Sat 25th May is Enable Ireland Tag day in Garryowen FC.

IRFU laws – up to 15 players per team with a minimum of 3 women on the pitch at all times.

€100 per team

Contact tagrugby@enableireland.ie  for more information

Funeral Arrangements
Reposing at Griffin’s Funeral Home, John’s Gate on Wednesday May 15th from 5.30pm with removal at 7pm to St. Munchin’s Church.
Funeral on Thursday May 16th after 11am Mass to Raheen Cemetery, Knockea.

Donations if desired to Alzheimer’s Society c/o Griffin’s 061 415000

Members are advised that closing date for nominations for officers and committee of Garryowen Football Club is Tuesday 30^th April 2013.

Nominations in writing which should be proposed and seconded (both must be fully paid up members) and submitted to
Geraldine Morrissey Hon Secretary

Conor is not only a fantastic player but a marvellous clubman. He can be regularly seen supporting the light blues in Dooradoyle.
A special word of congratulations to his proud parents Gerry and Barbara.
His grandfather Con Roche is surely looking down with joy on yet another great achievement for his grandson.

We wish Conor every success and best of luck on this, the pinnacle of tours.

Our boys did us proud reaching the B Final and A semi final of the plate competition

Heineken Cup Semi Final
Best wishes to all the Munster players in tomorrow’s big game v Clermont. It wont be a surprise (to this writer) should Munster again confound the pundits.
Allez Les Rouges

Season Finale
Our senior team bid farewell to yet another season with a hard earned 17-11 win over Clontarf in Dooradoyle last Saturday. The early loss through injury of Neil Cronin was a big blow. It is always concerning to see a player stretchered from the field but thankfully the news was more encouraging on Sunday. We wish Neil a speedy return to full fitness. The composition of the bench forced a reconfiguration of the starting line. Conan Doyle moved in to the base of the scrum and James McInerney came on at 12. It proved a master stroke with both players proceeding to have a pronounced influence on the game. Andrew O’Byrne continued to steer the ship at 10. McInerney finished off a superb back moment on 21 minutes and O’Byrne converted. He also kicked a penalty. Richie Lane kicked an early penalty and scored a try in the left corner on 26 minutes.. Dave Sherry scored a wonderful individual try on 56 minutes. O’Byrne converted to make it 17-8. A late surge from Tarf could only yield three points from the boot of Lane. They tried real hard in the final minutes but, with the bonus of runner-up spot also on the line for the light blues, they failed to cross it.

Adieu
Club Captain Dave Sherry bid farewell to Sean Scanlon, T J Anderson and Corey Hircock when he presented all three with a club tie after the game. Nice one Dave!

Munster Junior Cup semi final
The big game this weekend is on Sunday when our junior team play Richmond in the Munster Junior Cup semi final in Canal Bank at 14.30. What a game that is going to be. Please support the light blues in their quest for honours. They have been knocking on the door for a couple of years now. Time to let them in!

Under Age Round Up

NMU21Cup
Our U21’s had the cushion of a 17-0 half time lead but Old Crescent grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and score 26 unanswered points before a late surge from the light blues reduced the deficit to 26-22. Despite our boys holding good field position in the final minutes, the home defence held out for a sweet victory.

NML U17 Final
Garryowen overcame a determined Old Crescent side to complete the NML and Cup double. The game ebbed and flowed throughout. The outstanding back on view was right wing Gary O’Sullivan who scored a hat trick of tries. Nathan Clancy kicked a conversion and two penalties Final score: Garryowen 23 Old Crescent 10.

NMU17 Open Cup s/f
The light blues were going for the treble when they took on Young Munster in Tom Clifford Park on Thursday evening. The scores were tied at 12-12 at full time but (as good for the goose as the gander) the home team went through on the first try rule.

NMU14 Cup s/f
UL Bohemian powered their way to a 17-5 win over Garryowen in the semi final of the NM Cup in Dooradoyle on Wednesday evening. The light blues struck first with a well taken try but could not add to their haul. The Robins gradually asserted control to run out deserving winners.

NMU13 Cup Final

A windy but dry Rathuard was the place to be last Monday evening when Garryowen U13s were crowned NM Cup champions after a 32-0 victory over a spirited and sporting Bruff side. The early exchanges were very keenly contested up front. Bruff’s impressive line-out led to a few dynamic rolling mauls and for a while it looked like it would be a long evening for the light blues.

