Sligo’s much awaited return to winning ways arrived in the form of a well worked Connacht Senior Cup win against fellow Ulster Bank League division 2 side,  Connemara, at Strandhill on Saturday. The teams met earlier in the season in the Connacht Senior League with Connemara taking the spoils on that occasion but a much improved Sligo proved a sterner test for the Galway outfit and Sligo proved the stronger of the teams on this occasion.

Despite a week of torrential rain, the pitch, although greasy, proved playable and thankfully the weather cleared prior to kick off. There was little or no breeze evident as Sligo’s Mark Butler kicked the match off with his team playing away from the road end. Immediately from the kick off Sligo put pressure on their opponents and quickly established a foothold in the Connemara half. The early exchanges were forward orientated with Sligo using their driving maul to good effect. With 4 minutes gone on the clock the Sligo pack were rewarded for their hard work. A scrum ball taken against the head on the halfway line was moved quickly past the ten metre line and Connemara were forced to concede the penalty from the ensuing ruck. Daniel Hawkins stepped up and a well struck kick put Sligo into an early lead. 

Sligo continued to press, the front row of Shane Mc Guinness, Ross Mannion and Adrian Mc Hale had the edge at scrum time and Mannion was linking well with Peter Mullan and Paddy Conlon at lineout time. However,  despite Sligo’s edge up front, Connemara’s defence was resolute and they continued to soak up the Sligo pressure.

Connemara’s patience was rewarded on the half hour with a Sean Joyce penalty from 35 metres when Sligo were adjudged to have encroached the offside line. Both sides tried to add to their tally but the score remained at 3 all going into the break.

Sligo started the second half brightly and an early Pearson  break was halted inside the Connemara 22. The attacking team was awarded a scrum and Paddy Conlon picked and drove into the defence forcing another indiscretion from  Connemara. Hawkins stepped up and doubled his teams tally with another well struck kick.

The defining score arrived 10 minutes into the second half. The excellent Mark Butler fielded a long Connemara clearance and immediately opted to counterattack. The full back linked up with Thomas Ferrari who fed Hawkins. The winger broke the defensive line and carried into the 22 before transferring to Matele Fifita who used his trademark handoff to good effect before crashing over to the right of the posts. Hawkins added the extras with another assured kick.

Sligo looked to further add to their dominance but their cause was not helped by the loss of Pearson and Butler in quick succession with head and shoulder injuries respectively.

The visitors upped the tempo and began to move the ball wide at every opportunity. The high velocity rugby began to yield rewards and two Joyce penalties put Connemara to within a score of their hosts with 10 minutes remaining on the clock.  Sligo however were not going to be denied a valuable win and determined defending ensured that the line remained intact and when the full time whistle blew it was the local team who celebrated.

Next week sees Sligo return to Ulster Bank League duty when they travel north to lock horns with Armagh at the Palace grounds. Like Sligo, Armagh were promoted last season as winners of the Ulster qualifying league and will be looking to avenge the defeat inflicted on them by Sligo in the All Ireland Junior cup last season. Coach Simon Galvan will be going into the game happy that his charges have found winning form, and will be looking forward to earning some precious league points.

Sligo Mark Butler, Daniel Hawkins, Gavin Foley, Matele Fifita, Robbie Keegan, Paddy Pearson, Gary O’Hehir, Shane Mc Guinness, Ross Mannion, Adrian Mc Hale, Jamie Bowes, Peter Mullan, Cathal Culhane, Rory Kerins, Paddy Conlon. Reps Thomas Ferrari, Gary Conneely, David Heath, Billy Leahy, Andrew Williams.
Ref Dave Connolly

Photographs by Rory Raftery – see full gallery – here

Sligo RFC 5 :: Nenagh Ormond 9

Sligo suffered their third defeat on the trot in the Ulster Bank League when they were defeated by Tipperary outfit Nenagh Ormond at Strandhill on Saturday.
Three Dan Fogarty penalties were enough to keep the visitors ahead at the final whistle despite Sligo’s Daniel Hawkins scoring the only try of the game.

