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 ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

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 1B of the All-Ireland League but were relegated to Division 2A for the following year finishing in last place. 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.

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 for the first time in 1914. Their first Transfield cup was won in 1938. The following year, the Munster Junior Cup was won again. One year later (1940), in the process of winning their first Charity Cup, they added both the Munster Junior Cup 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) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

, in a replay at Thomond Park, having drawn 8-8 the previous week at Musgrave Park, Cork. 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. In 1967, they completed their own Club Pavilion there. In 1978, the Pavilion was extended to the size it is today. The club celebrated its 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 * Munster Junior Cup **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, played for the

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

side that defeated the touring

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

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 ...

at Thomond Park.

Mick Galwey Michael Joseph Galwey (born 8 October 1966) won an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship with the Kerry GAA, 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" i ...

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

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec 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 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

. In the 2005-06 season seven Shannon players, including the captain, Anthony Foley, 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: * Greg O’Shea * Josh Costello * Aoife Doyle

Ireland

The following Shannon players have represented

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

at full international level. * Tony Buckley * Craig Casey * Sean Cronin * Ian Dowling * Mick Fitzgibbon * Jerry Flannery * Anthony Foley * Brendan Foley *

* Eddie Halvey * John Hayes * Trevor Hogan * Marcus Horan * Felix Jones * Gerry McLoughlin * Mick Moylett * Brian O'Brien * Alan Quinlan * Niall Ronan * Donnacha Ryan * CJ Stander * Peter Stringer * Colm Tucker * Aoife Doyle * Joy Neville

British & Irish Lions

The following Shannon players have also represented the British & Irish Lions.''The Ireland Rugby Miscellany'' (2007): Ciaran Cronin * Colm Tucker:

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

* Gerry McLoughlin:

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

* John Hayes:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

(both while registered as a Bruff RFC player).

International referees

* John Lacey * Joy Neville

References

External links

* {{AIB League Rugby clubs established in 1884 1884 establishments in Ireland Rugby union teams in Ireland Rugby union clubs in Limerick (city) All-Ireland League rugby union clubs Munster Senior League (rugby union) teams