The Garryowen pack secured clean possession in the 5th minute and scrum-half Neil Kirby moved the ball quickly to out-half Evan Barrett. He in turn fed inside centre Jamin Hoffman who off loaded to John Hurley. Hurley bewildered the opposition and the large attendance by weaving his way through to score in the corner. Some tremendous work from our forwards provided the ideal platform for Hurley to score two more tries. The last of his efforts was unbelievable. A quick tap penalty inside his own 22 and….are you kidding me?…..touching down behind the posts at the other end. John even added a conversion while Liam Wilson added an extra to leave the score 19-0 to Garryowen at half time.

Bruff upped the tempo early in the second half in an effort to get the score that would get them back into the game. It didn’t happen for them primarily because of some incredible defence from the light blues. Every player put in crunching tackle after crunching tackle to keep Bruff on the back foot. This eventually led to Garryowen forcing a series of penalties on the Bruff 22m line. Liam Wilson and John Hurley took full advantage to push the score out to 25-0 with 5 minutes remaining. This gallant Bruff side did not throw in the towel but they just could not break out of their own 22. After another series of pick-and-goes by the Garryowen pack brought play close to the Bruff line. The powerful Number 8, Conor Fitzgerald drove over for the 4th try of the evening which Liam Wilson converted. The final whistle sounded soon after to leave the final score 32-0 and the Cup was on it’s way to Dooradoyle……

There were great scenes of celebration at the final whistle. Players, parents, supporters and coaches all mingled together and cheered as Captain John Hurley lifted the cup to seal a League and Cup double for this very special bunch of players.

Very special mention must go to the tireless efforts of Enda Ahearne who has kept this machine motoring all season. He had superb support from the coaching team of Dan Larkin, Stephen Tuohy and John Staunton. We also must give special mention to Tony O’Dwyer and the Conference squad who only narrowly lost out on a trophy this season….their time will come soon.

Team: 1 Stephen Clery, 2 Cillian O’Brien, 3 Ferdia Lyons, 4 Cian Mc Donagh, 5 Eoghan Fitzgerald, 6 Chams Jagana, 7 Tristan Allen, 8 Conor Fitzgerald, 9 Neil Kirby, 10 Evan Barrett, 11 Liam Wilson, 12 Jamin Hoffman, 13 John Hurley-Capt., 14 Cian Tuohy, 15 Daniel Larkin
Subs (all played) : 16 Bill Fitzgerald, 17 Gabriel Burke, 18 Cillian O’Malley, 19 Daniel Mulcahy, 20 Greg Kelly, 21 Jordan Downes, 22 David Ahearne.

NMU19 Open Cup
JJ O’Neill turned in a superb performance for our U19 team as they battled past a resolute Thomond side to reach the NM Open Cup final on a 20-13 score-line in Dooradoyle on Thursday. Tobi Adamakin scored a first half try. O’Neill converted and also kicked a penalty. Alan Wallace had tied the score at 3-3 with an early penalty after good pressure from the Soda Cakes.

The second half was a much more open affair. Wallace kicked another penalty for Thomond before O’Neill finally switched on the after-burner on 65 minutes. His diagonal run cut deep through the visitors defence and he found yet another gear when he straightened to score in the corner. He landed the conversion from the touch line for good measure to make it 17-6. That spurred Thomond into action and they were rewarded minutes later when Jack O’Halloran crashed over following a 5 metre line out. Wallace converted but O’Neill landed a beautiful penalty to make it 20-13 at full time.

London Callin’
Our U12s travel to the London Irish Mini Festival in Sunbury-on-Thames this weekend. A travelling party of 94 players and parents depart from Shannon on Saturday morning proudly representing Garryowen FC. We wish them the best of luck in the tournament on Sunday. They will return with wonderful memories to cherish in the years ahead.

Munster Senior and Junior Cup Reunion

Thank you for the Days
The 20th anniversary of the light blues victorious Munster Senior and Junior Cup teams of 1993 was a fantastic success. David Hayes deserves great plaudits for his excellent organisation. There is only one D.H. John Fahey got the show on the road. As master of ceremonies he introduced the various speakers and players. Frank Hogan did the “run down” on the various players in his inimitable style. Dan Larkin responded in kind for the troops. It was great to meet so many of those players who are holding their age remarkably well. Food wine and porter followed before and after the game. Things got pretty interesting around 5.15 when Simon Smith and his amazing dancing bear appeared on the scene. Or was it Clem Mc? By 7.00 we had a serious case of MIA on our hands. Rob’s Beagles suddenly piped up:

So I called up the captain,
’please bring me my wine’
He said, ’we haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine’
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say…

I can assure you there were a lot of Lions, Tin Men and Scarecrows encountered throughout the day. The mercurial Wizard (The Owl) unbelievably returned to base without his friends. The Genie appeared to be definitely out of the bottle at that stage.

