Kildare Touch Rugby players impress at European Junior Championship
Brian McCulloch, Keeva Mooney and Ola McCulloch pictured at the Irish National Stud and Gardens, who are one of the sponsors for the Ireland Junior Touch squads.
The 2024 European Junior Touch Rugby Championship took place from August 16th – 18th in Vichy and there were four people from Kildare involved with two of the three Irish squads who travelled to France.
The Mixed 18s squad that won the Bronze Medal had Brian McCulloch from Kildare Town on their squad. Brian has played rugby with Cill Dara RFC and he has been playing Touch with DSC Wanderers Touch in Dublin and Ireland Junior squads for 4 years. Brian was supported by Firecastle in Kildare Town where he has been working for the summer.
The Mixed 18s started the competition strongly, going through the round robin stage unbeaten with victories over Italy, Scotland, Belgium, the Cayman Islands and Wales as well as drawing 10-10 with England. They qualified for the semi-final where they faced Wales again. Unfortunately for Ireland, Wales had their homework done this time and the game ended 10-10 at full-time. It went to an extra-time ‘drop-off’ period of 2 minutes where the Welsh struck first and then held firm in defence to claim the victory. Wales went on to claim the Gold Medal, beating England 11-9 in the final. Ireland had to put their disappointment behind them as they faced Belgium in the Bronze Medal game and they duly delivered, winning 9-6 to claim 3rd place. The Mixed 18s played an exceptionally attacking brand of Touch, scoring an astonishing 97 tries in total. Brian had the distinction of ending up as the team’s top scorer with 13 tries. Well done Brian!
The Boys 18s squad meanwhile faced a punishing schedule because they had to face the Mens 20s sides from England and France as well as their own age group sides. Nevertheless they qualified for the Bronze Medal match with an 11-2 win over Lebanon. Despite putting in a strong performance, they went down 11-6 to Wales in the 3rd place play-off.
The Mixed 15s squad had three Kildare people involved and they did exceptionally well to achieve fourth place. During the round robin phase, the Mixed 15s claimed victories over the Cayman Islands, Scotland, Belgium and Lebanon. This won them a place in the Bronze Medal game where they also faced Wales. Unfortunately for Ireland they could not claim that elusive medal losing 12-4. Keeva Mooney from Kildare Town was a member of this team and she put in some very impressive performances including scoring tries against England and Lebanon. Keeva has been playing Touch since last summer at Cill Dara RFC. She also plays rugby for PortDara. Keeva was supported by Cunninghams in Kildare Town for her trip. Keeva’s father Noel Mooney was also Team Manager of the Mixed 15s. There was also Brian’s older brother Ola McCulloch who was one of the coaches of the Mixed 15s. Ola previously played for the Ireland Mixed 18s in last year’s Atlantic Touch Youth Cup and also lines out with DSC Wanderers Touch club in Dublin alongside his brother.
There are streams of several games involving all the Irish Junior teams available to view on the Federation of International Touch YouTube channel.
Anyone in Kildare who wishes to try their hand at this fast and exciting sport, there is Touch Rugby on Tuesday evenings at Cill Dara RFC. For those in the north of the county, MU Barnhall Touch train on Wednesdays at 7pm and everyone is welcome to join.