Sligo had to start without lineout specialist James Wilson who picked up an injury in the previous match, but were boosted by the return to action of Peter Mullan who had previously been unavailable.
With little or no breeze to contend with Sligo kicked off and early pressure yielded a sustained foothold in the Nenagh half. An early break by Matele Fifita was continued by Gavin Foley but the centres work was undone when Nenagh won the breakdown and were allowed to clear their lines. Sligo continued to press and were almost rewarded after 13 minutes when a fine Paddy Pearson line break was stopped just short of the visitors line.

ligo’s dominance was not rewarded and it was the visitors who opened the scoring. A rare excursion into Sligo territory yielded a penalty award just outside the Sligo 22 and Fogarty made no mistake with a well struck kick. With half an hour gone on the clock Sligo were temporarily reduced to 14 men when Foley was sent to the sin-bin for what the referee deemed to be an illegal tackle. Fogarty  doubled his teams tally with the resulting penalty. Sligo’s cause received a further blow 5 minutes later when winger Hawkins was also shown the yellow card for dangerously jumping into a tackle. Although reduced to 13 the Sligo defensive line remained intact and another Pearson break, with full back Mark Butler also involved, almost succeeded but the Neagh defence scrambled and snuffed out the danger.

Nenagh started the second half brightly and their endeavour was rewarded with another Fogarty penalty to move the scoreline to nine points to nil.
Sligo continued to take the battle to their guests with Paddy Conlon and  Jamie Bowes prominent.

Sligo finally opened their account midway through the second half when a Bowes drive in the Nenagh 22 was moved left to Pearson who stepped outside the defence before linking up with speedy winger Hawkins who made no mistake in finishing in the corner.

Sligo continued to hunt for the winning score and a fine move right a the death looked to have unlocked the Nenagh defence but Nenagh winger Shane Quinlan just managed to get a touch on the ball and the danger was averted, the ball was cleared and the referee blew the final whistle.

Sligo continue to look for that elusive win, but on this form they have shown that they are a match for anyone in the division and coach Simon Galvan can be sure that his team will soon be back to winning ways.

Next Saturday sees a break from Ulster Bank League football when Sligo take on the Connemara All Blacks in the first round of the Connacht Senior Cup. Kick off will be at 2.30.

Sligo: Mark Butler, Daniel Hawkins, Gavin Foley, Matele Fifita, Robbie Keegan, Paddy Pearson (capt), Billy Leahy, David Roe, Ross Mannion, Adrian Mc Hale, Jamie Bowes, Peter Mullan, Cathal Culhane, Rory Kerins, Paddy Conlon. reps Shane Mc Guiness, Gary Conneely, David Heath, Gary O’Hehir, Michael Mc Morrow.

Photographs by Rory Raftery – see full photo gallery on www.facebook.com/sligorfc – here

The season has come around again and kicks off this weekend with a home encounter against AIL Div 1 side Galwegians in the Connacht Senior League. Simon Galvan’s men have been in pre-season now for nearly six weeks in preparation for the busy season ahead. The AIL fixtures have been set, with 7 home and 8 away games. The first AIL game sees Sligo at home to fellow newcomers to the AIL Boyne RFC. Boyne are strong outfit having come through as the Leinster Junior league champions last season.

This weekend sees Galwegians back to Strandhill. It is some years since Galwegians senior side have visited Sligo, when Sligo were last a senior club in 1998. Sligo RFC President John Kane would like to extend a very warm welcome to the Galwegians team, management and supporters coming to Sligo on Saturday.

The game is listed for Saturday with a 3pm kick off at Hamilton Park, Strandhill. Please be aware that the Warriors Run is also on in Strandhill on Saturday so parking in and around Strandhill will be limited. The Club car park is reserved for persons attending the match.

After the fantastic success of last season, Sligo welcome the re-appointment of Simon Galvan as senior coach. Simon was recently appointed as Director of Senior Rugby at the Club and the President and Club committee wish him well in the new position. The appointment of Dominic Storey as Senior Team Manager is a huge addition to the managment team. Also in the management team are the backline coach Paddy Pearson and Rodger Burrows.

On the field, Sligo welcome back former Sligo players Rory Kerins, Michael McMorrow, James Fox and Thomas Stenson – all rejoing the club.

While the Club strives to enhance the ties with Sligo IT a very special welcome goes out to French student Hugo Laffitte. Hugo is a former French U18 player and will be a welcome addition to the squad for the season ahead as he furthers his studies at Sligo IT.

