1923-1939
The club was formed in 1923 in the midst of very difficult times in the country. The club’s first president was Dr. J.B. McClancy and he was assisted by Ned Butler as club secretary. In the charged atmosphere following the War of Independence and the subsequent Civil War it must have taken no little courage from the early rugby pioneers in the town to press ahead with the formation of a club to promote the game of rugby, the ‘garrison game’. Thankfully, the passion for the sport of the following men (and many more besides) prevailed over any misgivings they may have had - Frank Cassidy, who was club secretary from 1925 to 1939, Martin Culligan, Vincent and Serry Honan, Luke and Anthony Moroney, Owen Linnane, Des and Bernie Maurer, Eddie and Victor Monahan, Gerry McMahon, Peter Cosgrove, Jack Carroll, John Coleman, Frank Dowling, Jack Considine and Paddy Kelly.

RECOLLECTIONS
Below is a recollection of the early days of the club from Josh Honan which includes a curious aside about a Bishop, a Canon and a horse!

Josh Honan
‘Rugby Football is more generally associated with a famous school in Warwickshire than with St. Flannan’s in Ennis, which has far greater associations with hurling and the Harty Cup. Due to the influence of Fr. P.J. Vaughan, later Canon and President of the college, who was over 6’ tall and a useful hurler and rugby player in his youth, rugby was introduced to St. Flannan’s during the presidency of Canon O’Kennedy, as staunch a nationalist as one could imagine, and strangely, who on account of the ‘ban’ on foreign games led the break-away group from the Munster Council which he described as ‘ a violation of the principal of liberty in athletics’. He was right but it would rear its ugly head again in a much wider connection with South Africa.

Up to the time of my departure from the precincts and its hallowed halls in 1928, no rugby was played at St. Flannan’s. Much of the bias in favour of rugby in some quarters may have been due to the fact that De Valera played rugby at Rockwell. I can state just as emphatically that Ennis Rugby Club started at least two years prior to this date and their playing pitch was at the 4 Acres, off the Old Mill Street road at the Claureen end.

There are some coincidental matters here which are of interest both in connection with the town and with St. Flannan’s. On Sports Day, 1930, the Past Pupils Union was formally instituted with M.J. McNamara, Solr., as its first president, and Bishop Fogarty as patron. Now the interesting thing about this is a list of the St. Flannan’s College Past Pupils Union’s Presidents: M.J. McNamara, Solr. 1930-33; J. O’Kelly-Lynch 1934-35; Dr. B. Honan, RMS Cork, 1936-37; J.R. Fitzpatrick 1938-39; M. Moloney 1940-41; E. Monahan, Solr. 1950-51; E.P. Flynn, 1953-55; Jimmy Leyden, 1955-57; Owen J. Linnane 1957-59; B.H. Maurer, 1959-61; S. Casey, 1961-63; P. McMahon, 1963-65; Derry Honan 1965-67; Vincent McHugh, 1967-69; et al. This is a litany of the Ennis business and commercial leaders. Read the names of the men in this photo from 1928 and the connection should become obvious. So one may deduce that the real influence for the starting of rugby in the town came from the business and professional circles of the town, and that the Past Pupils Union was the first forging of the link between Town and Gown. The once despised ‘townies’ now had direct input to College affairs and were able to influence College policies if not politics. It should also be borne in mind that His Lordship, Bishop Ml. Fogarty rode to the Clare Hounds with tall silk hat, as though to the manor born, as did Canon Buailim Quinn, without the topper!

Rugby in Ennis was seen as a macho status symbol and these chaps were more chuffed with a game against ‘Abbey’ in Limerick, who were reputed to be toughies from the docks than over more prestigious opponents from Lansdowne Road. Today, Abbey would probably be rugby league.

The staff of the Provincial, National, Munster & Leinster Bank as well as the Bank of Ireland, with members Messrs Rice, Cleary and Murphy, were also keen supporters of Ennis Rugby Club and had their subscriptions paid by the bank. Playing wise Des Torrens (Bohemians & Ennis), who was capped four times for Ireland and had numerous interpro caps, was like Orgetorix amongst the Romans, by far the most distinguished, and, as captain of the winning Daresbury Cup team in ’28, Owen Linnane must rank high. Leading local players included Bernie and Des Maurer, J. Bruen (a German employed on the Shannon Scheme), Anthony and Luke Moroney, Peter Cosgrave, Jimmy Leyden, Vincent McHugh, Derry and Vincent Honan, Eddie Monahan, Buster Carroll, Paddy Kelly and John Riordan (M&L Bank, killed by a kick to the head in a game at school).’

The club thrived and its first major success came in Kilmallock on Saturday the 20th of April 1928 when we beat Thurles in the final of the Daresbury Cup, 6-3. The team was led that day by Gerry McMahon. The prestigious Garryowen Cup followed in 1932 and the club continued to prosper until war intervened in 1939 and the club disbanded.

1952-1970

Des Torrens, who owned Knox’s on Abbey Street, had played for Ireland several times before the war. Both he and Sean Connolly were playing senior rugby with Bohemians in Limerick and it was during the course of their twice weekly trips into training that the notion of reforming the club was first mooted. Having met with Frank Cassidy, who had been club secretary in the Thirties, the club was reformed in and around September of 1952. Many of the people who had been involved in the club before the war were again to the fore. A Clare Champion report from the 4th of October stated that a ‘revived Ennis RFC elected Des Torrens as President and Mr. James McClancy as treasurer. It was decided that the committee would consist of 6 members, 3 of whom will be members of the original club. Senator V. McHugh, Messrs G. McMahon and F. Cassidy and three playing members were duly appointed. The first practice will take place at the Showgrounds on Sunday.’

