Des A Ryan / Stephen Ruschitzko
Limerick - The home of Irish rugby. You can’t write the history of Irish rugby without Limerick. Limerickman Charles Barrington is credited with formalising the game as we know it in Ireland. While at Trinity in 1868, he wrote down a set of rules that allowed teams to play the new sport. That act led to a host of new clubs springing up across the country over the following decade. Limerickman Jack Myles was on the first ever Irish International team in February 1875, when Ireland played England at Kensington Oval in London. Since then, Limerick has contributed some of her finest to the ranks of legends of the Irish game.Likewise, you can’t write the history of the British and Irish Lions without Limerick. Keith Wood, Paul O’Connell, Conor Murray, David Wallace, Keith Earls - these names would rank as contenders for the greatest ever Lions’ players. But, long before professionalism, when tours lasted six months, Limerick men heroically wore the Lions jersey. Young Munster’s Tom Clifford, Garryowen’s Tony Ward and Gordon Wood, Bohemian Mick English, Shannon’s Colm Tucker and Gerry McLoughlin, or men like Bill Mulcahy and William Roche who didn’t play their rugby in Limerick, these guys were heroes to many far beyond their native city.’Limerick and the British and Irish Lions 1888-1988’ tracks the first nine Limerick men to represent the British and Irish Lions, and meticulously documents their stories from schools’ rugby, through club and on to representative level. These nine men, between them played one hundred and nine times for the Lions, including in eighteen test matches. Their adventures took them to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Canada, Namibia and Kenya. Read about their on-field and off-field experiences in these far-flung parts of the world. Learn about their club and international careers. A Limerickman, Ned Dore from Shanagolden, played against the Lions before a Limerickman had even played for them. Colm Tucker played for the Lions more times than he did for the Ireland team. Garryowen’s Tom Reid was the first man to play for and against the Lions. William Roche even had a WW2 encounter with Rudolph Hess. This is their story. The first hundred years of Limerick and the British and Irish Lions.