Also coming in this season is Daniel Hawkins (pictured below) from New Zealand, arriving in Sligo next week. Daniel has been playing his rugby in Marlborough, New Zealand and earlier this month received the Marlborough Red Devils Player of the Year award. His CV reads well and is an exciting prospect at outhalf.

Photo courtesy of The Marlborough Express – see full article here.

Also new to the squad and the Club this year  are front row players Shane McGuinness (Carrick-on-shannon) and Charlie Langley (Nenagh Ormond) – again both are very welcome to the Club.

In addition to the players transferring back and joining the Club, we have a number of former Club Youth players making the leap into senior rugby. In planning for the season ahead and indeed further into the future, Simon Galvan has identified the need to get the player conveyor belt back on track to ensure that the Club retains players produced by our Youth section. To that end, Simon invited a number of the Club’s U19′s to join the senior squad for pre-season training – Robbie Keegan, Gerard Keaney, Gary O’Hehir and Shaun Donnolly. Also in the squad are former Sligo Grammar School players John Healy, Thomas Ferrari and David Heath. A number of the U19 and former Grammar School players have earned a spot in the starring line-up in the senior side on Saturday against Galwegians – Gary O’Hehir at scrum-half and John Healy in the centre.

Special thanks goes out to those players from neighbouring clubs that joined the Sligo squad for pre-season training and we look forward to seeing some of those players appear for the Club under the dual status regulations in both the Connacht Senior League and the All Ireland League.

See you all Saturday – 3pm – come along and support the Club!

Connacht   36  Ulster 12

Video highlights here – Junior Inter-Pro Connacht V’s Ulster

Full match photo gallery here – Sporting Occasions

Connacht got their Interpro campaign off to a flying start with a comfortable win over Ulster in Tuam on Saturday.

Playing against a strong wind in the first half Connacht set out their stall early by dominating the set piece, especially the scrum, where the home side’s front row of Wesley Maxwell, Martin Lee and Tom Toolan had their Ulster opponents in all sorts of trouble.
Connacht outhalf Ger O’Connor opened the scoring after 15 minutes when he converted a penalty from 35 meters. A period of territorial dominance followed for Connacht but it was not until the 35th minute that they added to their total. A series of scrum collapses near the Ulster line led to a warning for Ulster loosehead Matt Wilson. Connacht elected to for a further scrum from the ensuing penalty and when it collapsed once more referee Will O’Connor had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try. O’Connor converted to leave the score 10-0 in Connacht’s favour.
Connacht lost prop Wesley Maxwell with a shoulder injury shortly before half time and he was replaced by Doran McHugh. The score stayed at 10 -0 at the half time whistle.
Coach Seamus King introduced Paddy Pearson at outhalf at the start of the second half and he immediately put Ulster under pressure with some excellent tactical kicking. Five minutes into the second half Ulster had made their way into the Connacht half but a wayward pass from Ulster centre Colin Atkinson was intercepted by Connacht winger and he ran over 70 metres to touch down for an excellent try in the corner. Paddy Pearson kicked an incredible conversion from the sideline to leave the score at 17 -0. An injury to second row Dave Hansberry led to his replacement by Jamie Bowes and two minutes later he was involved in a series of rucks and mauls which eventually led to scrum half Mickey Murphy putting Aaron Spring through a gap in the centre enabling the winger to power through two tackles to touch down in the corner. Paddy Pearson again converted brilliantly and this sealed the game for Connacht who were now 24-0 ahead with just 20 minutes left.

Connacht weren’t finished however and on 63 minutes Paddy Pearson put Dave Prior away with a lovely skip pass and Prior beat two men to score Connacht’s all important bonus point fourth try. Pearson was unlucky to miss the tricky conversion and with a lead of 29-0 Connacht began to empty the bench.
With 12 minutes left to go Flanker Eoin Rooney made a break which ended with Rory O’Connor taking the pass to run in for his second try. Paddy Pearson certainly had his kicking boots on as he sent over his third touchline conversion to put Connacht 36 -0 up.
The last ten minutes saw Ulster restore some pride with tries from Gary Hall and David Sharkey, one of which was converted by Ulster outhalf Adam Parke. Indeed Parke’s conversion was the last kick of the game.
This was a tremendous start for Connacht and they now travel to Donnybrook to play Leinster next Saturday at 2.30pm. Indeed this could be the deciding match of the championship as Leinster also had a bonus point win over Munster on Friday night on a 30-24 score line.
There has only been a single score between the sides in the last two years so another close tussle is forecast but with Connacht perhaps coming out in front this year.

