Creggs RFC celebrations

It’s now Sunday evening as I write and I am thinking back to last night’s Creggs Rugby Club Dinner Dance in the Abbey Hotel. any standards, it was a hugely successful event.

Covid more or less put paid to big social gatherings, so it was great to see a big ‘do’ attended by more than 200 people. There was the added bonus of live music, courtesy of the fabulous Roscommon-based Heebie Jeebies’ band. We were treated to a superb four-course meal, which certainly lived up to the reputation of the Abbey Hotel.

As the event was a celebration of the club’s fantastic season on the playing pitch, it was great to be there to see the players honoured for their achievements this season. Guest of Honour, Connacht Branch president, Padraig Moran, presented the players with their medals.

Our own club president Adrian Leddy was the very eloquent and accomplished MC on the night, and he talked at length about the history of our club and paid tribute to all the people who help in so many ways to keep it afloat.

There were a number of presentations made, including the senior player of the year award to Eoghan

Coyle, the seconds’ team player of the year award to Tommy Devine, the most improved player award to Eoghan Cahill, and the club person of the year award to Shane Fleming. Michael Diffley was presented with a copy of a very special photo which had appeared on the Tuam Herald of his four-year-old son Jack, as he waited for his dad in the immediate aftermath of the cup final defeat to Westport.

There was special mention of Dave Purcell, who was a very worthy recipient of a volunteer’s award from the IRFU. There were also presentations to three of our young ladies who were picked as part of the Irish U-18 squad: Roisin Maher, Jemima Adams Verling and Sarah Purcell. Heartiest congratulations to them all.

Later, we adjourned to the front bar, where a few of us reminisced on the journey from 1974 to now. It’s almost impossible to comprehend how the little village club that started back then has grown into the massive operation that it is today.

However, as we reflected, and as we appreciate how big of an effort it takes to run the club, we all realised that at the end of the day it’s all about the players, and it’s vitally important that the very talented lads and girls keep up the good work, keep learning from the very good coaches that the club is lucky enough to have, and in the case of our senior men’s teams, build on the success of this year and go even bigger and better next year.

As we talked about all the changes that have taken place in the rugby club since its inception, we all agreed that with four excellent pitches (one of which is the renowned 4G all-weather playing surface), Creggs is the envy of a lot of clubs all over the country. Perhaps nothing sums it up better than the difference in the shower facilities. The new super-building will house a state-of-the-art gym, along with a mindboggling 54 shower units, some contrast from the days when the local parochial hall doubled as our dressing rooms and we had one shower head to do both teams; you had to queue to get your turn under the cold water. Almost 50 years later (in 2024 it will be), it is only right that the modern players have all the comforts that are available, but for all that, pride in the jersey is still the most important ingredient; no amount of rubs, or hot water, or beautiful pitches will make a player play better rugby unless they are prepared to put in the hard work in the first place.

On Friday night, the most famous Rossie on the planet, Paddy Joe Burke, was a guest on the Late Late Show, and he warned everyone that his beloved Rossies were going to Castlebar to win. How right he was – and don’t rule out Sam coming to Roscommon later in the year!

As for Mayo, it may not be a bad thing for them to have lost on Sunday, as it will dampen down expectations that were beginning to spiral out of control.

Everyone was tipping them for All-Ireland success, and they will probably be still there or thereabouts, but for now they can have a few weeks of a break before reappearing at the business end of the championship.