Inaugural Connacht Charity Golf Outing in aid of seriously injured rugby players
The inaugural IRFU Charitable Trust Connacht Charity Golf Outing, kindly sponsored by Pinergy, took place at the beautiful Galway Bay Golf Resort, on Monday 29th July 2024 – coinciding with the start of the Galway Races. We were blessed with an overcast but dry (apart from a five minute deluge!) and sometimes windy day; only adding to the enjoyment of playing on such an immaculate course in a stunning location. A big thank you to Galway Bay Golf Resort and the wider team from the Connacht Hospitality Group for your support and incredible attention to detail, ensuring the event ran very smoothly for everyone. Special thanks as well to our media partner for the event Galway Bay FM who promoted the Golf Outing heavily across the air waves and online, and were present on the day with a four-ball as well as Yvonne Kelly and William Davies, with William providing live updates during on the event for Galway Bay FM listeners. And thank you to Eric Elwood for being our voiceover for the radio ads!
In line with the above support, the support from the rugby community within Connacht for the event was outstanding. Connacht Rugby and Stephen Long in particular who took a team and provided one of our Silent Auction Lots but also for the massive awareness they provided leading up to the event. Special thanks as well to the three Connacht Rugby players who joined us after their rugby training session for a very entertaining and laughter-filled Q&A with the brilliant MC James Heaslip from DNG Galway. Thank you to James, Peter Dooley, Joe Joyce and late substitution Shane Jennings for being there with us – we greatly appreciate the support of players as well as the fun stories you brought to the evening’s entertainment.
In addition to Connacht Rugby, we would like to thank another stalwart supporter of Irish Rugby – Intersport Elverys, in particular Jimmy Staunton and Philip Staunton, for taking a team, very kindly sponsoring the second team prize, and providing items for the “best I’ve ever received at a golf outing” Goody Bag. Big thanks as well to Aerogen and John Power, again a big supporter of Connacht Rugby, who sponsored the Longest Drives for both Ladies and Men, as well as fielding a team themselves. And there’s more! Thank you as well to Coca-Cola HBC Ireland, in particular Robert Lahiff, for sponsoring the drinks reception, a raffle prize and Goody Bag content. Six Rugby Clubs from Connacht also supported the Golf Outing with Buccaneers RFC, Castlebar RFC and Sligo RFC each fielding a four-ball; as well as Tuam RFC, Creggs RFC and Corrib RFC for sponsoring Tee Boxes. Thank you to all Clubs, including the many other Clubs and Schools who support the Trust through our FRIENDS programme; and we hope to have more Rugby Clubs from Connacht join us for the 2025 Golf Outing! Speaking of FRIENDS, our Corporate FRIEND and Video Partner Get Broadcasting were onsite traversing the course filming during the event – the video capturing the event is on this page – please take the time to view it as it really captures a great day! Thank you to Nirina and Aidan; and thank you to Fintan from our Corporate FRIEND and National Media Partner – DMG Media, represented by Business Plus on the day for promoting the event across national press and online.
Without the support of the wider rugby community, the IRFU Charitable Trust could not run events like this which are vital for raising awareness for what the Charitable Trust do, and more importantly, who we do it for: the 36 seriously injured rugby players and their families across the four provinces of Ireland. We were joined by seriously injured player Tommie Kyne, and his wife Teresa, for the post-golf dinner, presentations and Q&A. Although Tommie was seriously injured back in 2005 while playing for Corrib RFC, Tommie remains an avid rugby fan and it was great to have Connacht players Joe, Peter and Shane there to meet with Teresa and Tommie … plus a surprise visit from the one and only Shane Byrne who played on the Killester Travel team.
Back to the Golf! Twenty teams made their way to the designated Tee for the 12midday shotgun start, with a few teams unfortunately unable to make it due to the small matter of an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship the day before; commiserations to Galway but congrats to Armagh for a great final. The two ‘Nearest the Pinergys’ winners were from the Aerogen and Alrí Construction teams; and the Longest Drives, kindly sponsored by Aerogen, for the Ladies and Men, were won by members from the Pinergy and Sligo RFC teams respectively. The format was a Scramble and the 3rd placed team was Avita Communications, with the prize kindly sponsored by Castle Dargan. Intersport Elverys claimed the 2nd team prize – winning their own sponsored prize! And the winning team of the first IRFU Charitable Trust Connacht Charity Golf Outing was Alrí Construction, with the prizes kindly sponsored by Pinergy. As mentioned, the course was immaculate and special thanks to the grounds staff at Galway Bay Golf Resort and in particular Ronan and Peter for all your support and help throughout.
Alrí Construction will now join the winning Teams from the other three Provincial Charity Golf Outings at the IRFU Charitable Trust “Irish Rugby 150th Golf Cup” tournament which will take place Friday 6th June 2025 on The K Club’s Palmer North Championship course – only a few months before The K Club host the Irish Open! Next year will be the first year of the 150th Golf Cup coinciding with Irish Rugby’s 150 years anniversary celebrations. The 2025 Golf Cup will take place in Leinster and will then be hosted by a different province each year creating a bit more interprovincial competition!
Following the winner’s presentations, James kindly ran the Raffle prize-giving of which there were 25 Raffle Prizes in the end including a very generous €500 Voucher. Please check out the Table Card on this page to see the full list of Raffle Prizes noting we received additional prizes from Coca-Cola HBC Ireland, and Ted Carty brought not one but two massive hampers for the Raffle in addition to vouchers. Thank you to all who very kindly sponsored and donated Raffle Prizes; and to those who donated to the Goody Bags with many commenting the Goody Bag was the best they have ever received at a Golf Outing. Thank you as well to all our Tee Sponsors, many of whom could not take a team, but wanted to show their support by sponsoring a Tee – a list of which is also contained within the Table Card. The final task of the evening for MC James was to announce the closing of the Silent Auction which featured six fantastic Lots from the Connacht Hospitality Group, Connacht Rugby, Castlemartyr Resort, the IRFU and URC. Please take a look at the Table Card for the details of these Lots and a massive thank you to all who so generously donated and bid on the Lots. Special thanks to all the team at Galway Bay Golf Resort, including Jan, Orla and David, for an absolutely delicious meal and for looking after everyone so well!
And finally, thank you to the committee for all their time and effort in making this the first IRFU Charitable Trust Connacht Charity Golf Outing a great success. In particular to Gordon and Dermot Fahy, Hilary Sheridan, Yvonne Comer and Padraig Moran, as well as Linda Black, Marc Sheridan and Michael Whelan. Maeve Glynn, daughter of seriously injured player Brendan Glynn was hoping to volunteer on the day but was sadly unable to as a close family member passed – may they rest in peace and our sympathies are with you Maeve and your family at this time.
Many of those attending asked if the Trust was coming back to the West for another Charity Golf Outing next year. Given the incredible support and the number of people who have already committed to next year, it is a resounding yes! We look forward to seeing you all again at the Trust’s second Connacht Charity Golf Outing, as well as some new faces, and on behalf of all seriously injured rugby players and their families – thank you all again for the very much appreciated support.
