History of the Club
A little bit about St Mary’s College RFC It was in September 1900, at St Mary’s College Rathmines, Dublin, with which it has always kept a close relationship, when the club was formed and it was then known as Old St Mary’s FC; it later became St Mary’s College RFC. It was to be an open club, playing open rugby, a tradition retained and cherished to this day. In the early days, the matches were played in the front field at the college and the first trophy, the Leinster Junior Cup was won in 1905.
In 1911, the club earned senior status and secured its own grounds off Beaver Row in Donnybrook (showing the way to Riverview). There it thrived until the First World War when, along with the college, it closed down and although the college reopened after the war, the club did not get going again until 1932. During the Donnybrook days, Ernest Farrell had been a star and earned the first inter provincial cap for his club in 1911, by now an active priest he supported a group of young men, past pupils of the college, to re-establish the club. One of those pioneering lads, Paddy Branagan died only last year. They were very lucky to secure a ground at Kimmage Grove, which they ended up renting from a farmer, Mrs Doherty, for over twenty years until the farm of which it was part was sold in 1954 for building to become what is now College Park Estate.
During the happy tenure there, the club won many junior cups and learned the best side-steps in Dublin rugby, when avoiding the sheep and cattle dung (the pitches being also leased for grazing farm animals). Also in that period, the club regained senior status in 1941 and later a young Matt Gilsenan, who still plays an active role in the club, led his side to win the inaugural Moran Cup (J3s) in 1949; he later brought the senior team, of which he was then captain, on the first ever club tour to Italy in 1954. He later became a distinguished president of the club, was a club trustee from the age of 25 until very recently; is the club archivist and is greatly admired. Others still active, to make their mark during that period were Paddy Bolger, later treasurer of Leinster Branch, (following GK Boyd), president of the Leinster Branch and treasurer of IRFU, Bill Fagan, John O’Donoghue, Vincent Mc Govern and Joe Fanagan, all of whom with Paddy Branagan, Ernest Farrell and Jimmy Ganter, moved mountains to move the club, by fund raising etc. with eventually success.
In 1955, that move was made, and a wonderful new clubhouse and grounds were opened on College Drive (off Fortfield Road) and so began a golden era in St Mary’s history. It took only a few years to taste success, for in 1957-58 season under the captaincy of Joe Fanagan and with wonderful players like Ned Carmody, Vincent Mc Govern, Sean Cooke, Jack Bagnall, the Hussey twins, Dick Whitty, Ken Wall and Nicky Corrigan, they brought home to College Drive, the Leinster Senior Cup for the first time. The LSC at that time was the most prestigious trophy and the most difficult to win in Irish rugby.
The sixties saw a stream of cups come home to St Marys at junior level and then having been so close on a few occasions, in 1969 the great Sean Lynch who afterwards was to be our first international and British and Irish Lion, drove his super team to win the LSC again. During the sixties, the club also had many provincially capped players and the club was growing in strength and status all the time. The cup was to be won again in ‘71, ‘74, ‘75,’87, ‘93, ’95, 2005 and 2010. The IRFU centenary all Ireland cup was won by Marys led by the wonderful Johnny Moloney in 1975.
The seventies was the glorious age, with many trophies at all levels being won and with wonderful players like Sean Lynch, Dennis Hickie, John Moloney, Tom Grace, Seamus Deering, Tom Feighery, Tony Ward, Terry Kennedy, Ciaran Fitzgerald and Rodney O’Donnell all being capped for Ireland. Of course, Johnny Moloney, Tom Grace and super hero Seamus Deering captained Ireland during that period and later Ciaran Fitzgerald captained Ireland to a triple crown in 82 and 85 and captained the Lions in 1983. The inaugural Leinster Senior league was won under the inspiring captaincy of club great, JB Sweeney in season 71-72. Success in that league was to come again in 78, 80, 89, and 97. The seventies also saw the club outgrow College Drive and with the foresight of Brian Whelan, Bennie Lynch, Paddy Bolger, Matt Gilsenan, Bill Fagan, et al. a new ground was purchased from the Holy Ghost community and a new beauty was born in Templeville Road. Tony Hickie was the architect and he produced an innovative and imaginative clubhouse, which has been expanded and improved over the past 34 years under Tony’s watchful eyes. It opened with a gala game in 1975. That was a memorable day with a strong Marys’ team playing an international XV under Willie John Mc Bride.
