young
musnter
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Young Munster
A
visitor to Tom Clifford Park, Greenfields, Limerick, on a Sunday morning, during the rugby season will be
impressed by the number of young people on the training pitches and the activity of parents delivering and
collecting their off-spring from the grounds. Young Munster Rugby Football Club has fourteen underage teams
ranging from under sixes to under eighteens. The Sunday morning scene in Greenfields indicates a club that is a
vital part of the community. Coaches and parents are testimony to the spirit of voluntarism that has ensured the
survival of this club since 1895.
Images courtesy of Brendan Doyle
The introduction of the Tyler Cup,
for players under 18, in 1895 gave a
competitive opportunity to a group of
boys living in Carey’s Road, Boherbui,
Dixon’s Lane and Parnell St. who
gathered regularly in the local park to
play impromptu games of rugby. When
the opportunity came their most difficult
task was to raise the entry fee. The scale
may have changed but finance remains an
issue one hundred and twenty years later.
Subscriptions from the local community
ensured that the boys from Carey’s Road
participated in and won the Tyler Cup in
1895.
Young Munster started out on a long
and sometimes difficult road to become
a major force in Irish Rugby. Throughout
this journey the community from which
it sprung has remained loyal to Young
Munster and the club has continued
to serve that community. The regional
headquarters of our main sponsor for a
remarkable 23 years, Bus Eireann, are
located in the traditional Young Munster
heartland. Bus workers have served the
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club as Presidents, committee members
and distinguished players.
Our facilities as they were developed
were always made readily available
to other sporting organisations and
community groups. When the parish
rugby teams for Our Lady of Lourdes and
Holy Family Southill won the All-Ireland
Community games title a number of
times between them they were composed
mainly of young players produced by
the Young Munster Under-Age System.
Six members of the squad that won the
All-Ireland League for Young Munster,
in 1993, played in those successful
Community Games campaigns.
Since the opening of the club’s grounds
in Greenfields in 1961, Young Munster has
continued to improve facilities at every
opportunity, from its own resources, the
voluntary work of its members, fund
raising events and National Lottery sports
grants.
Young Munster fields three adult teams
and an under 20 team. The club caters for
a total of 470 playing members of which
360 are under 18. Unfortunately, we do
not have a woman’s team at present due
to people having to emigrate or go to
other cities for work.
This activity is enabled by the club’s
facilities which include an impressive
clubhouse, playing and training pitches
in Greenfields with changing rooms,
training pitches and playing pitches on 18
acres at nearby Derryknockane.
In order to cater for our growing number
of young