Letterkenny RFC is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club based in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

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 ...

. The club has strong ties with

Dave Gallaher David Gallaher (30October 1873 – 4October 1917) was an Irish-born New Zealand rugby union footballer best remembered as the captain of the "Original All Blacks"—the 1905–06 New Zealand national team, the first representative New Zealand ...

, the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

rugby union footballer, best known as the captain of " The Originals". Gallaher is mentioned on the team crest, and the team plays its home games at Dave Gallaher Memorial Park in

Letterkenny Letterkenny ( ga, Leitir Ceanainn , meaning 'hillside of the O'Cannons'), nicknamed 'the Cathedral Town', is the largest and most populous town in County Donegal, a county in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Letterkenny lies on the R ...

. It has seen success in producing quality players in recent years including Joe Dunleavy and Conor McMenamin who both have represented Ulster and Ireland in their according age groups

History

The club was founded when the town's rugby players, who were travelling to

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

and

Limavady Limavady (; ) is a market town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with Binevenagh as a backdrop. Lying east of Derry and southwest of Coleraine, Limavady had a population of 12,032 people at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census ...

for games each week, decided to form their own club. A team was entered into the Ulster league and initial games were played at Robinson's Field on Letterkenny's Port Road. The following year the club purchased of land at Drumnahoagh near the Dry Arch Roundabout, not far from the town centre. In an ambitious move a club house and changing rooms were constructed. The club flourished for the next decade with a vibrant social scene and successfully ran three teams for many of those years. The club then opted a move to the Silver Tassie between Letterkenny and

Ramelton Ramelton (; ), also Rathmelton, is a town and townland in County Donegal, Ireland. , its population was 1,266. History Ramelton is situated at the mouth of the River Lennon, 11 km north of Letterkenny and 4 km south of Milford, on the ...

and prepared new pitches to take the club to the next level and provide more space. In 1985 the club continued to flourish when the team won the Forester Cup in Ravenhill. Unfortunately the ownership of the Tassie passed out of club hands and the club underwent a period of decline. The third team failed to field from 1992 and for a while local interest in rugby waned. It was now very clear that the playing surfaces at the fields of Halfway Line were inadequate for rugby especially during the winter months.

21st-century

The club returned to Letterkenny in 1999 to lands bought at the Glebe and usage of Moore's field next to it. This move improved playing surfaces and made the club more accessible to the large population of Letterkenny. The club was promoted during the seasons of 2004, 2005, 2006. Many members of the first team are now home grown players from Donegal. Letterkenny won the Gordon West Cup in 2011 for the first time in their history after their fifth time in the final. Late 2012 saw the opening of the new clubhouse and 2013 brought the 40th anniversary of the club. Letterkenny Rugby Club hosted an Ulster Rugby open training day in July 2018, with Irish captain

Rory Best Rory David Best (born 15 August 1982) is an Irish former rugby union player from Northern Ireland and was the captain of the Ireland national team from 2016 to 2019. He played hooker for Ulster and was registered for Banbridge RFC, having pr ...

among those present, and also

Jacob Stockdale Jacob Stockdale (born 3 April 1996) is an Irish professional rugby union player who currently plays for Ulster and for Ireland. He plays on the wing or at fullback. He holds the record for tries scored in a single Six Nations Championship, scori ...

Iain Henderson William Iain Henderson (born 21 February 1992) is an Irish professional rugby union player who plays lock for Ulster, Ireland, and the British and Irish Lions. He has been the captain of Ulster since the 2019, and first captained Ireland in 2021 ...

and

Stuart McCloskey Stuart McCloskey (born 6 August 1992) is an Irish professional rugby union player who plays centre for Ulster Rugby, and has six caps for Ireland. He has been Ulster's player of the year twice, and has twice been named on the Pro14 Dream Team. H ...

.Rory Best and Ulster Rugby visit Letterkenny for an open training day
''Donegal Now'', 26 July 2018.

Youth rugby

Letterkenny has been at the forefront of developing an outlet for rugby in the north-west over the last two decades. It has provided the county with the first underage rugby team, and also was the first rugby team in Donegal to win their section in the Ulster league in 2003, when the U-18's won Section C. The club has expanded its management and playing members dramatically over the years. Letterkenny RFC now fields and trains teams from U-6's up to senior level, including Ladies which has mirrored the successes of the Irish international team to date. Although many of the underage players filter through to the 1st and 2nd XV, Letterkenny has also provided a much needed wealth of experience for those travelling to senior clubs across the country as players move on to university and beyond.

Notable players

Marty Carlin Marty Carlin (born 1961 or 1962) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer who played for Robert Emmets, Red Hughs and the Donegal county football team, Donegal county team. His father John was a provincial high jump champion. His brother Sean achie ...

— played in a Forster Cup final victory at Ravenhill in 1987 *

Charlie Mulgrew Charles Patrick Mulgrew (born 6 March 1986) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Scottish Premiership side Dundee United. Mulgrew began his career at Celtic, during which time he spent time on loan at Dundee U ...

— played in a Forster Cup final victory at Ravenhill in 1987

Footnotes

External links