A reunion for a rugby club is quite an unusual event. The Curragh rugby club has had a number of different incarnations. The has been a rugby club in The Curragh since 1927. However its main function seems to have been to participate in the various All Army competitions. However in the early 60s it took on a new form. The genesis of that was in the cadet class of 1963 and 1962. The club entered into the Leinster Branch competitions and famously won the Town Cup in 1967. Shortly afterwards it opened a club house. However the club house was burned down in . In the 70s the club could field 3 teams each week-end and had a lot of success at seconds and thirds level.
In 1977 Gerry McMahon (later Chief of Staff) was appointed Chairman of the club and my father, Barney Dobey was appointed president. A new clubhouse was built at this time and funded by week-end discos. A large extension and new dressing rooms were added to this. It was an exciting time for the Club and The Curragh RFC suddenly became a large part of our lives. Barney was very excited about the new Welsh coach Bob Coles who introduced a new outlook and approach. That year the First Team had a great season. They won their section of the J1 league and qualified for the first round of the Leinster Senior Cup.
They got the dream cup tie against Wanderers who were based in Lanadowne Road and included a number of full Irish Internationals on the side. Best of all the match was played on the famous Lanadowne Road pitch. In the end Wanderers ran out winners but the margin of 12 points flattered then. As I recall it they pulled away just at the end.
The team also got to play in the final of the J1 League against St Marys seconds. Victory in that match would allow the club to go senior - a very big deal which had only been done once before at that time. The game was postponed a couple of times because of the weather. In the end it was played in April when the ground was harder. Winning against the seconds team of a senior club was very difficult in Leinster. There were no restrictions against "dropping down" a senior player who may have played senior the previous week to play seconds the following week. The meant that in serious matches the senior club could always field a very strong side. So it was against St Marys and to the great disappointment of the club they lost the final and missed the chance to go senior.
Perhaps is just as well. There was much debate as to whether or not it would be right to take up that opportunity. There was a danger that The Curragh would not have the depth and would spend their time propping up the league. There was no concept of being relegated from the senior league at the time. It was a one way only deal! Maybe that's why Marys made sure that they kept these Curragh upstarts out of the League. It was a double disappointment that year. The Curragh also lost to old local rivals Athy in the Towns Cup Final in Tullamore.
Barney was President for 2 years before he was posted to the Middle East with the UN. Our family connection with The Curragh continued down 3 tracks after Barneys untimely death in August 1981. Firstly the club asked if we would donate a trophy in memory of Barney. This became the Dobey Cup which was played for by underage teams (under 14s and under 16s) in a one day blitz each January.
The second connection was through my cousin Seany Hayes who moved from his native Limerick to work in Portarlington. He was living in Newbridge and being new to the area (and always with the eye out for a new recruit) Barney introduced him to The Curragh. Very soon thereafter a rusty Seany was playing with the Seconds team. He broke his way onto the Firsts and Seany went on to be the only non Army captain of the club. <p>The Curragh had another shot of going senior in the eighties - beaten by Blackrock. The club also lost another Towns Cup final - this time to Kilkenny.
The third connection was my younger brother, Brian. He played for the Curragh for three years from 1986 - 1989. He played on the 1st XV as No. 8 for a duration of that period. Brian is the only family member ever to have worn the oak leaf yellow, something that he's proud to have been associated with – he had the pleasure of playing with Seany on many occasions in a No. 8/No. 9 partnership. He also went on the second Ross on Wye tour with the Curragh RFC in 1988. The first was in 1977. There is a photo somewhere (but not located) of Barney in a black felt hat on that first trip. It was known as "The President's Hat".
But why a reunion? Well in the nineties the number of playing members in the club began to dwindle. The nearest local club Old Kilcullen was suffering the same challenges. A merger was proposed and after much angst on both sides - after all they were local rivals - a trial merger was agreed. In that way Newbridge RFC was formed and the 2 clubs of Old Kilcullen and The Curragh passed into history. The initial deal was for a 3 year trial period and funds were segregated in the new club to allow either side to escape. Twelve years later, the merger has been a success and with no prospect of any revivival of The Curragh RFC it was decided to give it a good send off with a proper Irish Wake.
We had a marvellous day. There were lots of old familiar faces from 30 years ago. There were also some missing - no longer with us. Most of the Cup winning team from 1967 were there and in a very nice surprise gesture the current holders of the Towns Cup - Boyne brought down the cup for the day and it was presented again to Barry Studdert the captain of the 1967 team.
Barry Studdert and the Towns Cup, Uploaded by M+MD.
A DVD was made consisting of memories from the last 40 years. There was also a CD of old photos and newspaper clippings. More than 240 people showed up to the NCO's Mess in The. Curragh Army Camp. We had a reception before a wonderful meal. The Taoisagh, Brian Cowen made a brief appearance and gave a very amusing account of his rugby playing days. He would be better known for playing Gaelic Football with Clara. But he played full-back at rugby when in school in Roscrea. He even got a Leinster Schools Trial. Playing opposite him was Hugo McNeill who later won many international caps for Ireland and was on the Lions tour to New Zealand in 1983. Cowen had the audience falling about the place as he explained how at the time he could see how much rugby mean to McNeill and so he took himself off the pitch at half time!
The MC for the day was the always funny Connie McNamara. We had speeches from Sean McCann (now General Sean McCann officer commanding The Curragh Camp) but I knew him as a fiery number eight. We had the great Roscommon footballer Dermot Earley, a fellow county man and good friend of Barney, (now General Dermot Earley Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces). His son and namesake Dermot plays centre field for Kildare. Maybe this year he might do what his father narrowly failed to do - win an All-Ireland medal. (But that's another one of my hopeless causes - up there with Leeds United for the Premiership!) Dermot senior played rugby for the Army and The Curragh at a time when the GAA banned players from playing "foreign games". He used the pseudonym Des Late and was always missing from team photos. Dermot had kind words to say about Barney and his time as president.
It was a great day and a fitting way to finally lay the club to rest.
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