President’s Message 2.4.26

Another busy weekend gone by for the Club. Our Men’s and Women’s firsts travelled to Cork and Limerick to play Highfield and UL Bohemians in absolutely crucial games. The Men were trying to avoid the relegation play offs while the Women were aiming to secure a home semi final.

Two fantastic wins on the road.

The Men put in their best performance of the season to date and came away with a 24-53 victory. We scored some scintillating tries while also demonstrating strength in defence, particularly in the first half. The Highfield alickadoos commented afterwards that the Blackrock performance was the most impressive they had come across this year. Having been on the receiving end of defeats away in Highfield in recent seasons, the win was particularly sweet. This performance has been coming and I was thrilled to see it all coming together and the results in the Naas and UCC games also went our way. While the pressure of a relegation playoff is off, our lads are very focussed on finishing the season in style this Saturday in Stradbrook vs Trinity… as I’ve been saying, our fifth cup final in a row! Trinity are playing for automatic promotion to Div 1A.

We have a huge day planned in the Club on Saturday with over 180 at the pre match lunch, sold out for weeks. We have the Blackrock SCT as guests. We are honoured to have Tommy O Brien and Thomas Clarkson, both Club members, at the lunch and Shane Byrne will interview them. The President of Leinster Rugby, Moira Flahive is also joining us. Moira is a recent Past President of DUFC, but she assures me she will be completely neutral on Saturday!

After the match, in the bar approximately 5.30pm, we will make a number of special presentations as we bid farewell to James Blaney, Head Coach and our first team Manager John Colclough Jnr and present Brian Colclough with his 100th AIL cap.

Mick Hearty penned a fitting tribute to James in this week’s newsletter and on the Club website. James made an incredible impact on our Club in his 5 seasons. I fondly remember days like when we beat Greystones to secure promotion from 2B and then the play off win over Barnhall the following season in Stradbrook to be promoted to1B where we’ve been the last 3 seasons. James brought a level of professionalism and steel to the Club and on behalf of all the players, fellow coaches and members, I want to thank you.

The Colclough family have been huge contributors to Blackrock over many years, both on and off the pitch, and I look forward to marking that on Saturday. I would ask all supporters to stay around for a while after the game and pay our respect to these guys.

Our Women’s team secured a fabulous 7-17 win over the league leaders, UL Bohs. We finished the regular league season level on points with UL Bohs but finish second on points scored. However, a fantastic outcome… a home semi final vs Railway Union in Stradbrook on Saturday 11^th April. Let’s come down and support our wonderful squad and coaches in what promises to be a very close, enthralling semi final. The prize is an AIL final in the Aviva on Sunday 26^th April.

Unfortunately, Saturday wasn’t to be the perfect day with the Castle 3rds losing to a very strong Greystones team in the Winters Cup. The end of an enjoyable season for this squad and I want to thank Aidan, Matthew and all the players for making a big contribution to the Club with this new formed team.

Sunday saw our Women’s J1s bow out of the Paul Flood Cup to Edenderry, losing 26-29 to a late try. Well done to the squad. It was nice to see the first squad down supporting their team in Stradbrook after a long day in Limerick the day before.

The u17s unfortunately lost 20-33 to a strong Birr team in the Leinster League quarter final. Their focus now turns to the Cup.

Sunday saw one of the highlights of the Minis/Youths season with our u15s winning the Lisbon rugby tournament with wins over San Diego in the final, local team Valladolid in the semi final and Benfica in the quarter final. Well done to Paul O Grady, his fellow coaches and all the players on a fantastic achievement. The Club are very proud of you all.

Lots of end of season blitzes and tours being planned across the other age groups.

We reached an incredible 600 boys and girls registered for mini rugby in the Club this season. Well done to everyone involved in organising all of this.

Our Men’s J1s were unlucky to lose their play off game 20-34 to St Mary’s on Monday night in Templeville Road. A couple of hard yellow cards went against us. In a brilliant game, our lads put in a very brave performance and were still pressing at the end when Marys scored an intercept try to give the scoreline a flattering look in their favour. A big thanks to the J1 management, coaches and players for their efforts in our first season back in Prem 1 after many years… it’s a tough league.

Please note the following dates for important events coming up. Details are in the newsletter and on the Club website.

• Annual Club dinner on Friday 8^th May. Details will be announced next week, and registrations will open online. I want to make this a great Club night where we celebrate all aspects and sections (Men, Women, Minis/Youths) of our Club. I am asking members, coaches, players (men and women), parents, friends to support the dinner… the more the merrier.

• Golf Classic on Thursday 21^st May in Milltown. This is booking out very quickly, with nearly all afternoon teams gone. Please book your team &/or tee sponsorship through the Club website or contact Erin in the office. It promises to be another great Club Day.

• The 2nd Kids Mini World Cup will be held in Stradbrook 11-15 May, details and bookings now open online: MWC 2026.

Thanks for your ongoing support. And I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Stradbrook this Saturday.

Happy Easter

Mick