RUGBY
Naas RFC and MU Barnhall kept apart in new league structure
By Daire Walsh
PREPARATIONS for the new Ulster Bank League season are set to gather pace in the next few weeks, after the fixture list for the upcoming domestic campaigns were released to Ireland’s 50 senior clubs.
The All-Ireland League has been re-structured for 2015/16, as instead of four divisions in the senior ranks (as was the case for the past six seasons), there will now be five divisions of ten teams each, with games being played on a home-and-away basis.
Lansdowne secured their second All-Ireland League title in three years with a hard-earned showpiece victory over Clontarf at the Aviva Stadium last May, and they will kick-start their own league campaign at home to Young Munster on 12 September.
However, the action in Division 1A will actually get underway a day earlier, when Old Belvedere and UCD play host to Terenure College and last season’s beaten finalists Clontarf, respectively, in eye-catching Friday Night Lights derby encounters in the capital.
Dundalk will be the newest additions to the Ulster Bank League following their successful journey through the Provincial Qualifying League at the tail end of last season, and their opening senior league clash will be a home fixture against Bruff.
Naas RFC and their rivals from North Kildare – MU Barnhall – have been regular league opponents for much of the last decade. Yet, that is set to change for the upcoming campaign, because for the first time since the 2007/08 season, they will be operating in different divisions.
Barnhall were playing againsts the likes of Young Munster, Dublin University (Trinity) and Ballynahinch in Division 2 on that occasion, but owing to their 11th place finish in last season’s third-tier, they have now dropped down to Division 2B for the new campaign.
Naas were in a lower division when the Leixlip outfit were relegated from Division 2B in the spring of 2008, but thanks to a number of excellent performances in the latter of half of 2014/15, they will ply their trade in what promises to be an extremely competitive Division 2A of the Ulster Bank League.
Naas will face Skerries at Holmpatrick on Friday, September 11 under lights at 7.30pm, before they welcome Malone and UCC to Forenaughts for Saturday afternoon ties in the closing weeks of September.
Barnhall will be hoping to hit the ground running from the very start of their odyssey through the fourth-tier, and they will be pitting their wits against City Of Derry, Rainey Old Boys and Seapoint in a difficult beginning to the new season.
Meanwhile, Ulster made a significant addition to their academy last week, when it was announced that Ireland U20 back-row Nick Timoney had signed a two-year contract with the northern province.
Timoney – who featured against Newbridge College and Clongowes Wood College on the way to captaining Blackrock College to Leinster Senior Cup glory in 2014 – was one of the players overlooked for the Leinster academy this summer, but also drew interest from a Top 14 club before making the decision to remain in Ireland.