Shannon Notes September 8^th 2007

A week into the season and already it seems as of we were never away. Activity is high in all sections of the club with the U/6’s right through to seniors in training. On Sunday Coonagh was a hive of activity, but with the All Ireland hurling final in Dublin, numbers were expectantly a little lower than usual. Already though we have had underage sides in action, with the U/15’s kicking off their league campaign on Wednesday evening with an excellent win over Young Munster in Coonagh. It’s great to see the U/15 league kick off so early as it affords the schools players who will be cup tied later on a chance to lineout with their clubs. For our own side they couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. 31 points to 10 victory over the visitors to Coonagh is a good omen for the team. Five tries in total were scored with Michael Darcy setting out our stall early with a fine try. He was followed by Raymond Barron and then Keith White crossed twice, one either side of Alex McNamara’s effort. Two Conversions by Cormac Ryan and one from Mark Leonard rounded off a most satisfactory evening on the field. The satisfaction of winning was slightly overshadowed with concern over one of our players, Shane Considine who was injured in a tackle, but fortunately he was well catered for medically and is expected to make a quick recovery. We wish him well.

At U/18’s level we have, for the first time in quite some time representatives on the Munster youths with Luke O’Dea, Craig Phayer and Aidan O’Donovan all in contention for representative honours. Also, at schools level Brain Downey and Robert Guerin are involved in the Munster schools squad. We wish them all the very best in the endeavours.

Last Saturday our seconds advanced to the next round of the Transfield cup in impressive fashion with a 25-3 win over Old Crescent. Jason Cronin Captained the side for the day and capped an excellent performance with a try while Mark Tuohy, having just landed after Holidays was another to impress with an excellent game. New Boys Paddy and Leonard O’Sullivan were quick to pick up the club style and infused well with their new colleagues. It was also great to see Shane Mullally back to rugby action after his sabbatical with the Limerick Hurling panel. Given the early start to the competitive season, coaches George Murray and James Hickey can be more than pleased with the prospects for the season ahead.

The next round takes place this Sunday at 3pm against Thomond in Coonagh

On Friday evening last the seniors had their first outing when they travelled to play Bruff in a training game.

Many new players to the club donned the jersey for the first time and several of last season’s U/20’s were also involved which again is very encouraging. Fiach O’Loughlin was reacquainted with the black and blue jersey and looked as if he was never away. Although Bruff outscored us by two tries, the result was immaterial to both sides as each gained very useful game time with plenty of hard physical contact which was as good as several training sessions. This Friday evening they play Thomond in the Charity Cup in Coonagh at 6.15.

The Thirds were beaten by Thomond in a challenge game in Coonagh on Wednesday evening and they may feel a little disappointed given they had plenty of possession. It was, as with the seniors an excellent run out and despite missing several key players, Locky still had several on the replacements bench.

Training for the thirds takes place this Tuesday evening in Coonagh at 6.45 and new players are more than welcome.

As usual, the call for club subscriptions will be a regular feature n the notes and Registrar, Ger Mc Closkey is the man to contact on 087 2745926 or uniquehardwoods@eircom.net

Last week in the notes I failed to point out two very high profile appointments for Club personnel. Few people are unaware that Former club Chairman Gerry O’Loughlin was elected as President of the Munster Branch and we take this opportunity to publicly wish Gerry all the very best for the season ahead. Gerry is a man with great vision and an in-depth knowledge of the club game in Ireland and during his tenure he will be every much focused on the domestic game in Ireland. It’s a fantastic honour for the club that a Shannon man will hold office during such an invigorating and exciting time for Munster. A Shannon man already held the ERC cup aloft as Captain and it would be wonderful if Gerry as president could once again raise the cup. We live in hope.

Another appointment to the highest office in Munster in his chosen field sees Tony Wallace become President of the Munster association of referee’s. Again, a wonderful honour for the club and a well deserved accolade for Tony. He has always represented Shannon with great dignity, both on and off the field and there’s nothing to suggest in his new role anything will change. Congratulations and the best of luck for the coming season Tony.

Referees may well infuriate the biased supporters at times, but whether justified our not, we urge all of our members, players, coaches and supporters to respect every referee in every game. They too give their time freely to the sport we all love, and without their participation our games, quite simply would not take place at all levels.

Andrew Mc Namara

Shannon RFC PRO

087 2717163

amcnamara@eircom.net

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