Domestic Season Review | Adult Rugby

It has been a fantastic season for adult rugby throughout the province with a huge number of exciting games and finals taking place over the last year.

Here, we take a look back at the winners from the 2023/24 season, highlighting the stand-out moments and clubs who performed exceptionally across the province.

Senior Clubs

All roads led to the Aviva Stadium for Cork Constitution this year as they took on Terenure in the Men’s AIL final.

Cork Con, who recorded 14 wins and just four losses throughout the regular season, defeated the 2023 champions 33-22 in what was an edge of your seat style final.

Elsewhere in Division 1A Young Munster finished their season in 6th position with a tally of 8 wins and 10 losses.

Shannon will spend next season in 1B after being beaten by Old Belvedere in the relegation play off semi-final.

Garryowen return to 1A after just a year in 1B after beating Old Belvedere 34-3 in their promotion play off final. They also went on to win the Bank of Ireland Munster Senior Challenge Cup as they beat AIL champions Cork Con 22-7 in Thomond Park.

In the Women’s AIL it was a Munster double as UL Bohemian RFC were crowned WAIL champions after they defeated Dublin’s Railway Union 48-38.

Ballincollig finished this season’s campaign in a solid 6th place with 5 wins and 11 losses.

Elsewhere in the AIL, Highfield and UCC remain in 1B as they finished in 5th and 6th place respectively.

In Division 2A Nenagh Ormond will play 1B rugby next season as they clinched the 2A title having won 15 out of a possible 18 games this season.

In the remainder of 2A Cashel finished 2nd while Old Crescent finished 6th.

UL Bohemian RFC will spend next season in 2B for the first time as they were beaten 21-35 by Galwegians in their play off semi-final.

Dolphin saw relegation for the 2nd time in two years as they depart from 2B after being defeated by Galwegians in the 2B/2C play off final with a score-line of 19-25.

In 2C Bruff finished 3rd, Midleton 5th and Clonmel 7th.

Junior Rugby

UCC captain Jason Aherne leads the celebrations after Munster Junior Cup win Credit ©INPHO

It was UCC who were crowned Bank of Ireland Munster Junior Cup champions for the first time in 45 years after defeating Kilfeacle & District 31-9.

Fethard took home the Junior Plate while Clonmel defeated Killorglin in the Junior Bowl final.

In the league it was Thomond that took the spoils as they topped Division 1, St Mary’s were winners of Division 2 and Ennis took the top spot in Division 3.

Thomond also found themselves in All Ireland Provincial Junior Championship semi-final action but were unfortunately beaten to the spot by a now freshly promoted Monkstown.

Newcastlewest retained the Junior Challenge Cup while St. Mary’s took home their 2nd piece of silverware in the Shield competition.

Ennis-Kilrush win Division 1 league Credit Ennis-Kilrush RFC

It was once again a very successful season of women’s rugby in Munster this year with 12 teams competing throughout the year. This season also saw the return to the normal Division 1/Division 2 format as we welcomed two new teams into the competition in Bruff and Clonakilty.

In Division 1 it was Ennis-Kilrush’s year as they went back-to-back winning both the League and Cup.

This success then saw them progress to the Women’s All Ireland League play off semi-final where they took on Leinster Champions Tullow. This game was a massive opportunity for the club as they vied for a WAIL spot which would be a phenomenal feat for a team that only came to fruition just two years previous. But it was not to be just yet for the West Clare outfit as they were beaten 10-15.

Shannon were crowned Munster Open Cup champions while freshly promoted side Dolphin won the Open Bowl beating Mallow in Tralee.

In Division 2 it was Thurles who saw victory in both the league and the cup.