Next weekend, history beckons for our club as our amazing U16 girls and U18 girls compete in their respective Munster Cup finals at Virgin Media Park. A truly historic occasion for our club as well as another amazing milestone in the development of girls/ladies rugby at Killarney RFC. In the few short years of girls youths rugby at the club we have seen fantastic success. Two years ago, our then U16 girls won the Munster League and Cup double, truly paving the way for things to come. While last season our U14 won the Munster Plate. This year to date our swashbuckling U18's are Munster League champions and compete in this weekend's Cup final, while our combined Killarney/Iveragh/Listowel U16 girls compete in the U16 Final. Then in 2 weeks time our U14 girls compete in the U14 Plate final, while this weekend our U12's head to Shannon for the Good Friday Tournament. A true testament to the hard work being done right across the club, and beyond, to develop girls rugby.
U16 Girls Final - A Preview:
First up next Saturday our combined Killarney/Iveragh/Listowel side take on West Cork outfit Clonakilty RFC in the U16 Munster Cup final. With a home victory gainst Bruff as well as hard fought away victories over Midleton/Youghal and Ennis, the girls have played some fantastic rugby to get to their final. Kick off against Clonakilty is at 2:3pm and all support is very welcome and appreciated.
Speaking this week, Team Manager Anne Gabbett said: "From struggling numbers at the start, Killarney and Iveragh slowly grew and when Listowel joined the girls gelled so well it was like they had known each other for years. A laugh a minute off the pitch, but all that changes once they are on the pitch,. Very proud of all the girls, they have certainly given me so many great memories this season".
Co-Coach T.J. Brosnan said: " Very much looking forward to the final, the girls have trained incredibly hard and have a real team spirit, we’re all hoping that they play to their full potential and come home with the cup".
We will leave the final words to our captain Eliza O'Sullivan: " At the start of the season we were struggling for numbers. But, whilst the league was taking place we amalgamated with listowel to create a team to enter into the cup. From our first challenge game as a group, it was evident that this team was something special. We have had to put in a lot of hard work but this combined with the unwavering support of our management team, had led us to have an unbelievable cup tournament. No matter the result this Saturday, I am exceptionally proud of and how far we have come in only a few months. Up KILA!!!"
U18 Girls Final - A Preview:
Our awesome U18 girls, under the stewardship of coaches Diarmuid O'Malley and Josh Whelan with team manager Elaine Clifford, face Clonakilty RFC in the U18 Girls Munster Cup at 4:30pm, and this promises to be another absolute cracker of a game. Our girls are well and truly looking forward to this match up and will be hoping to follow up their league success in the cup. This cup final is the culmination of a lot of hard work done to date with some of these girls amogst the first girls to play at Minis for Killarney RFC, the first to play at U14, to win at U16 and to win at U18. True groundbreakers inspiring the next generation!
Team Manager Elaine Clifford said: "As the team manager of our U18.5 girls rugby team, reaching our second final of the season fills me with immense pride and excitement. It's a testament to the dedication, hard work, and teamwork of our players. This opportunity to compete at such a high level represents the culmination of our collective efforts and the chance to showcase our skills on the grand stage. I am honoured to be part of this journey with these incredible young athletes and look forward to cheering them on as they give their all in the final match".
Coach Diarmuid O'Malley added: “Saturday is a massive day for the club and girls rugby in Kerry, for the Killarney girls to be competing in both the u16s and u18s Munster Cup final is a massive honour and a big thank you to a lot of people who have done so much for girls rugby down through the years in the Kingdom to make days like this possible. Our u18.5 team have had a fantastic season winning the Munster league and it would really finish off the season in style if we could win the cup, we are not taking anything for granted as we know how good Clonakilty are, they are the only team to beat us in the league section and we just beat them by a narrow margin in the League Semifinal so no doubt it’s going to be another cracking close game, which we are looking forward to”.
Coach Josh Whelan added: "
Saturdays U18 cup final has the makings of a great climax to the season. Clonakilty look like a real force in girls youth rugby in Munster at the moment. They’ve got great numbers, a strong organisation behind them, excellent facilities and will be aiming for a clean sweep of underage club cups. They also won the School’s senior cup a couple of weeks back with what was essentially their club team.
On the other hand this Killarney U18s side is a pretty special bunch. The core of the squad were part of Killarney’s first ever female U14 team. I remember Milo O’Meara and Liam Murphy coaching the girls back then and it was already clear that they would go places. They missed out on U14 titles when competitions were cancelled because of Covid, but they went on to win the Munster league and cup double at U16 level. Its a real pleasure to work with them, their application and effort has been great all season, and they got the reward for it taking the U18 League title back in February.
The cup campaign so far has really tested the squad depth. We were missing some key players with injuries and because of representative duties, but everyone else stepped up. Ali O’Donoghue took on the captain’s duties with Lily and Fia out, and the all the team’s combined efforts have got us to the final. We know we’re going to have a real tough test against Clon on Saturday, but our girls will enjoy that, and I expect it will bring out the best in them.
So, history beckons once again for our club as our girls aim to do the double at Virgin Media Park this Saturday. You can be sure there will be a huge support travelling East to Cork City to support the girls and coaches and we as a club are so, so proud of every single one. We would like to say a hugh thanks to all who have helped get the girls to this stage, from starting day one, to give it a try, to joining us at training and so on. A huge thanks to all who have coached and driven girls rugby at the club and continue to do so. Finally we would like to wish both teams the very best of luck,the whole club is so, so proud of our girls and can't wait to get to Cork to support you all!