Connacht:  Kevin Higgins (Monivea) (Capt.), Rory O’Connor (Monivea), Dave Prior (Monivea), Mata Fafita (Sligo), Aaron Spring (Sligo), Ger O’Connor (Monivea), Mickey Murphy (Ballina), Wesley Maxwell (Sligo), Martin Lee (Corrib), Tom Toolan (Ballina), Dave Hansberry (OLBC), Wille Parker (Monivea), Eoin Rooney (Monivea), Mike Ward (Tuam)
Subs Doran McHugh (OLBC), Ronan Coughlan (Monivea), Brian Murphy (Monivea), Jamie Bowes (Sligo), Paddy Pearson (Sligo), Tom Ellard (Westport), John Culkin (Monivea)

By now your team captain will have registered your team and submitted the required registration fee, if not, please contact Justin Deegan immediately at tag@irishrugby.ie or email us and we will assist you in what ever way we can in regard to getting payment to the IRFU.

Anyone who is interested in playing but is not on a team, please email us and we will try to accomodate you as best as we can.

Captains:

• Please email your team sheets to us ASAP if you have not done so already! (Please see Template attached at the end of this post)
• For those captains who are new to tag; all team captains are required to come to the Tag Tent 20mins before your games starting time to fill in and sign your team sheet, this must be returned to the tent BEFORE your games begin.

Other things to note:

There are 2 pitches allocated to tag players for your training, those are:

1. Doorly Park (Opposite Argos)
2. Pitch beside the cemetry, opposite Sligo Race Course.

** Michael Condren of the Sligo County Council has informed us if any teams require other Sligo Borough Council training facilities, the facilities need to be booked and paid for in accordance with council’s conditions of pitch hire. Michael’s contact details are as follows - Phone: 0719114440, email: mcondren@sligocorp.ie

• Shorts will be on sale at the Tag Tent each week for €20 for any taggers who require them.
• Tags will be provided on the night, you do not have to bring tags with you.
• You must wear tag shorts for the Tag matches.
• Taggers are not permitted to wear any jewellery during tag games!

Entertainment:

• See attached our Save The Dates for the Sligo Tag Rugby’s weekly Entertainment
• Week 1 - Live Music Night sponsored by JAKO – Lee Munn on Guitar
• Week 2 - Table Quiz
• Week 3 – Sports Day Games
• Week 4 – Trad Night
• Week 5 - FRIDAY Night Fancy Dress & Friendly Games
• Week 6 – McHughs Night
• Week 7 – Musical Bingo
• Week 8 – Charity Vegas Night
• Week 9 – McHughs Night
• Week 10 – Sumo Night
• Week 11 - FRIDAY Night FINALS

Sligo Weekender:

• We are looking for players to do a player profile in the Sligo Weekender each week. If you or any members of your team would like to do this please let us know at sligotag@gmail.com

See you all on THURSDAY MAY 5th

Attachments and further information:
Mixed Social Beginners Tag Info (PDF)
Mixed Social Intermediate Tag Info (PDF)
Sligo Tag Rugby Team Sheet (Excel File)
Tag Entertainment – Save the Dates (PDF)

Sligo RFC 19 :: Ballina RFC 10

Sligo’s total dominance of Connacht Junior rugby for the 2010/11 season was cemented at the sporstground in Galway when they defeated north west rivals Ballina in a superbly contested encounter on Sunday.

Sligo’s stellar season looked to have come to a halt with a defeat to Ballina in the Cawley cup last Sunday but the Yeats county outfit bounced back and brushed aside their neighbours with an all action powerful display to complete the Connacht Junior league and cup double.

Ballina kicked off with the aid of the slight breeze but it was Sligo who layed down their intention first. Fine drives from Jamie Bowes and Paddy Conlon coupled with good tactical play from half backs Mark Butler and Paddy Pearson gave Sligo territorial advantage in the opening minutes. Sligo,s pressure was rewarded with penalties after 12 and 15 minutes but Mark Butlers attempts drifted wide on both occasions.

Despite Sligo’s continued pressure it was the Mayo outfit who struck the first blow. Following some loose defence Ballina Outhalf Cory Brown floated an excellent pass for Judd Ruane and the second row burst through the cover to dot down left of the posts. Brown added the extras to move the score 7-0 in favour of the moysiders.

