Young Munster

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Young Munster is a rugby union club based in Limerick. It was founded in 1895 and plays its games at Tom Clifford Park in Rosbrien, Limerick.

They currently play their rugby in Division 2 of the AIB All Ireland League.

They are the only Limerick club to have won the now defunct Bateman Cup which they won in 1928. The club song, Beautiful Munsters, remembers this victory. They also won the All Ireland League in 1993 by beating Saint Marys in Lansdowne Road in front of a record attendance for a club game of 20,000. The record still stands to this day.

Famous players include:

Tom Clifford
Peter Clohessy
John Paco Fitzgerald
Ger Earls
Paul O'Connell
Mike Mullins
Rob Henderson

All the above, except Ger Earls, have played at some level for Ireland, most appearances by Paul O'Connell who currently holds 37 Ireland caps (to June 2006) as well as having played 3 Test games for the British & Irish Lions.

Club Honours also include 6 wins in the Munster Senior Challenge Cup, in 1928, 1930, 1938, 1980, 1984, 1990 and 7 triumphs in the Munster Junior Challenge Cup in 1911, 1922, 1927, 1959, 1960, 1984 and 1999.

The Club also was one of the first Irish teams to tour North America extensively when in 1985, they played 5 games in New York City, Vancouver, Langley (B.C.) , Los Angeles and San Diego.

Current Coach is Tony Grant

After a decade in the A.I.L Division 1, the club was relegated to division 2 in 2002.