The Official Re-Opening of Kirwan Park

Club President Owen O'Leary with Romy and Mason Kirwan

Last Saturday was a momentous occasion in the club's history which saw the official re-opening of Kirwan Park marked with a ceremony at the new entrance to our grounds.

The Kirwan family were in attendance and we were honoured that Mason and Romy were on hand to cut the ribbon with President Owen O'Leary as the centerpiece of our 125th Year "Day of Celebration" which also featured a match against our old friends from Malone RFC who travelled down specially for the occasion.

The Kirwan Family with Club President Owen O'Leary

The Kirwan name has a very proud association with our club stretching back to V.E. Kirwan's election as president of the Leinster Branch in 1947. His brother Eddie also held that office and went on to become president of the IRFU and subsequently honorary secretary of the International Rugby Football Board (now known as World Rugby). V.E.'s son, Jack, followed his father and uncle in becoming the third Kirwan (and third member of our club) to serve as president of the Leinster Branch in the 1990/91 season.

In October 2009 our current home grounds were officially renamed "Kirwan Park" in recognition of the family's contribution to not just our club, but to rugby in Leinster, Ireland and across the globe.

How fitting it is that, as we celebrated the 125th anniversary of our founding, another generation of the Kirwan Family has now added their names to our story.

We extend our thanks to the Malone RFC Tornadoes and senior men's squads for joining us on the day. The Tornadoes took on the DLSP FC Vikings in a hugely-entertaining fixture which saw both sides play some super rugby and had the good fortune to wrap up before the weather turned for the worse.

Club President Owen O'Leary with the DLSP FC Vikings and Malone RFC Tornadoes

The senior men's squads played out an equally entertaining match with both getting valuable miles into the legs ahead of the respective league campaigns. Sadly the rain arrived as the final quarter began but that didn't detract from the quality of rugby on show.

DLSP FC and Malone RFC combined senior squads.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us on the day and to the many volunteers whose hard work went into making it such a success. We'll see you up there for in another 25 years for the 150th celebrations!