Sligo immediately responded and fine work by Matele Fifita and Aaron Spring resulted in a penalty award and Butler made no mistake in opening his teams account. Sligo continued to press and doubled their account 5 minutes before the break. Superb pressure at the breakdown resulted in a penalty on the opposition 22 and the sin binning of Ballina flanker Phiilip Timoney. Butler slotted the kick to put the narrowest margin between the teams.

Sligo kicked off the second half and immediately put pressure on the Mayo outfit. It was Ballina however who were first to score and another Brown penalty moved the score to 10 points to 6 in favour of the Mayo men.

Sligo were not to be outdone and continued to impose their superior physicality on the game. A fine break by Paddy Conlon resulted in another another Sligo penalty and Butlers well struck kick narrowed the gap to a single point.

With 15 minutes left on the clock Sligo struck the killer blow. A scrum on the Ballina 10m line was moved to the right by Conlon and Pearson. Fifita carried and perfectly timed his pass to Spring on the 22. The powerhouse winger collected and drove through three tackles before dotting down to the right of the posts. Butlers conversion pushed Sligo into a 6 point lead.

Sligo were now on top in all facets of play. Wesley Maxwell, Ross Mannion and Adrian Mc Hale were dominating the scrums, James Wilson and Peter Mullan were in control of the lineout and Jamie Bowes’ trademark runs were causing havoc in the Ballina defence. Cathal Culhane and Paddy Conlon were winning the battle at the breakdown and centres Gavin Foley and Fifita expertly closed down the space in midfield.

With 8 minutes left on the clock Sligo moved the all important 2 scores ahead with another Butler penalty. Ballina gamely tried to respond but Sligo were not to be outdone and the scoreline remained 9 points in Sligo’s favour when referee Joe Doyne blew the final whistle.

Jubilant scenes followed and team captain Pearson lifted the cup much to the delight of the large travelling support to cap one of Sligo’s most successful ever seasons.

Sligo: David Gerrity, Aaron Spring, Gavin foley, Matele Fifita, Billy Leahy, Mark Butler, Paddy Pearson, Wesley Maxwell, Ross Mannion, Adrian Mc Hale, James Wilson, Jamie Bowes, Cathal Culhane, Simon Coulter, Paddy Conlon. Reps Martin Feeney, Gary Conneely, Peter Mullan, Brian Hynes, Frankie Feeney.

Photos by Rory Raftery – see full match gallery here

Sligo RFC 12 – Corinthians RFC 6

Last Sunday Sligo continued their unbeaten run in all competitions in Connacht by beating Corinthians by four penalties to two.

Conditions were always going to have a big influence on proceedings with a strong northerly bitter cold wind and a very wet and sticky pitch. This was a game of two halves for the competing teams and Sligo elected to play into the strong wind in the first half.

Corinthians are not the force that they were last season when they defeated Sligo in the league and also in the Junior Cup final. In the meantime Sligo have won the Junior league and are in the Cawley Cup final and are a side transformed in twelve months.

With this backdrop Sligo went into this match as strong favourites but Cup football is always different in that its knockout and every game is a separate battle.

In the first half Sligo got down to work and their pack were marginally on top in most areas. At times Sligo had to dig deep and they did well on several occasions breaking free and threatened the opposition try line. One such break by the excellent No. 8 Paddy Conlon who broke from the back of the scrum deep in their own half and fed the flying Aaron Spring almost led to a try with Spring being hauled down five meters out.

Corinthians drew first blood with a fine penalty kick only for Mark Butler to level the scores 3 all after nine minutes. For most of the first half Sligo were defending in their own territory and they did a splendid job both in hard work by the pack and good play by the half backs Billy Leahy and Mark Butler. Their discipline was exemplary giving away few kickable penalties and they got to the break 3 all. This was a decent return considering the conditions.

In the second half it was all about Sligo piling on the pressure in terms of possession and territory. Mark Butler had three more fine penalty kicks to put a bit of daylight between the sides. To their credit Corinthians never gave up and got within 3 points with ten minutes remaining. However Sligo were in no mood to capitulate and with the scrum advantage growing as the game wore on Corinthians simply could not get any momentum. The game ended with another fine Sligo win and they are into the semi finals which will be drawn on Monday night.

