Leinster Rugby vs DHL Stormers

Longford’s 4G
pitch to officially
open next week
Longford Rugby Club will welcome
Leinster Branch President Debbie
Carthy on Friday 31st March, to cut
the ribbon and officially open the
new full size 4G pitch. The pitch
will be dedicated to five former
directors of the club who between
them, amassed over 255 years
service to the club.
The directors are: Warren Turner, Patrick
Quinn, Mel Difley, Pat Fitzgearld (former
IRFU President) and Robert Belton. The
commitment of all five through the years
has ensured the development of the club
in the right direction.
The official opening ceremony will be
preceded by the inaugural Longford and
District Schools’ tournament, with local
schools competing for the Hugh Connolly
Perpetual Cup.
Dedicated to the memory of club stalwart
Hugh Connolly, who worked tirelessly
developing Youths and Minis rugby
at Longford Rugby Club right up to his
untimely passing in 2014, the new annual
schools youth competition is a very fitting
acknowledgment of the dedication Hugh
had for Longford Rugby Club.
They will also have a Longford and
District Schools’ girls tournament with
teams competing for the Karen Lennon
Perpetual Cup. Karen has been involved
with ladies rugby at the club for many
years. She earned a provincial cap for
Connacht during her playing career and
currently serving as the club’s first Lady
Vice President.
It’s little over one year since the
completion of the state of the art full size
4G pitch at the club. The state-of-the-art
pitch development has ensured that teams
are no longer exposed to cancellation
of training sessions during the week,
and weekend game schedules are not
compromised due to weather conditions.
The Longford and District Schools
Tournament will see six boys junior teams
and two girls teams representing St. Mel’s
College Longford, Wilson’s Hospital,
Cnoc Mhuire Granard, Ard Scoil Padraig
Granard, Meán Scoil Mhuire Longford
participating.
Last season, the club was host to an area
schools Tag Rugby blitz, which followed
a programme of rugby development in
the secondary schools, delivered by club
captain and School Youths coach, Daniel
McHugh. Following that programme,
a number of schools in the area then
completed blocks of full contact training
this season, giving many students a first
taste of a first full contact game in a team
environment.
The successful schools programme saw St.
Mel’s College Longford enter the Junior
Development league this year and to
date have enjoyed a successful run in the
league. In addition, a number of schools
players are now training and playing with
the club U15 & U16 teams.
It is hoped the success of the project will
be recognised with the financial support
required to aid the expansion of the
programme locally and indeed be used
as a template to develop the game in
schools across the country.
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