Young Munster 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 it ...

club based in

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 2 ...

, Ireland, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded in 1895 and plays its games at Tom Clifford Park in Rosbrien, Limerick. Club honours have included nine wins in the Munster Senior Rugby Cup, in 1928, 1930, 1938, 1980, 1984, 1990, 2010, completing the double 2021,2022 and eight triumphs in 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 champio ...

in 1911, 1922, 1927, 1959, 1960, 1984 and 1999,2022 The club is known by its nickname "The Cookies".

History

Founded in 1895, Young Munster was the first Limerick rugby club to have won the Bateman Cup, which they won in 1928. The club song, Beautiful Munsters, remembers this victory. They also won the All Ireland League in 1993 by beating St Mary's College at

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...

in front of a record attendance for a club game of 20,000. In 1985, the club also was one of the first Irish teams to tour North America, when they played five games in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

, Langley (B.C.),

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

and

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. After a decade in the All-Ireland League Division 1, the club was relegated to Division 2 in 2002. The club played in Division 2 of the All-Ireland League in the 2007-2008 year, but as a result of winning promotion, it will play in Division 1 in 2008-2009. It maintained division 1 status with victory on the last day of the 2008-2009 season away to UCD. Due to the new format of the All-Ireland League, Young Munster played in Division 1B in the 2009-2010 season and won promotion to Division 1A by finishing in second place behind Old Belvedere RFC. Young Munster finished the 2010-2011 regular season in third place in Division 1A, thereby earning a place in the All-Ireland League semi-finals, away to Cork Constitution F.C.

Honours

* All-Ireland League (1): 1992-93 * All-Ireland Cup (1): 1927-28 * Munster Senior Cup (9): 1927-28, 1929-30, 1937-38, 1979-80, 1983-84, 1989-90, 2009-10, 2020-21, 2021-22 * Munster Senior League (5): 1929-30, 1931-32, 1943-44, 1951-52, 1995-96 *

(9): 1911, 1922, 1927, 1959, 1960, 1984, 1999, 2016, 2022

Notable players

* Tom Clifford *

Peter Clohessy Peter Clohessy (born 22 March 1966) is an Irish former rugby union player, who played for Munster, Queensland Reds and Ireland. He played as a prop and was known by his fans as "The Claw". He played most of his career at tighthead prop but late ...

* Mike Mullins *

Rob Henderson Robert Alexander James Henderson (born 27 October 1972 in Dover, England) is a retired Irish rugby union player who played for a number of clubs including Toulon and Munster. He represented Ireland internationally, winning 29 caps, and toured ...

Paul O'Connell Paul Jeremiah O'Connell (born 20 October 1979) is an Irish former rugby union player and coach. When he stopped playing, he was Ireland's third most-capped player (108) and the eighteenth most-capped international player in rugby union histo ...

References

External links

Young Munster RFC's Official Website

Limerick Rugby Website
{{Rugby union in Ireland Rugby clubs established in 1895 Irish rugby union teams Rugby union clubs in County Limerick Rugby union clubs in Limerick (city) Senior Irish rugby clubs (Munster) 1895 establishments in Ireland