AIL 25/26

We are third and Con are 4th. So Con are already in the top 4 race??

I dont Rock in big danger yet. They are 6 points clear of Queens at bottom and lads coming back but need to start getting wins. Queen's getting beaten heavily every week.

Barnhall have won 10/10, not so much one of the form teams but the dominant one surely.

Its great how competitive the leagues are

Irish Club XV training squad named ahead of clash with Scotland next month:

David Begley (Young Munster RFC)
Tadhg Bird (Clontarf FC)
Myles Carey (St. Mary’s College RFC)
Aran Egan (Terenure College RFC)
Sean French (Cork Constitution FC)
Fionn Gilbert (Clontarf FC)
Hubert Gilvarry (Young Munster RFC)
Marcus Hanan (Terenure College RFC)
Jack Kelleher (Cork Constitution FC)
Conor Kelly (Clontarf FC)
Adam La Grue (Terenure College RFC)
Tom Larke (Old Wesley RFC)
Bradley Luney (Ballynahinch RFC)
Adam Maher (Cork Constitution FC)
Luke Masters (Cork Constitution FC)
Jack Matthews (Lansdowne FC)
Will McDonald (Old Belvedere RFC)
Claytan Milligan (Ballynahinch RFC)
Tom O’Reilly (St. Mary’s College RFC)
Sam Owens (Clontarf FC)
Conor Rankin (Ballynahinch RFC)
Sean Rigney (Terenure College RFC)
Max Russell (Terenure College RFC)
Aaron Sexton (Ballynahinch RFC)
Bobby Sheehan (Lansdowne FC)
Adam Tuite (Terenure College RFC)
Ronan Watters (St. Mary’s College RFC)
David Whitten (Instonians RFC)

IRELAND CLUB XV Coaching & Management Team:

Head Coach: Adam Craig
Lineout Coach: Emmet MacMahon
Scrum & Defence Coach: Ger Slattery
Athletic Performance Coach: Mark Synnott
Video Analyst: Michael Harding
Physiotherapist: Patrick Gillman
Team Doctor: Billy Twomey
Team Manager: Mark Hamilton
Baggage Master: Matthew Irvine

Who of the above could do a Jerry Cahir on it?

Bobby Sheehan and Aaron Sexton obviously?

From my limited knowledge I have always been very impressed by Jack Kelleher from Con. I thought Sean French looked brilliant underage, thought he might have gone well with Munster, never kicked on alas. Anyone else?

Maybe take Max Russell off the list as he's in the Leinster Academy squad to play Toulouse Espoirs so technically he's already made the jump from AIL. I assume theirs only one Max Russell

outside bobby and aaron who u already mentioned……… gilvarry 100%! quality player. we played cookies in limerick earlier this year and were up abit and then cookies put in a performance to almost nip it towards the end around halloween time of the year but he had a big role to play in that performance just every time he gets the ball hes exciting to watch

Thanks, It would actually be St Mary's as Templeville Road is nearby. I see they have a local Derby vs Terenure in a few weeks time which could be good. If you can just pay at the gate that would be great

Ballymena beat Dungannon today in their rescheduled Div 2A fixture from last weekend, which leaves MU Barnhall 13 pts clear of Dungannon with 10 matches played. Couple of big weekends coming up with BH playing Greystones (5th) at home while Shannon (3rd) host Wanderers (4th). The following week BH play Dungannon (2nd) at home.

UCD getting the double over Lansdowne is huge for them, albeit you'd wonder what is going on with Lansdowne, they have been poor all year after making 2 or 3 big signings over the Summer. Old Belvedere doing well at home, another big win over Con. Seems the Spencer experiment up in Terenure is turning into a disaster if word on the street is true around our club. Cookies have done incredible work to get into Top 4, have stayed strong after a slow start, was at their game against us and it was a well deserved.

Naas seem on a bit of a decline while Old Wesley look set to win 1B after Blackrock's big win at home, not many saw that coming. Murray Kinsella tweeted an article about Blackrock's new hooker, was a great read → https://substack.com/home/post/p-184319102

Wanderers could be a sleeping giant, along with Barnhall. Two big clubs who could be capable of big things in 1A and 1B in coming seasons. You'd think Sean Skehan will be Head Coach in Wanderers soon enough however.

I am a Terenure clubman, albeit living in Germany. Don't think it is the unmitigated disaster you are making out.

We won the pre season league, had some great results like Lansdowne away, and some poor ones. Losing to Young Munster in Limerick isn't shameful. Very successful head coach like Sean Skehan moves on, there is always going to be some change.
Barnhall are a great club to be fair, been building for a few years now through their 20s, I am sure they will be successful in 1B. Wanderers are 4th in the table, 21 points behind them, I am not sure they will even be a lock for top 4.

Belvo UCD is a big one. A Belvo win would be huge for the fight to finish above 9th.

Terenure end Clontarfs 11 game winning run, very impressed by Arthur Ashmore who is still u19's but will surely be brought into the U20's team, Aran Egan also impressed at out-half

Absolutely delighted for the team, I knew rumours of our demise were premature. Fantastic win, hopefully kick on and secure top 4

In this weather? Marys at home I would bet. Very grizzled and can grind it out

Tarf will presumably play on their 4G. Would fancy their chances against Con.

Lansdowne Belvo will be an interesting one. Belvo comprehensively beaten at home by them (albeit Lansdowne did have Deegan that day!)

Belvo off the back of having to work very hard for 2 wins (although probably made to work too hard against UCD) I think they have every chance but I'd give Lansdowne as slight favourites.

I wonder if the Leinster lads have been given a few weeks off. The likes of Cahir and Tector could conceivably play for Lansdowne with no Leinster fixtures for a while