History

Carrick on Shanon RFC, as its now know, was established after a number of meetings held in the County Hotel in late 1974. A decision was made to form a club and it was decided to name the club East Connacht in order to embrace a larger catchment area which included Boyle, Elphin, Strokestown, Mohill, Drumshanbo, Ballinaglera, Dowra, Cootehall and Keadue.

The name of the club was accepted by the Connacht Branch of the I.R.F.U. and
the team’s official colors were yellow jerseys with a black collar and cuffs, black togs and black and yellow socks. We were affectionately nicknamed the ‘The Yellow Bellies’. The Club Headquarters was the County Hotel, Bridge St. and through the generosity of the Dolan family changing facilities and showers were provided at the rear of the hotel.

A playing pitch was secured at the Showgrounds on the Boyle Road where all of our home matches were played for a number of years. The first of these games was a challenge game played in early 1975 where Carrick fielded a team with only four players having ever played the game of Rugby, Jim Newcombe, Derek Little, Sean Gilmartin and Pat Early.

Our first full season was 1975/76 with our first Connacht Junior Cup outing against Loughrea, in Loughrea. During the early years the club drew its playing members from the Gardai stationed along the border, prison officers from Loughan House, Forestry workers, Army personnel together with members mainly from Carrick, Ballinaglera, Strokestown and Boyle.

In the early 1980s the name of the club was changed from East Connacht to Carrick-on-Shannon R.F.C. The subsequent years prove very difficult for the club until it disbanded in 1993.

Thankfully, after Irish success at Provincial and International level a resurgence of interest was clearly evident and the club was officially re-launched in April 2005 by the then Irish coach, Eddie O’Sullivan. Many of its former members worked hard to bring this about.