February 2010
Irish Colleges North Division 2 Match Report
Sligo IT v Letterkenny IT....more
Letterkenny Schools Tag Rugby 6 Nations
Festivals....more
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January 2010
New IRFU Qualified Coaches attracted to the game in Donegal ....more
Ulster Branch DRC & PRO workshops in Donegal ....more
TAG RUGBY Ballyshannon Blitz.
The first round of the Girl’s secondary schools cup
....more
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Donegal Schools Cup Rugby
Carndonagh CS and Magh Ene take the honours!
3 pieces of silverware were up for grabs yesterday at Dave Gallagher Park in Letterkenny. The finals of the Girls U18 Cup and Boys U18 Cup and Plate produced a great day of rugby involving over 120 boys and girls from Magh Ene College, St Columba’s College, St Columba’s Comp, Rosses CS, Carndonagh CS, Mulroy College and Colaiste Colmcille. The competition has been run over two legs so that every school is given the maximum participation on the day and also gives stronger and developing schools that chance to aim for Cup and Plate competitions.
The schools have been involved in weekly training sessions supported by YDO’s Adam Keys, Phillip Brady and Jonathan Quigley from the Donegal Community Rugby Project. Several of the players have also been given the opportunity to further their playing by attending local club sessions with the aim of playing in the Ulster Leagues. This club school link that has produced the majority of rugby player for the clubs in Donegal. Several of the layers are also taking the next step to County Level and Ulster Regional squads thus highlighting the amount of rugby talent available in Donegal.
Winners and Runners Up
Boys U18 Cup Winners 2009/10 – Carndonagh CS
Boys Cup runners Up St Columba’s College
Girls U18 Cup Winners 2009/10 – Magh Ene College
Girls Cup Runners Up St Columba’s College
Boys U18 Plate Winners 2009/10 – Magh Ene College
Boys Plate Runners Up Rosses CS
The IRFU Ulster Branch would like to thank the Donegal Schools rugby committee for helping with the organisation of the blitzes, Letterkenny RFC for the use of the facilities at Dave Gallagher Park; Teachers, Mark Spencer, Brian Mc Nally, Michael Doherty, Nicola Ryan, Evelyn Crampsie, Gerard Doherty, John Reilly, Tonia Kiely, Raghnall Quinn; Referees, Jamie Boyle, Jarryd Bennett and Paul Mc Carroll and YDO’s Adam Keys and Phillip Brady.
Girls U15 Cup & Boys U14 Cup
The next competitions on the calendar are the Junior age groups with over 40 pupils expected to take part. All schools are asked to register on time for the 1st and 2nd legs as late entries will not be accepted. Deadline for boys U14 Cup is this Friday 29th Jan. Entries by text or email to John Lynch, Secretary, Donegal Schools Rugby.
Ulster Rugby Academy Staff to attend County Rugby Trials
Ulster Academy staff members Jonny Bell and Chris Shields are set to attend the second county trial scheduled for January 4th to cast their eye over the top talent currently playing in the clubs and schools around the County. Jonny, who is the Elite Player Development Officer and Chris, who is the Academy Strength and Conditioning coach will be attending the day to pass on their expertise to the players and coaches involved in the trials. This is a great opportunity for the players in Donegal to be exposed to the next level of the IRFU player development pathway and further their rugby career.
Since 2003, 15 players have been caped for Ulster at U18, U19 or Women’s level, with Donal Byrne (DTRFC) going on to represent Ireland at U18 level. With the continued support of Ulster Rugby it will surely be a matter of time before a Donegal based player makes the next step up the ladder towards the Ulster Rugby Academy.
The trial is an open to all Club and School players to attend. Details of age groups and registration are below.
Letterkenny RFC, Monday 4th Jan, 10.30-2.30pm
Boys U18 – Born 1992/93
Girls U19 – Born 1991/92/93
All players must register by sending an email to info@donegalcommunityrugby.com (players who attended the trial on the 13th December are already registered)
Tag Rugby Blitz Carndonagh
On Monday 14th December, the IRFU Ulster Branch hosted a Tag Rugby Blitz in Carndonagh CS. Two schools, namely St. Patricks Boys Carndonagh and Scoil Cholmcille Greencastle took part in the competition, with almost 100 pupils playing tag rugby.
