Boom! Just like that we are entering the closing stages of the season and what a season we have had so far! Our minis & youths go from strength to strength and it is great to see the energy and excitement they, their parents and coaches bring to Lansdowne each week. The players of the future are in great hands and thank you all for your great support of the club this year. It is fantastic to see some of the players graduate onto their schools teams and take part in the Senior & Junior Cups and see them develop but more important and significantly this year we have developed our own youth players away from the school system that have gone onto play for Leinster and indeed Ireland, something we are very proud of and thankful to all of those that have put in the time to make this happen. Keep up the great work.
Our J3’s season has unfortunately come to an end but to see this group get better and better throughout the season has been great. They finished the season very strong and just missed out on the playoffs by a solitary point. They will be a force to be reckoned with next season and beyond. The J2’s league has also finished and much like the J3’s they to are starting to find real form in the O’Connell Cup. They are defending champions of the cup and have swatted aside a few more highly rated opponents already and will look to secure a semi final spot this Saturday evening in Lansdowne if they can overcome a tough Garda side. KO 5.30pm so stay on after the seniors and give them your support. Another young group who will get stronger every year.
Our J1’s unusually ended up in a relegation play off away to Old Belvedere but thankfully showed lots of determination and pride in the jersey to come away with a great hard fought away win to keep our division 1 status. They travel to Lakelands on Saturday evening to face League winners, Terenure College RFC in the quarter final of the Metro Cup Ko again at 5.30pm so if you’re in the area please come along and support.
Huge congratulations to our fantastic Under 20s on winning and retaining the JP Fanagan Premier League, a great achievement in a very tough and competitive league which they have been in control of all season, well done to all! We were very unfortunate to miss out by the narrowest of margins away to Trinity last weekend in the 2nd round of the McCorry Cup with the game going down to the wire. This followed a great 1st round away win against UCD where it took extra time to separate the teams. The bravery and passion these lads show is brilliant and they are a credit to the club. The 20s host Cork Constitution in nearby Gonzaga College in the quarter final of the Fraser McMullan All Ireland Cup this Saturday at 2.30pmso get along if you can. Our Pennant 20s continue their great run with an away trip to Tullamore on Sunday. This group have been great all season, it is our first pennant team in 7 years and it is great to have them back feeding into the club.
The seniors bounced back with a big home win against UCC last weekend. Congratulations to the Senior coaches and squad members on securing an Energia AIL semi final spot and host the high flying Terenure College RFC this Saturday in our final home league game, who sit just 2 points behind us in the table. It is a huge game which should decide who gets home advantage for the semi-final. With a Senior League Cup, an All-Ireland Bateman Cup and a Leinster Senior Cup final spot all secured so far this season the lads are greedy for some more silverware. It would be great to see a big Lansdowne crowd at the back pitch to welcome the lads onto the pitch just before 2.30pm. Your support can make all the difference.
I am delighted to announce that Saturday April 2nd will be designated Climb for Ingo Day to commemorate our much loved friend and true Lansdowne man Paul Inglis along with former members , family and friends who have suffered from the horrible disease that is Motor Neurone Disease. The group headed up by organisers Colin Murtagh, Mark Forrest, John Lombard and Kate Boylan joined by many other members will walk approx 25km leaving Lansdowne FC at around 8.30am and walking to the top of 3 Rock and back to Lansdowne in time for the Terenure match so it would be great to welcome them home by having a crowd there to greet them!
As said the route is approximately 25k and will take approximately 5 hours to complete and will be broke into manageable chunks for those who don’t fancy the full 25K ! The Dropping Well and the Carpark at the base of Three Rock will be alternative starting / dropping off points! The final leg will be from the Dropping Well to Lansdowne which is 4km and should take about 40 min and is relatively flat and members are encouraged to join in for this leg.
The club has set up a GoFundMe page for donations and all money raised will go to MND research in memory of Ingo. Click HERE to donate. We as a club have a great tradition of supporting charitable causes and always give generously, please give what you can to make this a successful fund raiser for a very worthy cause that is getting national recognition on the day through Charlie Bird.
Our under 20 Internationals Charlie Tector and Oisin Michael joined a very select group in becoming Grand Slam winners. Well done to both and indeed the whole Irish squad, it is a terrific achievement and life long happy memories for the lads.
Dan Sheehan continued to take international rugby in his stride with great performances in the senior 6 Nations and a man of the match performance against Scotland. Well done to Dan and to Tadgh Beirne along with the unlucky Ronan Kelleher who will hopefully be back in time for Leinster’s Champions cup run in. We are both privileged and honoured as a club to have such talented and decent young men representing Lansdowne FC on the world stage. Thank you all!
In a very busy but successful weekend Elayne and Michael excelled in getting Fridays Business Lunch, Saturdays Club Dinner and Sundays AIL pre match lunch organised and run off flawlessly. Dave ensured they went home happy! We had Tommy Kelly from e-shop world as our special guest and what a story he had. Devin Toner also attended and gave a great interview with the shy and retiring Mano Ryan. Well done to the committee of Michael Ryan, Ciaran O’Reilly, Mano Ryan, Gav Lee & Will Sparks – it was a great Friday afternoon. Congrats to all in raising over €9,000.00 for Goal Ukraine at the charity raffle on the day, a very worthy cause. We had a smaller than usual club dinner due to numerous factors, but it was still a great night and it was great to see that both members and guests were very complimentary of the food, entertainment and the service on the night. Thank you to all for making it one to remember.
We have a busy weekend of rugby ahead and that is what we are a MEMBERS RUGBY CLUB so get out and support as many teams as you can this weekend
Keep safe, stay well!.
Regards,
Colin Goode
Club President 2020/22
