Life begins at 40 for Tuam rugby stalwarts

A FAMOUS Connacht rugby prize of great prestige, the Ard na Cregg Cup competition started in 1971 with the very honourable intention of giving clubs an opportunity 'to put something on the sideboard.'

That’s written in Ralph O’Gorman’s splendid history of Rugby in Connacht, published in 1996.

The Cup keeps alive the name of the former Corinthians RFC clubhouse in College Road, Galway. It was demolished and replaced by an apartments block, Sea View Court, after the Corinthians club moved house out to Cloonacauneen on the N17.

A. O. Goodbody, captain of Corinthians and Connacht in the early-to-mid 1950s, donated the Ard na Cregg Cup for a knock-out competition confined to the third XVs of senior clubs and the second XVs of junior clubs.

Fittingly, it was won in its inaugural year by Corinthians, and this year they’re again through to the final — against Tuam seconds, at Corinthian Park, Cloonacauneen next Sunday; kick-off is at 2.30 p.m.