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VW Leinster Rugby Summer Camps – €70 Early Bird Offer till June 1st
Cill Dara July 30th – Aug 3rd
This year there is a total of 16 venues throughout the whole province of Leinster, for boys and girls from 6 to 12 years old. Children who participate in the camps will get an Official Canterbury of New Zealand Rugby Pack (boot bag, t-shirt, water bottle, ball, and certificate of attendance), the chance to make new friends, meet Leinster players, learn more about rugby values such as team work, commitment and integrity. They also become more aware of the importance of physical fitness while learning to develop the basic rugby skills of passing, tackling (in a controlled environment), evasion and kicking. Weekly (Mon - Fri) 9.30am- 1.30pm. €89 after June 1st.
To book online or see your nearest venue visit www.leinsterrugby.ie/summercamps
Cill Dara U13’s win Leinster Plate after cracker in Portlaoise RFC
Entertaining, exciting, full-blooded, nerve-shredding - as finals go, this was a cracker. Cill Dara and Athy, two local rivals, met in the Leinster Plate Final in Portlaoise RFC on Bank Holiday Saturday and served up a game of rugby that belied their Under 13 status.
Previous meetings between these two groups of players indicated that the match would always be a close run affair. Athy have one of the most powerful set of forwards in the area, led by their outstanding prop, Eoin Cooney. However there is an expression in rugby that, “forwards win matches but backs decide by how much.” This rang true for Cill Dara as the Beech Park pack took on their larger opposition and created space for their backline to reign supreme, including a hat-trick for winger, Calum McGrath.
A member of the county 4 x 100m relay team, McGrath rounded his opposite number on three occasions in the first half to touch down in almost the same few inches of grass behind the Athy line. The first half ended 15-5 to the Kildare boys with Athy scoring through their inspirational player, Cooney.
If the first half was all about speed and flair, the next 25 minutes was about grit and determination as Athy began to dominate in the tight. The second half was only two minutes old when McGrath received a knock to his back. The injury held up play for 20 minutes while he received attention and was deemed unfit to continue. The interruption to the match broke the Kildare boys’ momentum and they were caught cold soon after the restart by Athy following some scintillating back play of their own. The unconverted try brought the score to 15-10 and it was ‘game on.’
Cill Dara now had to withstand an onslaught as Athy sought the lead for the first time in the game. Some solid defence and the occasional ferocious tackle kept Athy at bay as they went through the phases seeking a gap in the Cill Dara line. The black and red defence held and from a 5m scrum on the Athy line, number 8, Fionn Heffernan, broke from the base and used his strength to drive Cill Dara back into a ten point advantage.
Again Athy looked to the larger pack to drag them back into contention. Despite some heroic defence, the Athy scrum-half, Hamish Munro, was creating problems in the loose with his quick passing and snipping runs. After a number of rucks, Cill Dara were stretched and Athy touched down almost under the posts. The conversion was a formality and suddenly, with 5 minutes to go, there was only 3 points between the teams.
In this ding-dong encounter, three more points from a penalty, knocked over by full back, Dylan Walshe, stretched the Kildare boys’ lead back to 6 but there was to be one more twist. Deep into injury time and after Cill Dara had repelled a string of energy sapping attacks on their try line, the Athy midfield finally found the gap that they had been seeking and touched down roughly ten metres from the posts. Ahead by one point but with a kickable conversion to come, heads dropped among the exhausted Cill Dara players. However, the pressure on a twelve-year old to convert the winning kick in a final must have been immense and the young Athy player sliced his shot wide.
There was still enough time for a restart but the nerve-shredding match was finally ended when Athy conceded a penalty as they desperately tried to gain possession. The ball was kicked dead and the final whistle blown by referee, Paddy Curran, who must be credited for his contribution to a wonderful game of rugby. For Cill Dara it was scenes of ecstasy and Athy, the agony of such a narrow defeat ; the final score 23-22 to the Beech Park heroes.
It is impossible to pick a man of the match as each player, both sides included, gave nothing less than 100% commitment. However, McGrath and Heffernan, with their tries and work rate deserve a special mention as does Killian Darling in the centre whose tackling was inspirational. Twenty three U13 players were part of the Plate campaign that began in March and all deserve their hard earned Leinster Rugby medals. Their club is very proud of them.
Club FUN DAY
Club Fun day for Minis fixed for Sunday 6th of May.
Our Club
Located on new grounds just outside Kildare Town Cill Dara RFC is a thriving club with a wealth of facilities for all it’s members.
Club History
CILL DARA R.F.C. 1976 - 2005
Cill Dara R.F.C. was founded in 1976 as the brainchild of Rev. Father E.D. O’Connor, O.Carm. (Ex Terenure) and Mr. Joe Flanagan, and affiliated to the Leinster Branch, I.R.F.U. in 1977.
Fielding two teams in its first year, the Club unfortunately were not hugely successful on the playing field, instead the founding members concentrated on consolidating the Club’s position in the area and attracting new members. Under the guidance of its President, the Club initiated a youth policy, which has nurtured and fostered the love of the game among the youngsters of the area.
In it early years the Club relied heavily on the generosity and support of Mr. Michael Osborne and in later years of Mr. John Clarke who provided pitches and changing facilities at the National Stud.
A major fundraising effort allowed the Club move to new pitches and changing rooms at Whitesland on the outskirts of the town. The President of the I.R.F.U officially opened the Whitesland development in 1994.
The housing boom of the late nineties and the rezoning of it’s eleven acre property at Whitesland necessitated a third move for the Club. A hardworking lands development committee oversaw this latest move. The lands committee under the stewardship of the then Club Chairman, Ger Conway, directed and supervised all aspects of the magnificent development, where the club is now, in Beechpark. This development incorporates all that is required in playing the modern game including a state of the art health and fitness center.
On the playing front Cill Dara R.F.C. are well established as one of the most progressive and competitive clubs in the North Midlands area. Competing at all levels from under age to Junior one, winning A Provincial Towns Seconds Cup in 1989 and now playing in Division 1 of the Leinster League. While the clubs senior sides are among the teams to beat in the Midlands area it is the youth section who have brought the silver ware home on a consistent basis.
Over the years Leinster Youth Cups have been won on several occasions, the most recent in 2002 when the clubs U/18 side won the Culliton Cup. Following on from this success the club then fielded its first U/20 side in competition and was narrowly beaten at the semi-final stage.
As Cill Dara R.F.C. sets out on the next part of its journey building on the foundation laid by a successful youth policy, allied to new members attracted by the superb facilities available and steered by a sensible and professional management team the future indeed looks rosy for this young and vibrant club.
