Tralee Rugby Club

A minor invasion from our rival rebel neighbours occurred on Saturday with the arrival of Muskerry at all ages from U8 to U12 and Cork Con bringing most of their U11 & U12 mini rugby squads to Kerry in an effort to subdue the West Munster upstarts. This was not going to be the case, and the visitors knew they would have their work cut out, because of the increase in numbers in Tralee and the quality of players and coaching over the most recent previous encounters.

Over 250 children were to visit for the morning but the clubs facilities were well able to cater for the numbers and a very organised programme of games were played over a two hour timeframe. Each visiting age group played at least two other club sides and all had a great time. Most of the games were very even as all coaches played balanced teams throughout the festival and in the spirit of IRFU rules all walked away with their games drawn. Each of the clubs had some more favourable and some less favourable “Draws” but the real winner on the day was the game. No side left feeling defeated or empty as the parents of all the mini squads were again on hand to offer the hospitality to the visitors equalling that we have ourselves received when venturing south for games.

Tralee RFC is only delighted to get the quality of opposition that now sees a visit to our club as nearly an annual requirement for these sides in order to gauge the quality of rugby played by themselves. Afterwards all retired to the Tralee Aquadome to get the players cleaned up before the return to Cork.

Under 8’s Report

Tralee vs. Muskerry

We hosted Muskerry last Saturday morning in O’Dowd Park. The visitors travelled with one squad while Tralee had enough numbers for two squads.  A series of 10 minute games were played between the teams.

The standard of play was extremely high with all teams showing excellent passing and tackling skills. There were some wonderful passages of play with some fine team and individual scores. The hard work being put in by the players in training is really beginning to show and the skill levels are improving from week to week.

Underfoot conditions were soft but this did not stop the players from giving their all. All games were played in a most sporting manner and the players from both sides are a credit to their clubs.

The Tralee players excelling on the day were:

Tom Brett, Mikey Healy, Neil Stuart, Ben Quilter, Matthew Quilter, Darragh Hanrahan, Gearoid Kilgallen, Denis Moriarty, Hugh Emerson, James O’Connell,  Graham Sheehy, Darragh McEvoy, Lachlan Griffin, Joe O’Connell, Peter Walsh, Nicolas Larkin, Andrew O’Connor, Darragh O’Sullivan, Odhran Pearse and Paddy O’Sullivan