In the eighties, the club continued to make strong progress and as well as three senior trophies, cups and leagues were won at all levels right through the decade. We added to our international members with Paul Dean and Vincent Cunningham (son of John, great Marys' man, former president and current Hon Secretary) being honoured by Ireland and both likewise became Lions to their own and the club’s great credit and pride. The game was evolving, with newer training techniques, more emphasis on nutrition, body condition and set plays. Likewise, there was more emphasis on examination of and changes to the laws to help the game become more fluent.
The decade of the nineties was for St Marys, another period of great change and development, as it was for the game, when the fundamental change from amateur to professional rugby took place and its effect is still being felt, especially by all clubs including St Marys. Structurally also the club changed, with firstly a fine terrace being erected on the S E side of the pitch, then one on the clubhouse side and then a complete refurbishment and extension of the clubhouse and hall and the addition of the Centenary Bar. Again, Tony Hickie was the architect, with Frank Kennedy the project manager, both doing an outstanding and caring job with diligence. The planning, fundraising and organisational work was carried out by dedicated members especially John Doddy, Paul Sheeran, John Cunningham and Gus Browne. Of courses the nineties saw the commencement of the All Ireland League in season 1990-91 and the club started in the 1st division and spent only one season since in the 2nd division, 2004-05, returning under coaches Steven Hennessy and Peter Smyth the following season. Meantime in 1993 the club were beaten in a famous final at Lansdowne Road by Young Munster. During the decade, the quality of play increased rapidly, with Brent Pope coming over from New Zealand in 1991 and others such as Victor Costello, Peter Smyth and Trevor Brennan joining from outside the club to add to the talent of, such as Steve Jameson, Michael Corcoran and Kevin Devlin while home grown talent such as Vincent Cunningham, Kevin Potts, Garry Lavin, David Wall and later Dennis Hickie, Malcolm O’Kelly and John Mc Weeney made up a formidable outfit which challenged yearly. Under the astute coaching of Steven Hennessy and Hugh Maguire, the club reached the last four play-offs for two consecutive years, only to be beaten in the semi finals. Then in 1999-2000 with Brendan Spring as president, John Doddy Chairman of Rugby and Brent Pope back as coach, from a few seasons at Clontarf, the breakthrough came and the AIL 1st division trophy was secured to wild delight from all. St Marys were the first non-Munster club to win the trophy.
The 2000s have seen further changes both to laws and to structures, with the provinces fully professional, most of our AIL winning team became full time players for the provinces and were no longer available to any extent; and so a rebuilding began at the club. Although the 2nd division was visited for a year, the club progressed both on and off the field. On field, Steven Hennessy and Peter Smyth developed a strong, mainly home produced squad, with many young promising players like Jonathan (now a star international player) and Mark Sexton, second generation Sweeneys, Robert (club international) and brother Richie, Conor Mc Inerney (both A Leinster and later Ospreys), Paul Nash (Club Captain 2010-11), Conor Donohue, Kevin Sheahan, Ronan Doherty, Darragh Fanning (now with Connacht and son of long time club, Leinster player and B international captain Declan), Phillip Brophy (Club Captain 2008-09 and club international), Barry O’Flanagan and Gavin Dunne, mingling well with our more mature players such as Gareth Logan (Club Captain 2007-08), Hugh Hogan (club International Captain and 2009-10 Club Captain) and Conor Mc Phillips (now coaching with Connacht). Younger players still, like under 21 international and Leinster player Jack Mc Grath and U20 International Darren Hudson and ex U20s, like Conor Hogan, Ray Crotty, Robbie Field Ian O’Neill, Sean Preston and Christopher Lillie, are pushing up and challenging for places and there are many other support players and junior players making up an impressive player matrix. These players have brought many trophies and honour to the club over the decade (see Records).
