Feast of Mini Rugby in Donegal Town.

Letterkenny Mini Section took all teams to Donegal Town for great mornings rugby at the Holmes, where conditions under foot were very good considering recent weather.Over 150 young players from the two clubs survived the cold and wet conditions to put on a great display of rugby.

The Letterkenny squads played extremely well and put out two teams at all mini levels. The skill levels and fitness were very impressive with all players showing great potential and enthusiasm in difficult conditions.

All players are reminded of next weeks home match against Derry in Letterkenny. The week after we are all away to Omagh.

All Under 11 and Under 12 players who wish to go on tour to Scotland are reminded to get their names down and deposits paid.

Many thanks go to Donegal Town RFC for their warm hospitality. Some of our guys made up numbers on the Donegal U11s and played like they had been born near the Four Masters. It was great to watch the sportsmanship shown by the boys and girls. The fast flowing high scoring game was well refereed and played with good humour and camradery.

For more news or details on registration please check the Letterkenny RFC website www.letterkennyrugby.com

1st game v enniskillen 2nds..tight game well matched with gt 3-2. Great team work with tries by conor 2 and jordan nugent. Support play from james keelin doncha and great tackling all thru by adam ross donal .

The 2nd game was against Enniskillens 1sts. Our Lads started brightly with all players defending in style..after a number of rucks..the break came..neat passing from Ross. Rory McGinty Keenan Barrett and James Roulston Mooney found Conor McMenamin free on the wing..despite some desperate reargaurd tackling from.Ennislillen, Conors strength and pace saw him cross the line.

This score set the tone for Letterkennys game..with further tries from.Conor McMenamin and Jordan Nugent securing a 3-0 victory. The skill level on show from Letterkenny was a joy to watch, augmented by great teamwork and spirit, all players playing vital roles, especially our newer recruits Sean, Donal.

All games were played in bitter cold with regular driving rain. Both games with Enniskillen were hard fought with sone players, notably Donncha, James RM & Keelin.Barrett taking some heavy hits. By the time game 3 came around..injuries left Letterkenny with 9 players fit to start against Omagh. This handicapped Letterkenny who soon found themselves 2-0 down to a well organised Omagh outfit. Cue some heroics from our walking wounded James and Keelin dusting themselves down and coming on to shore up the LRFC defence. Indeed..Keelin took.another mighty hit stopping Omagh from.getting number 3. Time for comeback and a superb individual try from Ross and some excellent teamwork setting up a ruck just shy of Omaghs try line. Luke Porter broke free..was tackled and off loaded to Ross who passed back to Luke who powered over for the equaliser.

Well done ALL!

U11 Squad:Luke Porter, Rory MacGinty, Donnchadh Parkinson, Conor McMenamin, Adam Quinn,  Jason McLaughlin,  Jordan Nugent, James Roulston Mooney, Keenan Barrett, Ross, Sean and Donall Higgins

Under 11 and under 12s together.

The U11s and U12s combined to put in a superb performance against the Derry U12s team. Everyone got a run but will all be looking forward to getting more competitive action in two weeks time against Omagh, Enniskillen and Clogher Valley. Well done to everyone for turning up and playing with good attitude despite the small amount of match time and the unusual style of refereeing. Training next week before big match the week after. All other sections competed well with great support from the parents out in force. Over 90 players represented Letterkenny in Derry with great pride displayed in all teams. 

Monday Night there is the first meeting of the Mini/Youth finance committee. Please make every effort to attend to support our young players and give them the facilities and equipment that they deserve. Any small idea, suggestion or small offer of help will be very welcome and could make all the difference in running our club.

 U8 Squad:
Callum Orsi(11), Isaac McIlwaine(13), Billy Black(14), Cuan Brophy(12), Ciaran Gallagher(8), Ewan Douglas(15), Adam McKinley(9)(capt), Tiernan McFadden(10), Cormac Atkinson(1), David Henry(2), David Kilcullen(3), Harry Goode(4), Joshua Moss(5)

Adam McKinley captained Letterkenny against a very strong Derry squad today. The twosquads had already met this season and were very closely matched.  Today 3 matches were no exception.  
1st Game: Letterkenny took 4 tries in against the opposition scored by Ciaran , David and 2 tries by Tiernan.  Tiernan’s 2nd try was taken straight from the Brian O’Driscoll handbook. Keeping Derry under control was due to some big tackles from Cuan, Isaac, Joshua & Ewan.
This 2nd  game proved to be a game of speed from both sets of backs.  The final score being Letterkenny 2 tries – Derry 2.  Letterkenny’s tries were scored by Isaac and Ciaran but lighting speed of pace down the wings from Callum and Billy left them waiting for their teammates to catch up!
The 3rd Game saw another 4 Letterkenny try’s.  This was a very close and well fought game.  Letterkenny’s try’s were won by Isaac, who got 2, Ewan and Callum.  With a lot of ripping and rucking from both sides. Derry could of won this game if it wasn’t for some direct runs from Harry into the opposition followed by superb offloads to Cormac and Adam on his wing.  Great ball control and ripping from boths David ensure we possessed most of the ball in the 2nd half. .
GREAT TEAM WORK LADS!!!

Most Improved performance:  Joshua Moss
Best Try:  David Kilcullen
Fastest Break:  Callum Orsi
Best team or play:  Harry Good, David Henry, Ewan Douglas
Strongest Tackle:  Cuan Brophy
Strongest Defender:  Isaac McIlwaine

Well Done Everyone

Letterkenny Minis had a great morning of rugby thanks to Clogher Valley and Enniskillen mini rugby sections.

The Under 10s enjoyed three  narrowly won victories against good opposition teams from all three clubs. Ben McGarvey lead the charge with some strong running and was ably supported by Evan Duddy and Bobby McGettigan who showed great pace to run in some good tries. Hannah Callaghan fought superbly for the ball on several occasions and controlled the tackle area with Shay O'Brennan rucking and mauling strongly. Charlie Worth made several huge tackles to stop the opposition from gaining ground. Mary Beth McBrearty gained great confidence and made some super passes and Mya Alcorn played her usual running game to score two tries. Clever play from Niall Moyne and Sarah Bundschu guaranteed much possession as any 50/50 ball was quickly turned into usable ball for our backs. Adam McElwaine and Jake Ferry played well with some driving runs and Ben Callaghan showed good strength in the scrum.

All members of this squad are improving hugely and will look to build more skills in the next three weeks before the next game in November.

Training for all mini teams this Saturday 29th October. All club shirts should be returned to the Mini Section this Saturday.

All remaining memberships are due this Saturday. Forms will be available to new players and boot tags will be given out to all paid up members.

Any queries please ring Jeremy on 0868528300

Under 10s won 3 and drew 1 in a very wet Ashbourne against Tullamore, Ballina and Armagh- a great day out - well done. Well done to players, coaches and parents.

Clogher Valley welcomed Letterkenny, Omagh and Enniskillen to the 1st away mini Blitz of the season.  The U8s took to the pitch in against the home side 1st. And although lads were slow to react they soon settled down.  Very confident tackles from both side set the standard for what was to come. Impressive speed, strength in tackles were the order of the day with all the team "getin' tore in". Cuan Brophy and Isaac McIlwaines displays of tackling could onlybe described as "text-book"

Over the 4 matches our lads just got stronger with the final game actually drew a crowd of spectators.

A great day presented to us by very warm hosts