Well what a day for our club on Saturday! We welcomed 3 Munster clubs, Crosshaven RFC, Muskerry RFC & Old Crescent RFC to take on the best of Blackrock College RFC at Under 9's, 10's, 11's & Under 13's. The day started in Sunshine (with a few blustery showers when the posts were being put up!) With the buses rolling in at noon. All 280 home & travelling players togged out and headed to the field for a 1pm kickoff. We got through 14 fantastic games of very competitive rugby, all ably scheduled and run by Dave Corrigan.
After the games, all the boys scrambled back up to the club house to get first dibs on the bouncy castles. To add to the thrill of the slide, at one point a mighty gust came through and nearly had all the boys airborne, heading for Oz! The castle was strapped back down, by scrambling parents!
Whilst all that activity was happening outside, we had a hoard of helpers getting ready to open the doors to the great hall! where the club put on a splendid spread of cakes, biscuits, sandwiches and pizzas, to feed over 600 people. 150 pizzas were ordered & devoured in an instant! The club was absolutely buzzing with players, siblings, parents & grandparents all mingling and chatting. It was wonderful to see.
With the pints flowing and everyone in great spirits the time flew by and before we knew it we were all downing the last drinks and scrambling to get on the buses, with hailed calls from Tom Moorecraft, "All aboard for Croke Park"!
Having arrived at the stadium, the Cusack stand was taken over by the club, with 640 of us piling into Block 301, with a healthy mix of Leinster and Munster flags to add to the revelry. The highlight of the game was at half time, where we proudly got to cheer on the Under 12's during their half time match, what a fantastic experience it was for these boys to get to play on this 'hallowed ground', not many can say they have!
After a great game of rugby (if you're a Leinster fan!) we bid farewell to the Crosshaven & Muskerry lads, and wished them a safe journey South, and we all headed back to the club to collect cars and gear bags, and bring our tired and weary children home, all exhausted but happy after a wonderful day.
Finally a mention to all the people who made this day possible, a big club day like this takes a huge amount of preparation, so a special thanks to go to the following; Mario Barrett for organising the tickets, collecting the money and distributing to all the age groups. Laura Rhatigan, Ciara Flood, & Aoife Hanrahan in charge of all the catering, who did a fantastic job. To all the parents who helped tirelessly on the day to ensure everyone was really well looked after. To Paul O'Grady who organised the buses on the day, I don't think he's over the stress of that yet!! To Gerry and the bar staff, for keeping the pints flowing, and Gerry missing the match to do so! To Mae & Marlayna for decking the children and some adults out in warrior face paint! Oran O'Reilly for capturing the moments on the day, and finally a thanks to the Men's 3rd for moving their home fixture to accommodate the event, much appreciated.
Thank you one and all, a great Club effort.
Conor Twomey (Under 10's)
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