In 2008-09, the senior team ended the AIL 1st division season level with four other clubs, but due to points differential, controversially missed the play-offs (see reports), but the following season, 2009-10, playing under a new two-year experimental and highly competitive eight team division 1A, St Marys reached second in the league overall, made the play-offs, won the semi final and were narrowly beaten after extra time in the final (see reports). The season 2010-11, marks the end of the experimental AIL structure to be followed by a first division of two section, A and B, of ten teams each and second and third divisions of 16 teams each; all with relegation and promotion.
To support and help develop these players who have done so well, the infrastructure has also been enhanced with a high performance gym and television grade floodlights added under the guidance of Tony Hickie and Frank Kennedy,( who had a remarkable playing career in the sixties, seventies and eighties with the most medals of all denominations of any player in the club), with strong backroom support from Brian (Spike) Fanning, John Pyne, Tom O’Brien, Liam Byrne and 2008-09 president Eoin Quinn, 2009-10 president Niall Rynne and the executive committee. In spring 2010, Brian Fanning (House and Grounds Manager), with the astute help of Liam Byrne (Hon Treasurer) and David Ross (Leinster Branch) who arranged redesignation of Sports Council grants, managed, with typical inventiveness and tenacity, to have the main pitch and training area (Cabbage Patch) restructured and drained to highest quality, ensuring for the future, a high quality surface under most conditions.
Mention must be made of John Hussey, the present Junior Vice President of IRFU, ordained to be President in the season 2012-13. He was Chairman of the IRFU management committee for eight years and previously was President of the Leinster Branch, having been our IRFU/LB representative for over ten years. He has served the club, LB and IRFU exceptionally well and helped bring Irish Rugby through changing and challenging times. As Chairman of the Magners League, he has been prescient in planning its development to its current status. With his involvement in Leinster Branch and IRFU, John followed such luminaries as Vincent Mc Govern, Paddy Bolger, Joe Fanagan, DP Smyth, Gerry Boyd and Ernest Farrell all of whom had made superb contributions to Irish rugby and to St Marys. John Doddy (see obituary), who followed John Hussey as the St Mary’s College RFC representative to the Leinster Branch and had been President of St Marys in the season 1997-98, sadly died in July 2009 and is greatly missed by all at the club, he had the sharpest of brains was a tireless worker and was most popular, admired and respected both at the club and within the wider rugby community. During the decade there were also some other notable losses of leading members including John O’Donoghue, Brian Whelan, Tom Holmes, James Maguire, Paddy Branagan, Nicky Corrigan and Paddy Jennings.
The season 2010-11 sees Ronnie Mc Brien as president with John Gilsenan (son of Matt; see above) as vice president and Michael (Nephew of Joe; see above) as Jr. vice president. All are dedicated Marys’ men with vision and drive and so a secure future is assured.
So the club is healthy and well, with a full range of sides including a very successful women’s section, mini and youth sections, happy social activity and good community interaction. We welcome all levels of players and non-playing persons to become members and enjoy the especially egalitarian atmosphere.
The club can boast ten Lions, 26 full internationals, 3 club internationals, over 120 inter provincial players stretching back to 1911, several A inter provincial, A international, Underage international and Colleges international players. St Mary’s College RFC has won over a100 LB/IRFU trophies.
St Mary's has always fostered the game of Rugby by reaching out and promoting the games for all levels and ages and in recent years the playing strength has been augmented through the formation of a Women's section in the Club. Currently St Mary's cater for the following playing levels:
- Senior Rugby
- Junior Rugby (5 teams)
- Under 20 Rugby (2 teams)
- Women's Rugby
- Under Age ('Mini') Rugby (under 7's through to under 12's)
- Youth Rugby (under 13, 14, 16)
- Veteran's Rugby (over 35)
We welcome new members, especially players, and encourage anyone who might be interested in joining the club to visit us in Templeville Road, where you will receive a very warm welcome.
D O’Brien. June 2010.