The Club’s first game in 13 years took place on the 1st of November. The fixture, naturally enough, was against Bohemians. The Champion reported that

‘the local club has been in training for the last three weeks and some 40 players have been in action. At least 12 of them have already played in senior football in Limerick and Dublin. Sunday’s team will include 6 experienced players and the remainder are new to the game but have shown great promise in practices.’

Ennis lost the game 5-0.

‘The only score came 5 minutes after the start when, from a loose scrum on the Ennis 25, the ball was kicked over the Ennis line and an Ennis player, through error, failed to touch the ball down before Dom Dineen of Bohemians was up to gain the score for his side, which was duly converted. For the remainder of the game Ennis were on top. D. Gleeson at full back was very sound, while of a very balanced backline, Keaveney at scrum half, Donnellan at centre and both wings, who ran determinedly, were outstanding while in the forward line, where five of them were new to the game, what was lacking in experience was made up for in determination.’

Narrow defeats to Garryowen and Nenagh were to follow before the new club finally raised its arms in victory with a hard fought 3-0 win over Shannon on the 13th of December. The upward curve continued with a resounding victory by 14 points to 8 over the Connacht champions Ballina on the 27th of December.

The team lined that day as follows: N. Glynn, S. Tuttle, D. Donnellan, G. Martin, M. McMahon, F. O’Dea, B. Howard, D. Kelleher, P. Griffin, F. Cosgrove, Ml. Conroy, D. Counihan, G. Stack, R. Counihan, D. Kelly (Capt.)

The Champion’s reference to 40 players training would suggest a healthy interest in ‘the garrison game’ and Mr. Sean Connolly recalls that ‘the club depended a lot on guys coming to town with the Bank and we also got a lot coming from around the county, such as the O’Loughlins from Ennistymon, John McInerney and Kieran Wall also from Ennistymon and Charlie Glynn from Kilrush. Then some of the lads that were playing football and hurling here decided to play even though they were likely to be suspended.’

Indeed Sean, who won a county championship in ’53 with the Faugh’s, played with Clare and made a Railway Cup team, was himself suspended for playing foreign games. This kind of opposition even manifested itself in the Urban Council where, as the Champion was wont to describe them, some ‘noble Gaels’ held sway and refused to allow the club use the town crest, ‘but we went ahead and used it anyway’.

As membership of the club grew, success on the field followed and towards the end of the sixties the club became a real force to be reckoned with in Munster. The Garryowen Cup was won in 1968 after a gap of 36 years. Tony Lynch, whose son currently plays with the firsts, captained the club to its first Junior Cup final appearance in 1969. Having taken the hard road to the final by defeating Garryowen, Thomond, Young Munster, Shannon and Tralee, Ennis succumbed to UCC in the final in Musgrave Park. The team found some solace that season by defeating Waterford to win the Mansergh Cup.

As the club was gaining a sterling reputation on the field so to was its annual dinner dance off the field. Run primarily as a fund raising exercise it quickly became a hot ticket, so much so that a ticketless Dickie Harris was once famously denied entry in a fairly robust manner, and the event has kept some alickadoos in stories for years!

1970

The seventies were most notable for the foundation of the under age section in September 1973 and the building of the clubhouse in 1979.

YOUTH SECTION
Aidan Deegan, a former captain of the club, was the first Youth Officer of the club and he set to work on Saturday mornings in 1973 with a group of 10 to 12 year olds. Within a couple of seasons the club was fielding teams up to under 18 level and winning competitions with regularity. The first under age trophy won by the club was The Kenny Shield in 1976/77, a Connacht under 14 competition. Conor Hanrahan led Ennis to victory in the final, beating Corinthians 14-3. Due to a lack of any formal, structured under age competitions in Munster, clubs often hosted their own competitions, with clubs invited to them from near and far. In 1977/78 the club inaugurated an under 16 competition of its own, the Banner Shield, and Pete Barry captained Ennis to victory over Birr. More success came the following year with Hanrahan’s under 16 team defeating Young Munster in the final of the Limerck City Cup, atoning for a league final defeat to the same opposition earlier in the season.
Prior to establishing the underage section the club depended solely on its playing strength from the influx of talent into the area together with local school leavers, many of whom would never have handled a rugby ball before. The hope that players would filter through to the adult teams has borne fruit with scores of players over the years moving through the ranks to represent the club at senior level.

GROUNDS AND CLUBHOUSE
The club first played in a place known as the Four Acres, a stretch of land currently bordered by Cloughleigh Road and Cusack Road. It was owned by Frank Cassidy’s brother, Tommy, and once hosted the town’s cricket pitch. The club used this ground for the first year or so until we got the use of the Showgrounds. Permission had to be sought every week and was dependent on the people who had the grazing, MF Malone and Jack Considine. The arrangement continued until the seventies when the club purchased a plot of land from the Showgrounds. Building commenced in 1979…………

Above Photos: Mr. Sean Conolly - Founder of the Ennis Rugby Football Club