Perseverance pays off as Fermoy Macra lift tag rugby title
After seven years of reaching the All-Ireland Tag Rugby finals and unsuccessful in their bid to bring home ultimate glory before now, members of Fermoy Macra na Feirme recorded a well deserved win on Sunday, defeating near neighbours Ballylanders in the Macra All-Ireland Tag Rugby Championships.
Taking place on 'home' ground in the Fermoy RFC facility, the match was described as a ‘friendly’ one, with men and women playing against neighbouring communities in the non-contact sport. According to 2023 team captain, Shelley O’Neill, while tag rugby has been popular in Macra circles for a long time, Fermoy Macra only became involved some ten years ago.
“It’s very popular in Cork. We as a team play in Cork with a crowd called Cork Tag Rugby and they have really made it huge. They ran the competition for us on Sunday in Fermoy.
“It’s kind of a blitz playoff for the final and for the last seven years, we have gotten to the final of it and lost! This is our first win in 7 years,” an elated Shelley said.
Unusually, Fermoy Macra had no locals from the town actually playing on the winning team, with all of the members coming from the surrounding areas.
Shelley, the 2023 captain, hails from Knockanore near Tallow in West Waterford, while other team members come from Skeheenarinky in County Tipperary, Mitchelstown, Castlelyons, as well as from Kilbehenny in County Limerick. The panel on the day included Patrick Kelly, Shane O'Sullivan, William Keane, Michael Dunne, Brian Martin, Michael Carey, Dan Murphy, Shelley O'Neill, Eileen Casey, Martha Fitzgerald and Laura Stafford.
“It’s really mixed, but Macra is like that, when you joined, you would join up with where your friends were joining up with at the time and Fermoy is a massive club,” Shelley explained.
The Ballylanders team contained just three players from the village, with the rest of the team coming from a 10-15 mile radius, from Emly, Knocklong, Knockainey, etc. The panel included Liam O'Donoghue, Eoin Quinn, Peter Moloney, Darragh O'Malley, JohnJoe Daly, Sarah Quinlan, Denise Daly, Siobhan Dunne and Grace O'Gorman.
For Ballylanders Macra, according to member to John Hennessy, it was their first time reaching the final, despite having battled it out in the semi-finals in previous years.
Unfortunately for John, he broke his leg ten days before the match and was unable to play, but still joined them on the day from the sidelines.
"We've been playing tag rugby for at least ten years now. We play with Macra and different leagues in Limerick, so we're hugely involved," he said.
In previous years, tag rugby has taken the Ballylanders Macra team to Cavan for matches, as well as Thurles, Bruff, Roscrea and elsewhere.
BREAKTHROUGH
Facing up against Ballylanders Macra in the decider, the Fermoy team noted that the game was a friendly one, with little rivalry between the two sides.
“We’ve played against Ballylanders before in tag rugby so we would know a good few of them and we’d know some of them from actually playing in Cork as well. There’s not even a rivalry, it’s just friendly really,” Shelley added.
In the end, the Fermoy side took the win comfortably and it was likely the women of Fermoy Macra Tag Rugby team that won the game for them, with three points allotted to each try from a woman, whereas only one point is allotted per male try.
Fermoy had trys from Laura Stafford and Eileen Casey during the game, which boosted points significantly and saw the team take the win on 'home' ground.
“We’ve had to travel up to Cavan, Athboy, we’ve been in Portlaoise and up to Devil’s Bit over the last seven or eight years, so it was great to have it at home. We went straight into Cheers. Paul inside in Cheers had tables booked for us, we watched the Cork match and some of us watched the Waterford match. We had a great time,” Shelley added.
Unfortunately, for Ballylanders Macra it was only ice-creams in McDonald's on the way home, but hopes remain high for next year!