The nights are getting shorter and slowly the world is returning to normal after the summer break.
That means school and sport, with training often taking place in the evenings or at weekends in grounds across the county.
One club that is settling into the autumn after a seismic summer is Clonakilty RFC. Helen O’Hea looks after their senior women’s team and she knows exactly what goes into running the show at Shannonvale, writes Dylan O’Connell.
Clonakilty saw a number of players represent Munster in this year’s edition of the Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship.
Their names are well known around West Cork; Caoimhe Murphy and Lani O’Donovan were on the first team, and the development squad featured Clodagh McCarthy, Jo McCaughey, Julie Finn, and Rachel Twomey.
Lani, Clodagh, Jo, and Julie also played on the Ireland Under-18 Six Nations team earlier this year.
They follow in the footsteps of other Clonakilty graduates that wore the green jersey, a group that includes John Hodnett and Conor Ryan.
There’s also strong representation at underage level in Munster. Finn O’Donovan, Ewan Knowles, and Cillian Sturdy are with the Under-18 boys. Elsa Quirke, Julie Cunningham, and Keelin McCarthy are with the Under-18 girls. Padraig Coffey, Tristan O’Driscoll, Tony O’Keeffe, and Olan White represent the Under-17 boys. The Under-17 girls have Caoimhe McCarthy, Emer O’Connor, Jenny O’Donnell, Lara Twomey, Lucy McCarthy, Matila O’Donovan, and Molly Deegan in their ranks. Liam Ben Khaled, Michael Collins, and Ollie Hunt complete the set with the Under-16 boys.
All of this is being placed into a wider conversation about rugby in West Cork, with many wanting to know how the region became such fertile ground for Irish internationals, both male and female. Bandon’s Jack Crowley is usually the first name mentioned, and the fly half is just the start of a very long list.
Clonakilty are one part of the conveyer belt, and all their good work goes back to what is happening on the ground on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
“The rugby season started back proper for the minis on September 6,” explains Helen O’Hea.
“They introduced Sundays for the month of September, because of the clash with GAA training on Saturdays. So for October, we switch back to Saturdays. It will be all systems go then for everyone.”
Clonakilty will go into this period as a growing club that is fast approaching their 50th anniversary.
“So we’ve got 850 members, and that is growing,” she explains.
“We have our 50th anniversary next spring, so it’ll be a big occasion in the club. Like that, it just doesn’t happen without the hours of volunteer work. It kicked off in 1977 in the Kilty Stone, it was a famous drinking/meeting establishment back in the day in Clonakilty. Our big emphasis is that we are a community club. We strive to work together because teamwork makes the dream work.
“What keeps the club going and growing is the tremendous work done by our various committees, managers, coaches, and referees. There’s those that keep the club grounds maintained and the shop and bar going. Fundraising also plays a big part at the club, as you can imagine, for providing equipment, gear and facilities for all the teams. We are very grateful to all our sponsors and Clonakilty are always looking for novel ways to get new people involved while raising their profile.
“We have a lotto that is sold on the streets every Friday – Jimmy O’Regan is at the helm there and he is super with that,” adds O’Hea.
“And then we have a new initiative called ‘Split the Bucket’, a Willie Wilcox’s initiative. So that’s up and running, and it’s a guaranteed winner every week. They sell tickets during the week, and then half goes to the club and half goes to the ticket that’s picked out. It’s great and it builds awareness. Thanks to the local pubs that are participating, it all helps.”
All of this is to support Clonakilty RFC, a community within the community that is made up of a number of teams going from the underage ranks to senior men and women.
“We have Tigers for our mixed ability teams. Cubs for the four- and five-year-olds,” she explained.
“We cater for all abilities and ages: six, eight, 10, and 12, for the minis, 14, 16, and 18 for the youths in both boys and girls. Then the adult men and the adult women.
“The adult men have two teams, and the ladies have one at the moment, but are working hard to build a foundation for a second team that will greatly benefit the different levels of players. We only started out three years ago, thanks to Mervyn Buttimer who stepped up and coached the team and Micheal O’Sullivan our S&C coach. Since then we have consistently improved our game, grown our coaching team and we hope to do well again this season.”
It is often stated that the problem in women’s sport is keeping players invested after they turn 16. Clonakilty are working on that but in the meantime the club is happy that there is a regular stream of new recruits coming to the ground. One thing that has massively helped with this is the sheer number of Munster players around, as they show that something is working at The Vale.
“[Seeing Munster players] is encouraging, especially for ladies rugby,” explains O’Hea.
“If Mom has played it, or big sister has played it, it takes that fear factor out of it I think, because obviously we try and coach to prevent injury, but nothing is foolproof.
“We have a schools programme as well, where Finny O’Regan and Ian Rae go into local schools in September and October, (ably assisted with the TY students of Clonakilty Community College). They coach the classes, give them taster sessions and encourage them to come out and give it a try at the club where someday they will get to wear the red and green for Clonakilty.
“It has paid off, and we are very grateful to the Committee and to the schools for encouraging this initiative.”
The schools programme is paying off, in the form of silverware for Clonakilty at provincial level.
2026 saw Sacred Heart Clonakilty claim the Pinergy Munster Schools Girls Senior Cup for the third year in a row, while their junior team reach their final. It shows something is working when there is a steady stream of success for the schools. All of it leads back to the sport, and the simple love of playing rugby.
Some might take it up recreationally, others will join and go all the way to the top. They might wear the famous red jersey or the green one. Others will line out with their friends with the simple goal of having fun in the sport that they love.
Clonakilty offers something for everyone, boys and girls, from the cubs having fun right up to adults of all abilities.
