Killarney RFC – A New home, A New Beginning

21st August 2015 By Munster Rugby

Killarney RFC have recently opened their new grounds at Aghadoe and last week-end were proud to welcome Newbridge RFC in a preseason friendly.

Courtesy of Liam Murphy, Club PRO

Killarney RFC have a new home!

For the past number of years, our senior XV as well as our youth squads were playing out of the pitch at Ballydribeen, which is owned by the HSE. Our minis section has operated out of a pitch at Knockreer. in 2010, a 14 acre site was purchased outside Killarney town at Caher in Aghadoe. Work began in earnest in 2012 and now we have a Juvenile Pitch, two full pitches and work has commenced on a training pitch.

Last Saturday was a truly historic day for our club. Following the trojan work by Ger Moynihan and his crew at Aghadoe, we hosted Newbridge RFC in a preseason friendly, which proved to be a very sporting match watched by a huge crowd of supporters. Aghadoe was literally a hive of activity from early in the morning as the finishing touches were made. All was set up for the match which kicked off just after 2:30pm and was officiated by Killarney’s own Declan Fuller. A fine sporting match was played on the day with Killarney narrowly losing out to the Newbridge side on a scoreline of 27 points to 22 and watched by a crowd over over 200 eager spectators. Some fantastic play was on display and it is great to see so many young players looking to step up to the senior squad. Though the result did not go our way, the team can take great pride in their performance and this really bodes well for the forthcoming season.

The weather played its part in helping us showcase our fantastic facilities on the day with many spectators bringing their children to watch the match – our future stars! It was fantastic to see the flags go up at the gate welcoming the visitors and supporters alike to our new home for the match. Long hours and an epic effort was put in to line the pitches and to make sure everything was ready for this historic match. With over 100 cars parked up, it was great to see such huge support for the lads and particularly to help celebrate our first ever home match at Aghadoe. Following the match, a presentation was made at the Killarney Avenue to the visiting captain.

We are planning a family day at our new pitch on Sunday the 06th of September which will give us a chance to showcase our new home to the general public, our members, players and sponsors on what will be a fun filled, action packed day. All are welcome. This occasion will afford us the chance to show off our Trim Trail, which is an innovative way for people to spend their time at the pitch. The Trim Trail consists of exercise stations along the 1km perimeter of the site, which will be open to the public to use and enjoy.

The Minis will be back training on Saturday the 29th of August next and the youths will recommence training soon also. Aghadoe promises to be a hive of activity and we as a club look forward to hosting teams from across Munster and beyond and at all ages from U7's up.