Corrib celebrate youths at annual awards night
Corrib RFC held their 2024/25 Youth Awards evening recently at St Fursy’s Hall in Headford. This was a well-attended event with all six male and female youth teams represented by their players and their families. Team coaches, club volunteers and committee members were also in attendance.
MC, Mike Flynn welcomed everyone, and got proceedings underway by welcoming on stage the club president, Eugene Kenny. Eugene thanked all the coaches and volunteers for their time and selfless efforts throughout the season in preparing the teams for competition and all that entailed. He then introduced Gerry Coen, special guest speaker. Gerry was one of the founding members of the club in 1981 and as part of the IRFU’s 150th year celebrations, was recently recognised by the association for his ‘Contributions to Rugby’. Gerry gave a great account of how the club got its start and marvelled at what it had become since. He paid tribute to former teammates and co-founding members, Andy Reddington, Donal Holloran and John Cooke “who were sadly no longer with us” and gave a special mention to the club’s Junior Cup win in 1994 which remains the only time Corrib won the prestigious provincial prize.
Ronan Casey, chair of Rugby Operations, was next up and he thanked everyone for their efforts all winter and for showing their support by attending the awards night. Ronan highlighted that many non-competition events held during the year were designed to “attract new players and members and retain current ones”. He pointed to the recent Annual Noel Egan Rugby Tournament and Family day which he said “was testament to our community ethos”. He also paid compliments to previous and current executive committees and volunteers who had made the Corrib RFC facilities over the preceding years “best in province”.
He added that the new gym facility, which was used all winter by the teams and officially opened two weeks previously, would become an important asset for the club in the future.
Ronan Casey specially mentioned the importance of the Referee/Coach Academy which the club had launched this season. The first three candidates graduated from it recently and one more is due to graduate in September. Casey informed parents and young people that this was a “viable way of getting or staying involved in rugby and would increase the standard of coaching for the club.” He also invited parents and young people to watch out for the Corrib RFC Summer Camp, which is a four-day camp running in the first week of August for 8-14 year olds.
He concluded that the club was in for a “great season again” in 2025/26 and invited young players that had left the sport or the club to return back to their friends in September again.
All the youth awards on the evening were announced by the relevant team coach and presented by Corrib RFC president Eugene Kenny and vice-president, Jacinta Sweeney.
The Club Person of the Year award was awarded to Jimmy Roddy. Jimmy has been coaching with Corrib RFC for thirteen years and has brought the current U18 girls team through from minis and was also an integral part of getting rugby into Presentation College Headford and ensuring that it was maintained there over the years.
Eugene Kenny said that Jimmy was “extremely dedicated as a coach and club member”, serving as manager for both the Corrib RFC senior team and the Connacht Juniors. Ronan Casey thanked Jimmy for his continued dedication to the.
Following the presentation of the awards there was food and music for everyone.
