (woe be upon you if you said to Bobby that you didn’t want to see the Japan or Pacific Islanders match that was sandwiched between Ireland V Australia and Ireland v New Zealand)

Bobby was a true pillar of the club if we look back at our club history there are few who stand out as such, Paddy Tobin who founded the club, to Liam Skehan who held the club together during the war years and the aftermath. Fr John O’Mahony who had vision to advance the club by getting their own facilities, to George Hyland who brought on juvenile rugby teams for the future players of the club. Bobby surpassed everyone for his lifetime commitment to rugby in Thurles. His loss to us is immense we will miss him deeply.

Bobby was the voice of rugby on Tipperary Mid-West Radio since its inception with his accurate reporting of matches reports and fixtures. His opinion was held in very high regard by the listeners. His knowledge was encyclopaedic in relation to rugby matters.

In 2008, while being honoured by Thurles Rugby Club at a function. Bobby stated: “If you want to stay young, you don’t surround yourself with your peers. Surround yourself with young people.” His love of hockey and dedication to The Ursuline teams epitomised this philosophy. He spent endless hours attending matches all over Ireland and also travelled to Holland to support them in a European competition. The high regard that Bobby was held with all the Ursuline Staff from Principal Mary Butler, former Principal Sister Berchmans, was very obvious and heartfelt. He was a true friend to their community and the willingness for the schoolgirls to provide a guard of honour to him was a reflection of the esteem that they held him in. Instead of a walking stick, Bobby always used a hockey stick turned upside down.

Bobby had a great interest in Horses and could trace most horse’s linage better than most almanacs he was happy to discuss same with likeminded punters. He also used to own greyhounds with his old work colleague Bernie Fitzsimons. Bobby who served his time as a Butcher with The Late John Blake in Westgate worked with Bernie for years in Croke St.

Bobby had a great love for animals and his house was literally open house for cats who all received rugby related names, his care for them was incredible.

Bobby had great neighbours, the McEvoy’s, Joanne and Michael, who spent years of caring for him.

Bobby was waked in The Rugby Club Pavilion on Saturday afternoon and The way that the club members, both past and present, flocked around to do what they could for Bobby over the last few days emphatically symbolised what Bobby meant to the club as a whole. He was Thurles Rugby Club, and so it is only fitting that every member of the Club felt honoured to do what they could throughout his short illness, and in his time of passing. We as members all looked upon Bobby as family and are all at a loss.

Fr Jerry Hennessey the Rugby Club chaplain celebrated his funeral mass on Sunday. The club President Tadgh Dwyer delivered a fitting eulogy.

The girls from the Ursuline Convent formed a Guard of Honour for him in the Cathedral Yard

To the sound of a lone piper Andy Cooney, the members of Thurles Rugby club past and present escorted Bobby’s remains to St Patricks Cemetery passing a guard of honour from Rahealty School and the underage players of the Rugby Club enroute.

Former Club President and close friend Martin Shanahan delivered a graveside oration which was well received.

On Behalf of Thurles Rugby Club we would like to offer our sympathies to Bobby’s family his sisters Mary, Phil, Margaret, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, Una, cousins, relatives, neighbours, friends.

Bobby will be hugely missed by his friends, the void that he has left in the Rugby community is enormous.
Thurles Rugby Club will be forever in debt to the lifetime of commitment and service to the club that Bobby gave. May he rest in peace.

Waterford City RFC
Courtesy of Deirdre Barry

Munster Junior League result: Waterford City 24 v Crosshaven 14

Munster U16 Bowl

Early on Saturday Morning our U16s made the long journey to County Cork to take on Group 2 Winners Bandon RFC in the Quarter Final of the Munster Bowl. A wonderful display of both attacking and defending rugby saw City emerge on the wrong side of a 20 – 8scoreline.

From the kick off the home side tested the City defence, hitting our forwards hard in the centre then working the ball out wide trying to expose any weakness in the City backline, but whichever side they chose they faced City’sBack Three , wingers Josh White & Daniel Kelly who worked tirelessly throughout the game, making bone crunching tackles alongside full back Darren (Brick Wall) Kenneally who stopped anything dead in its track that came down the line forcing Bandon back down the centre only to be met by City forwards Sean Leane& Jack Stickel who rose to the occasion working nonstop around pitch making hit after hit. A late tackle from Bandon’s No 8 on Sean Leane resulted in a yellow card City hoped to capitalise on this but were unable to take advantage of the extra man as Bandon’s forwards regrouped and charged at the city line moving closer phase by phase and were once again deniedafter some furious counter rucking from City Forward Dean Kelly.The young City lads played a structured game,led by their captain Bryan Brown and took their opportunities when they arose however neither side were able to make any inroads on the scoreboard andit took all of twenty five minutes before either team crossed the scoreline.A five metrescrum saw Bandon take the lead 5-0. City hit back on the restart when just moments later an infringement from a Bandon player gave City’s Number 10, Keelan Taylor an opportunity to get his team on the score board. A well struck kick in very windy conditionssaw City finish the half 5 – 3.

The second half was much of the same and after 10 minutes of some very exciting play from both teams a well kicked penalty saw Bandon further their lead to 8 points. Once again both teams charged at each other each trying to get that much sought after Try but it was Bandon who crossed the line first after taking advantage of City’s No 8 Paddy O’Donavan being sent to the Sin Bin for a late shoulder charge as the ref kept consistency & control of the game. This put Bandon in a position of leading the game 13 -3.City upped the ante and had the Home side under severe pressure and it was only a matter of time until they broke through. It was City’s front row player Hakeem Dwalayewho had the final say when he powered his way through three tackles and busted through for a well-earned try, givinghis team the score they so desperately needed,score line was now 13 – 8 with 8 minutes left on the clock.

On the restart city laid siege to the Bandon line. City’s Number 1 Aaron Murphy working tirelessly rucking & mauling and giving 100%but try as they did they were unable to breach a stubborn defence for that vital try. In the dying minutes Bandonwho afterweathering everything that was thrown at them managed to work their way up field and were awarded a penalty on the 22 once again. In similar style to their first try Bandon’s large No.8 crossed the City line to go 18-8 ahead after a well kicked Conversion and with only seconds left on the clock the scoreline was 20–8.

The restart saw City charge at the Bandon lads who kicked to touch and with that the whistle blew. Over all a very exciting, well played match with the final score not doing justice to the closely fought game.

Over all it was a great morning of rugby with a fantastic display on show for the crowd of parents that had come to watch. Waterford City RFC would like to thank Bandon Rugby Club for the hospitality and wish them the best of luck in the Semi-finals. This was by far City’s best performance to date with each and every player giving a 100% this young City side have an abundance of talent and are starting to show how capable they are and it’s only a matter of time until they become a force to be reckoned with. Waterford City RFC would also like to wish a speedy recover to Darren Kennelly who finished the game out on what turned out to be a hairline fracture on his Collar Bone.

U14's: Waterford City 17 v Carrick 20
Tries: Kieran Kennedy, Luke Doyle & Jonah Ngussa
Conversions: 1x Kieran Kennedy

Heartbreaker for our U14s this morning against Carrick in horrible windy conditions, despite being down 15-0 at halftime the lads clawed it back to lead 17-15 only to lose it on the final play with a breakaway try. This leaves the lads in 2nd place with a final game to play against Clanwilliam at home this Sunday with the prize being a home semi-final at stake. Well done all in what was a game of 2 halves due to the conditions

Minis Rugby:
Home blitz against Dungarvan next Sunday March 5th. All players to be at the pitch for 10am.