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
’relax,’ said the night man, (DH?)
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

AGM 29th May
The election of officers and committees will take place on Wednesday 29th May in the clubhouse at 20.00. Nominations in writing which should be proposed and seconded (both must be fully paid up members) and submitted to Geraldine Morrissey Hon Secretary. The writer is taking a well needed sabbatical from the media world so it may be some again before his thoughts reflect again over the fibre optic.

The Hard Yards
The great yards in life are not the easy, glamorous or necessarily the exceptional ones. Rather they are the hard earned ones…carved, chiselled, extruded from the sweat and toil of the human body and soul. Yards moulded and fashioned in the depths of winter to the synchronised sloshing sound of muddy boots. Where would we all be without those volunteers, those amateurs, those visionaries and custodians of our wonderful club game?

Epilogue
In an era of endless bytes, tweets, posts, pokes, smart phones, tablets (non-edible) the world appears to be cascading inexorably towards electronic saturation. Where does the amateur game of club rugby fit into the equation? The ground-swell of support has long since caught the last trains to London, Clarksville or even the midnight one to Georgia. We are hopeful of yet another success for our great Munster team. We will support and cheer each and every player to the rafters. Who knows, come the Fall, we just might see a small trickle back towards the club.

Our U21′s lost 26-22 to Old Crescent in Rosbrien while our U14′s could not resisit UL Bohemian second half surge and went down 17-5 in Annacotty

The election of officers and committees will take place on Wednesday 29th May in the clubhouse at 20.00. Nominations in writing which should be proposed and seconded (both must be fully paid up members) and submitted to Geraldine Morrissey Hon Secretary.

A windy but dry Rathuard was the place to be last Monday evening when Garryowen U13s were crowned NM Cup champions after a 32-0 victory over a spirited and sporting Bruff side.

The early exchanges were very keenly contested up front.  Bruff’s impressive line-out led to a few dynamic rolling mauls and for a while it looked like it would be a long evening for the light blues.

The Garryowen pack secured clean possession in the 5^th minute and scrum-half Neil Kirby moved the ball quickly to out-half Evan Barrett. He in turn fed inside centre Jamin Hoffman who off loaded to John Hurley. Hurley bewildered the opposition and the large attendance by weaving his way through to score in the corner.

Some tremendous work from our forwards provided the ideal platform for Hurley to score two more tries. The last of his efforts was unbelievable. A quick tap penalty inside his own 22 and….are you kidding me?…..touching down behind the posts at the other end. John even added a conversion while Liam Wilson added an extra to leave the score 19-0 to Garryowen at half time.

Bruff upped the tempo early in the second half in an effort to get the score that would get them back into the game. It didn’t happen for them primarily because of some incredible defence from the light blues. Every player put in crunching tackle after crunching tackle to keep Bruff on the back foot. This eventually led to Garryowen forcing a series of penalties on the Bruff 22m line.  Liam Wilson and John Hurley took full advantage to push the score out to 25-0 with 5 minutes remaining.

This gallant Bruff side did not throw in the towel but they just could not break out of their own 22. After another series of pick-and-goes by the Garryowen pack brought play close to the Bruff line. The powerful Number 8, Conor Fitzgerald drove over for the 4^th try of the evening which Liam Wilson converted.

The final whistle sounded soon after to leave the final score 32-0 and the Cup was on it’s way to Dooradoyle……There were great scenes of celebration at the final whistle.

Players, parents, supporters and coaches all mingled together and cheered as Captain John Hurley lifted the cup to seal a League and Cup double for this very special bunch of players.

Very special mention must go to the tireless efforts of Enda Ahearne who has kept this machine motoring all season. He had superb support from the coaching team of Dan Larkin, Stephen Tuohy and John Staunton.

We also must give special mention to Tony O’Dwyer and the Conference squad who only narrowly lost out on a trophy this season….their time will come soon.

Team: 1 Stephen Clery, 2 Cillin O’Brien, 3 Ferdia Lyons, 4 Cian Mc Donagh, 5 Eoghan Fitzgerald, 6 Chams Jagana, 7 Tristan Allen, 8 Conor Fitzgerald, 9 Neil Kirby, 10 Evan Barrett, 11 Liam Wilson, 12 Jamin Hoffman, 13 John Hurley-Capt., 14 Cian Tuohy, 15 Daniel Larkin

Subs (all played) : 16 Bill Fitzgerald, 17 Gabriel Burke, 18 Cillian O’Malley, 19 Daniel Mulcahy, 20 Greg Kelly, 21 Jordan Downes, 22 David Ahearne.