Young rugby club members shine in Florida tournament

Several members of Killarney Rugby Club’s underage team enjoyed the trip of a lifetime over the Easter weekend.

| By Sean Moriarty

Five players were selected to take part in a Rugby 7s tournament in Florida after US-based academy Hawkeyes spotted them in action in Killarney last summer. The Tropical 7s is one of the biggest underage rugby tournaments in the United States.

Players are selected from all over the world to form teams in their own underage bracket before the competitive element in Tampa over the Easter weekend. Local players were selected after impressing Hawkeyes officials last year. Beaufort girl Clodagh Foley played in the Under 18s competition and her team won the plate competition.

Listry’s Emjay Leslie and Beaufort’s Luke O'Malley both played in the Under 14 boys competition.

The Under 16 girls competition was cocoached by Killarney Rugby Club’s underage trainers Diarmuid O’Malley and Josh Whelan.

They managed a team of girls from all over the world, including Fia Whelan and

Ava O’Malley who played with Fijians and Western Samoans and this international selection on the Under 16 competition outright.

“What was so interesting about this group is that the girls just met for trials on the Wednesday before the tournament and gelled immediately. The standard of rugby they played was off the charts but more important they all learned so much from the experience and have now formed friendships which will last a lifetime,” said O’Malley. “Played in the searing Florida heat, the players acquitted themselves very well in the international tournament."

The trip was made possible thanks to support from the following businesses, Killarney Brewery, Tim Jones Butchers, Cromane Foot Clinic, Heavenly Touch Therapies, Jacks Restaurant Cromane, Four Star Pizza, Kerry Woolen Mills, Great Southern Killarney, Plaza Hotel, Café du Parc, Yoga by Jo, Alan Devane Fitness, Aghadoe Heights Hotel, Milltown Dental Practice, Meadowlands Hotel Tralee and Be Pro Therapy.