Shannon Rugby Football Club is the most successful club in the All Ireland League, having won the competition nine times. They hail from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

near the banks of the Shannon river. Shannon RFC is a member of the '' Irish Rugby Football Union Munster Branch''. The club is one of the top amateur sides in Ireland has seen many of its players progress to professional and international rugby. The 1st XV plays in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. While the women's side compete in Division 1 of the Munster League. Shannon RFC fields underage teams for boys and girls from u6s - u20s. Shannon RFC made history in 2017 as being the first club in the country to field a girls u20s side.

History

Shannon RFC was founded on 18 February 1884, in the Shamrock Bar on Corbally Road in Limerick. The founding members were Dan Duggan, Richie Gleeson, Pierce Hartney, Joe Hegarty and Paddy Lynch, who was the team's first captain. Stephan Hanrahan was president of the club for the first two years. Shannon remained a junior club for close to 70 years, during which time Shannon supplied numerous players to Garryowen. Shannon won the

Munster Junior Cup The Munster Junior Cup is a rugby union competition played in the province of Munster, Ireland. The competition was established for the stronger junior clubs and the second teams of the Senior clubs in the province of Munster. The current champ ...

for the first time in 1914. Their first Transfield cup was won in 1938. The following year, the

was won again. One year later (1940), in the process of winning their first Charity Cup, they added both the

and Transfield Cup. Shannon attained senior status in the 1953–54 season, becoming Limerick's fifth senior club. In 1960 Shannon won their first Munster Senior Cup, defeating

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...

, in a replay at Thomond Park, having drawn 8-8 the previous week at Musgrave Park,

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. Over the years, Shannon have had numerous temporary grounds, including the field at the Island Bank, Gilligan's field, Johnny Cusack's field and Egan's Field in Corbally. The first purchased grounds were of land at Fir Hill, Gortatogher, (better known as Athlunkard) just two miles (3 km) from Limerick city. Those grounds were later sold to Corbally Utd. soccer club in favour of our current more spacious grounds at Coonagh off the Ennis Road. Today, Shannon's home grounds are Thomond Park. While still a junior club, Shannon became co-tenants with Bohemians RFC at the Munster RFU-owned grounds at famed

Thomond Park Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick in the Irish province of Munster. The stadium is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union and has Munster Rugby, Shannon RFC and UL Bohemian RFC as tenants. Limerick FC played home games in Thomond Park fr ...

. In 1967, they completed their own Club

Pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

there. In 1978, the Pavilion was extended to the size it is today. A milestone in the history of the club was the celebration of their centenary in 1984.

Honours

* AIB League ** 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008-09: 9 **Division 1B 2017–18, 2021–22 * All-Ireland Cup **2007-08 * Munster Senior Cup **1960, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007-08: 19 *

**1914, 1920, 1924–25, 1939–40, 1954, 1961–62, 1996, 2015: 8 * Munster Senior League **1981, 1986, 1989, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004-05: 7

Notable players

''See also ''

Munster

Three Shannon players, Brendan Foley, Colm Tucker and

Gerry McLoughlin Gerard Anthony Joseph McLoughlin (born 11 June 1952) in Limerick is a former international rugby union player. Rugby career McLoughlin played club rugby for Shannon and Munster. He was part of the Munster team that beat the All Blacks 12 to ...

, played for the

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

side that defeated the touring

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

12–0 on 31 October

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

Mick Galwey Michael Joseph Galwey (born 8 October 1966) won an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship with the Kerry Gaelic football team in 1986, as a 19-year-old, before turning to rugby union. He is thus the only winner of an "All-Ireland" in both rug ...

captained the Munster side when they finished as runners up in the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

finals of

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. In the 2005-06 season seven Shannon players, including the captain,

Anthony Foley Anthony Gerard Foley (30 October 1973 – 16 October 2016) was an Irish rugby union player and head coach of Munster. He was attached to the same squad during his professional playing career. He was a member of the Munster team that won the 200 ...

, helped Munster win the Heineken Cup for the first time.

Ireland 7s

The following Shannon players have played for the

Ireland national rugby sevens team The Ireland national rugby sevens team competes in several international rugby sevens competitions. The team is governed by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU). Ireland competes as a "core team" on the World Rugby Sevens Series, a competitio ...

: * Greg O’Shea

Ireland

The following Shannon players have represented

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

at full international level.

British & Irish Lions

The following Shannon players have also represented the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

.''The Ireland Rugby Miscellany'' (2007): Ciaran Cronin

International referee

* John Lacey *

Joy Neville Joy Neville (born on 24 July 1983) is a former Ireland women's rugby union international and a current rugby union referee. As a player, Neville represented Ireland at both the 2006 and 2010 Women's Rugby World Cups. In 2009 Neville captaine ...

Potholes & Penguins Podcast

*The origin of the term Pothole originates from the former ''

Australia national rugby union team The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the ...

''player, ''

John Langford (rugby union) John Langford is an Australian rugby union player. He played as a Lock. He played for Sydney University, Gordon, Brumbies, Munster, and Australia. References External linksMunster profile Barry Murphy (rugby union) Barry John Murphy (born 28 November 1982) is a former Irish rugby union player. He played for Munster in the Celtic League and the Heineken Cup. Murphy announced his retirement from rugby in May 2011 due to a series of serious injuries. Sp ...

'' & ''

Andrew Trimble Andrew Trimble (born 20 October 1984) is a former Irish rugby union player who played for Ulster and represented Ireland at international level. Club career He attended Coleraine Academical Institution, where he competed in the Ulster Schoo ...

'' , that '' David Quinlan (rugby union, born 26 January 1978)'' inquired what a pothole was when John Langford had said it. You will have to tune into the podcast to have a listen.

References

External links

Shannon RFC's Official Website

Munster Rugby

IRFU
{{Rugby union in Ireland Rugby clubs established in 1884 1884 establishments in Ireland Irish rugby union teams Rugby union clubs in County Limerick Rugby union clubs in Limerick (city) Senior Irish rugby clubs (Munster)