This was a real tough Cup match and both sides have to be commended for serving up such competitive football in very difficult conditions.

On the day in the pack Sligo were the dominant force. Ross Mannion who started at hooker and finished the game at loose head prop had an outstanding game with his scrummaging a revelation. Paddy Conlon once again had a superb outing and his ball carrying and speed from the base was of the highest order.  Simon Coulter was very busy and put in a fine days work.

In the back line scrum half Billy Leahy had a good outing with his passing of the greasy ball excellent. His defence work around the fringes and carrying was also very good before he moved to the wing where he finished strongly. Mark Butler at 10 also did well and yet again his place kicking was vital as he has been doing all season. Mata Fifita was also to the fore with his high work rate and he was unlucky to be sent to the bin for 10 minutes for an illegal tackle.  Aaron Spring who started on the wing and finished on the flank always looked to be Sligo’s most dangerous attacker and he was only denied a try in the first half by some excellent defence having beaten several players up the middle.

Sligo will be delighted to have got the win here against a useful Corinthian side considering they started without captain Paddy Pearson, Jamie Bowes and prop Wesley Maxwell. If you want to win trophies you sometimes have to be prepared to win ugly and this is exactly what Sligo did on the day.

Sligo team: David Gerrity, Brian Hynes, Gavin Foley, Aaron Spring, Mark Butler, Billy Leahy, Martin Feeney, Ross Mannion,  Adrian McHale, James Wilson, Peter Mullan, Cathal Culhane, Simon Coulter, Paddy Conlon.
Subs: Gary Conneely, Daragh Cox, Frankie Feeney, Clive Morris, Roger Burrows.

Photographs by Rory Raftery – see more on Sligo RFC facebook page here

Tune in to 102.5-105fm for all the action sponsored by Flanagan Ford Financial Advisors, Raftery & Co. Accountants and main club sponsors McHugh’s Bar.

Listeners online can catch all the action here – Ocean FM

iPhone users click here for the Ocean FM app.

Download poster here – Sligo RFC V Castlebar Feb 2011 – Poster

Next Sunday sees a watershed day in the history of Sligo Rugby Club. Sligo take on Castlebar in their final Connacht Junior League Division 1A match knowing that a win will guarantee that the league trophy will be residing at Hamilton park until next season. Sligo have not won this league since 1972.The added incentive for winning the league this season is that the winners will automatically be promoted to Division three of the All Ireland League and this fact ensured that this seasons league was extremely competitive.

This season Sligo have been a revelation. 7 bonus points secured from 10 league games and currently three points clear of second placed Monivea. Sligo have scored 70 trys and conceded only 9. Sligo are currently the highest scoring Junior Club in the country and following their heartbreaking one point defeat in the semi final of the All Ireland Junior cup they are guaranteed to be fired up for next Sunday’s encounter.

Sligo’s success this season has being based on a solid platform from their highly competitive forwards combined with a powerful athletic backline. Props Adrian Mc Hale, Wesley Maxwell and Martin Feeney have superbly dealt with all opposition threats. Hookers Ross Mannion and Gary Conneely have been accurate at lineout time as well as showing continued dynamism in the loose exchanges. Second Row James Wilson’s lineout play has been a handful for all comers and his partner Jamie Bowes is having a superb season with his trademark driving runs causing problems for all defences.

The back row forwards, Cathal Culhane, Paddy Conlon, Peter Mullan and Simon Coulter have shown a physicality lacking in previous Sligo teams and their work at the breakdown has been a feature of all of Sligo’s games this season.

At scrum half Paddy Pearson is the veritable box of tricks and as team captain his decision making has been excellent, Frankie Feeney has proved an invaluable back up fitting seamlessly in when needed. Outhalf Mark Butler is a constant threat and his excellent goal kicking has ensured the Sligo scoreboard is constantly ticking. Mata Fifita and Gavin Foley have formed an excellent centre partnership in both attack and defence. Full back David Gerrity always displays his football ability, Winger Aaron Spring has scored crucial trys with powerful running style and fellow wingers Billy Leahy,Brian Hynes and Roger Burrows have never been found wanting when called upon.

With Ireland playing at 3pm, the Kick off next Sunday is at 12.30pm and the Ireland match will be shown in the Clubhouse afterwards so come along and cheer the team to what we hope will be a historic victory.