Leinster vs Vodacom Bulls

We have worked
hard to produce
all these
Interprovincial
players and
the club took
the opinion
of pushing
to host the
Interprovincials.
players and attract even more quality to
the scholarship programme in Maynooth.
The same goes for the youths and the
adult men’s teams with MU Barnhall
located in Division 2A of the AIL.
“At Age Grade levels, we started to see
more boys and girls being selected for
trials and extended squads,” says Black.
“In 2018, we saw Holly Leach making
the Leinster Women's U-18 squad, the
first Age Grade interpro from the club.
This year, you had Emma Tilly playing
for them.
“At senior level this year, we had three
girls for the Leinster squad, Holly,
Katelynn Doran and Ciara Faulkner, one
for Connacht, Orlaith Murray, and one
for Ulster, Ava Fannin.
“For the boys, Keith Farrell made the
Leinster U-18 Clubs this season. David
Dooley was at inside centre for the
Leinster U-19s. At U-16s, we had nine
boys screened and involved in the Metro
U-17 squad, namely Gavin Keane, Dylan
Hewitt, Ethan Fennell, Sean Kearney,
Ruaidhri Smith, Edgar Kucinskas, Hugh
Donegan, Adam Gray and Mar Cleary.
There has been a steady, consistent
growth that has suddenly exploded.
“We have worked hard to produce all
these Interprovincial players and the club
took the opinion of pushing to host the
Interprovincials.”
In addition, the club is working with
Kildare County Council to further develop
Lough na Mona, an eight-acre site, on
which they trained during the lockdown.
The University rugby programme
produced its first Ireland U-20 player
since the club-university partnership’s
inception with Will Reilly playing at
scrum-half during the belated U-20 Six
Nations campaign.
He has built on this honour by earning
a place in the Connacht Academy. He
Left: Peter Black; Middle: Barry Smith; Right: Tom McKeown.
joined the University programme from
Portlaoise RFC and his trajectory is
certainly a success story many school
leavers are taking note of.
“The way the IRFU structures AIL rugby
and national players, the players coming
out of Age Grade rugby, they have to
play in the top tier of AIL rugby, the likes
of Lansdowne, Clontarf.”
The plan is to make it to that elite tier of
AIL rugby.
“The development of the women’s game,
our increase in Age Grade Interpros,
both boys and girls, and our partnership
with Maynooth University puts the club in
a strong position to build towards the top
tier in the AIL, thus enabling us to keep
the players we develop.
“We don't want to lose the Eve Higgins’,
the Holly Leeches, the Emma Tillys, the
Will Reillys, the David Dooleys.”
They are doing all they can to make that
happen.
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