Despite cold winter conditions, we were lucky to have a dry day which suited the open, expansive running rugby played by all teams. Whilst all games were very competitive and even, there were some notable individual performances from Michael Henry, Cathal McLaughlin, Pauric Carey Doherty and Rachel Van Stiphout of Greencastle and Donal Doherty, Conor O’Donnel, Conor McDermott, Jordan Downey, Daire Porter and Ciaran Farren of St. Pats Boys.
The IRFU would like to extend their thanks to Carndonagh Community School for the use of their playing grounds, Inishowen RFC players Shane McDermott and Paul McCarroll for their help on the day and all teachers from the schools involved for their cooperation and commitment in chilly conditions!
PHOTO'S HERE
Teachers in the Northwest take part in Buntus Rugby Training
Six schools from Northwest Donegal recently took part in a Buntus Rugby session delivered between the IRFU and Donegal Sports Partnership. Schools taking pert were S.N. Ranna Feirst, Loch an Iuir N.S., Derrybeg, Scoil Mhuire, Scoil Chonaill and Scoil Adhmahain.
The training involves taking teachers through the practical elements of coaching TAG rugby and aiming to build confidence in delivering the non contact version of the sport through school PE lessons. Once the 2hour training is completed the schools are given TAG rugby equipment to take back to their schools to use with the various classes. If your school would like to avail of the training then contact the Donegal Community Rugby Project at info@donegalcommunityrugby.com
IRFU Secondary School Level Course
Donegal recently had a visit from David Wilkinson the IRFU Ulster Branch Referee Development Officer to run a course for Secondary school level refereeing. The course was attended by senior age group pupils and also school leavers who have continued to support their school rugby. The attendees will be helping their schools in the New Year with the refereeing of U14 boys and U15 girl’s matches and also Donegal Cup competitions that involve their schools.
On the Course were, Jarryd Bennett, Jamie Boyle, Kerri Lee Murray, Donagh O Callaghan, Brian Tague and Paul M Carroll. The second part of the course involves an assessment by David at the Girls U15 Cup competition scheduled for the end of January.
If you would like to get involved in refereeing at any level then please contact David directly or email the DCRP. david.wilkinson@irfu.ie or info@donegalcommunityrugby.com
Donegal Rugby X Factor attracts new
players to the Game
Over the last month DCRP staff have been busy delivering rugby sessions to secondary schools and clubs all over Donegal as a way of attracting new players to the game at School, Club and County level. The 1st series of sessions were delivered through schools and attracted over 250 senior year pupils to take part.
The second sessions were based at the local rugby clubs before the final sessions being run in Letterkenny RFC. From all of the sessions the best boy and girls were chosen based on their skills levels and development through the sessions. The winner of the girls was Donna Redmond, Letterkenny RFC & St Columba’s College and for the Boys Dermott Mc Gonagle, Carndonagh CS. The two winners plus a friend were given an all expenses trip to Ravenhill to watch Ulster take on Stade Francais in the Heineken Cup clash.
The whole programme has benefitted rugby in the County in several ways. It has attracted new players to school U18 rugby with an increase of 2 or teams expected in the competitions after Christmas. Several layers have joined the girls and boys u18 sections at the rugby club and over 20 new players were identified for County trials taking place in December and January. The DCRP would like to that all the teachers and club officials who assisted with the programme and the Donegal Sports Partnership for the funding given to run the programme of events.
MORE PHOTO'S HERE
Letterkenny RFC Women’s Rugby
Congratulations to Letterkenny RFC who fielded the first Donegal based senior women’s team to play a contact game of rugby last week. The game took place last Friday night against an experienced Enniskillen outfit. 2/3rds of the Letterkenny team were playing in their first ever contact rugby game. The final score was 27-0 to the home team however most of the points were scored in the first half of the game which shows the new comers improvement as the game developed.
The numbers for the squad are growing every week through new comers to the game and current Youth players who are turning 18 and making the step up to senior rugby.
If you would like to get involved in the new development then you can contact Clodagh Llewhellin on 0851077666. The women train every Tuesday at Aura Leisure Centre from 8-9pm with games taking place on Sunday afternoons.
Ospreys Workshop a big hit with Coaches in Donegal
Youth and senior coaches in Donegal were treated to a master class in coaching last weekend with a visit from Ospreys Skill Coach Gruff Rees, and Ex Wales Defence coach Rowland Philips. The coaches were invited by the Donegal Community Project to deliver a workshop on Handling skills and tackle techniques to current coaches from Clubs and Schools in Donegal.
