Mini Rugby : The mighty Tir Chonaill minis attended a blitz last Saturday in Carndonagh hosted by our good friends at Inishowen RFC. Our kids faced the minis from Inishowen and Finn Valley. The Under 8s and Under 10s though depleted in numbers for a variety of reasons performed well, and will hopefully have full numbers in the last couple of blitzes to round off the season in style. The Under 12s had a stunning day playing some fantastic rugby and comments were made by onlookers about the future being bright when these players grace the seniors. A special mention goes to Captain for the day and ball carrier supreme Pauric Sweeney who led from the front, and is becoming this teams Shaun O’Brien. Also evident was intelligent play from scrum half Cian Bennett with a memorable try, trademark tackling and rucking and one stunning offload from Hugh Ferry, and the by now traditional intercept try from Ross Doogan. Debutants on the day Oisin Bonner and Finlay Marshall were superb, and Shane Boyle was as usual a majestic runner and top try scorer. Some great support and lineout work from Bernadette and McCauley at full back, with Ciaran McConnell in the scrum. Well done lads.
School Tag Blitz : Tir Chonaill CRO Shaun Doogan organised a successful Tag rugby blitz which saw 110 kids from 5 schools fight it out for honours. Team of the day and to be highly praised as they had the least coaching were Belcruit NS, and special mention must be made of player of the tournament Sean McCann. Runners Up were the well coached and talented Loughanure NS. The highly fancied Acres NS team were knocked out in the semis by the winners, as were the other semi finalists Belcruit 2nd team. These blitzes are about participation, and all schools fielded 2 teams. Many thanks to Bunbeg NS and Roshine NS for great enthusiasm. So great to see so many kids enjoying rugby and wanting more games. Tir Chonaill would love to see more of these kids at training for REAL contact rugby at 10am on Saturday mornings. We welcome NS kids from the 3 parishes Gweedore, Cloughaneely and the Rosses to come and play with Tir Chonaill RFC. You will enjoy a tough but fair contact sport and make friends for life. And who knows….somewhere in the 3 parishes there may be the new Brian O’Driscoll or Paul O’Connell. NS girls especially welcome, and the girls have proved to be amongst the clubs most skilful players….see you all at Carrickfin….Many thanks to the Crisp Factory for sponsoring the snacks and the coaches who refereed, and not to forget the patient teachers !!
Under 13s : The team sadly didn’t have the numbers to travel to Carrickfergus for the cup game on 3rd March. This exciting young team will play Armagh in a Cup game at Carrickfin on Monday 19th March Bank Holiday at 12 noon. Please come and support our coming talent, good luck lads!
Seniors : Letterkenny 39 0 v Tir Chonaill 0 back to reality for the seniors and a bad day at the office. Despite holding their own in the scrum and lineout, TC seniors never got going in this game. The team were missing some key players from our previous home victory over Letterkenny and had some new players in the team as well as a couple of oldies who have seen better days, but this was a good display by Letterkenny against the West of the County upstarts. Tir Chonaill however can be proud of their four wins to date in their first season, and are not stopping there. A huge effort will be made in the coming weeks to add to our points tally and round off what has been an amazing experience for a bunch of newcomers to rugby.
Pub Quiz : A pub quiz in the Viking Hotel on 9th Mar raised almost € 400 for the club, thanks to all involved and who attended.
INTOUCH REQUEST – CHECK THIS OUT – THUNDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ireland Ladies Rugby I XV Are playing England this weekend and need as much support as they can get – please watch the clip below and feel free to share it, they are on the verge of a great VICTORY & with Ulster representation!
[youtube w72eOkj_XYI]
