Michael Diskin CEO Lansdowne, Tricia Pugh ARC, Dermot Lacey and Kieran Mulligan.
A cheque was awarded for RDRD (Spellmann Centre).
IRFU Charitable Trust cheque from Lansdowne’s U13s.
Michael Diskin CEO Lansdowne, Susan Daly Manager NewsFour, Kieran Mulligan and Dermot Lacey.
St. Andrew’s Resource Centre receiving a cheque.
Photographs: Gary Burke.
By Kathrin Kobus
The rugby season is on a break until the World Cup comes along in September, when the club rugby will start anew. For now, the 2018/19 competitions are over.
Back in April, president Kieran Mulligan had invited club members and sponsors to the pre-match Charity Day Lunch because to quote the president: “best on the pitch, best off the pitch.” The club wants to show its commitment and involvement in the local community from Ringsend up to Ballsbridge.
Tickets for the Leinster–Toulouse game were raffled, personal donations or sponsorships from members and friends, plus the obligatory guessing on the outcome of the game between Lansdowne and Garryowen. (Lansdowne won that encounter, but unfortunately failed to make it past Clontarf at the semis a few weeks later and so couldn’t defend their AIL title).
Overall, €37,500 was raised and in May president Kieran Mulligan presented the cheques to representatives from Ringsend Community Centre, the Spellman Centre, St. Andrew’s Resource Centre and… ourselves, NewsFour. Other recipients were ARC Cancer Support Centres, which received €12,000, raised at the Lansdowne Ladies’ Lunch, hosted by Kieran Mulligan’s late wife Tasha who passed earlier this year.
The IRFU charitable trust also got a cheque, but not from a lunch fundraiser. Instead Lansdowne’s U13s had gone bag packing for backpacking at the Merrion centre and raised more money than needed to fund their away trip. They kindly donated the surplus of €1,500 to the IRFU Charitable Trust.
The event was one of Kieran Mulligan’s last functions as club president, because at the AGM the same evening he handed over the reins to Derry Shaw, who will guide the club in the 2019/20 season. One aim for the next season is surely to regain that AIL title Cork Con took home from the Aviva.