The coaches were first given a presentation on the areas of development before moving outside to the astro pitch at Aura Leisure Centre where local U19 players were waiting to be put through there passes. The practical sessions involved coaching from the two guest tutors and interaction with the local coaches on how to apply the rugby content with their own club and school teams. The workshop finished with a Q&A session so that the coaches could draw on the vast experience of the Professional Coaches. The DCRP would like to thank the players and coaches who attended the day and Gruff and Rowland for a top class session that is sure to influence and develop coaching within Donegal.
PHOTO'S HERE
County Rugby Trials
The County trials for the 2009/10 Boys and Girls Squads will take place this Sunday 13th December at Letterkenny RFC 1pm – 3pm. This is an ‘Open’ trial so all club and schools players at the following age groups are invited to attend. To register all players are asked to text their Name, D.O.B, and Club or School to 0871258365 by Friday 11th Dec
Girls Age Group U19’s (1991,92,93)
Boys Age Group U18’s (1992, 93)
Donegal Schools Rugby – U16 Boys Cup
On Thursday 19th November, the second County Donegal U16 Blitz took place at Letterkenny RFC. Despite dreadfully wet conditions, all teams played positive rugby, with minimal kicking and clearly the general intent was to run the ball. This made for compulsive viewing, as throughout the day there was an attractive brand of rugby on show.
In total, 6 schools took part in the blitz, with the competition split into two pools. Results were added from the previous blitz to this one with the eventual Cup winners being St. Columba’s College. Congratulations to them, they deservedly finished top, after many hard fought games they managed to come out on top. To add an extra competition, there was also a Plate up for grabs. The team that were to finish top of Pool 2 would automatically win the Plate. This pool proved to be very tightly contested however Mulroy College were victorious. This was a big achievement for them as it was their first piece of Rugby silverware in the school.
Below are the final Standings for the U16 Cup 2009/10
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
Pts |
F |
A |
CUP |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
St Columba’s |
5 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
86 |
10 |
Magh Ene |
5 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
88 |
41 |
Loreto |
5 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
61 |
36 |
PLATE |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mulroy College |
5 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
29 |
5 |
Deele College |
3 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
14 |
71 |
Scoil Mhuire |
3 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
10 |
68 |
Many thanks must go to Letterkenny Rugby Club for their continued support and use of their quality pitches. Credit must also go to all the dedicated teachers and coaches of all teams, their dedication and commitment is greatly appreciated and without them, a day like this would not have been possible. Lastly, a big thank you to Francois Badenhorst who gave up his own time to help referee the blitz. Photos Here
Finn Valley RFC off to a bright start
The sun was shining on Saturday morning as Finn Valley RFC held their first open day at St Columba’s College, Stranorlar. The new club initiative is supported by the Donegal Community Rugby Project (DCRP) to help increase the participation in rugby across the Finn Valley.
The development of the new club is being driven through local rugby enthusiast Gerard Doherty and a number of supporting volunteers. The session for children born between 1998 and 2003 (U7-U12) was delivered by the DCRP development officers and supported by local volunteers Damien Mc Glynn and Clive and Philip Heapes. Also helping out was Brian Tague, an ex pupil of St Columbas and current Donegal Town RFC player. The young girls attending were also given the latest playing tips from current Ulster Women’s players Laura Kenny and Clodagh Llewhellin.
During the rugby session the parents were asked to attend a meeting at the Scouts hall across the road where volunteer support was sought following a brief discussion on the programme and future development of the club. The response from the parents was outstanding with 26 offering their help ranging from coaching to club promotion. With this kind of the response the club is bound to have a bright future and give many children in the Finn Valley the opportunity to play rugby. Thanks must go to St Columba’s and the local Scouts for the use of their facilities and lastly the volunteers who assisted the club with their first session.
The sessions will continue every Saturday 10-11am at St Columba’s College. All parents are asked to attend with their son or daughter. Any schools or parents looking for more information can contact the DCRP by emailing info@donegalcomunityrugby.com.
St.Columba’s take honours in first round of County Donegal Under18s Girl Schools Cup Competition
match report
Letterkenny IT and Galway Mayo Institute from the Irish Colleges North Division match report
MORE NEWS HERE
Jonathan Llewhellin
Mick Morgan
