Dan fires up the Clon

Clondalkin Captain Dan Fitzpatrick has challenged the first team to emulate the clubs off filed progression on the pitch as the new league season looms.

Fitzpatrick, who this season captains Clondalkin for the second successive term, has targeted promotion and wants the club to be competing in Leinster League Division 1B in the 2011-2012 season.

The Gordon Park side, who drop off their league campaign at home to newly promoted Edenderry this coming Sunday, have never played Division 1 rugby, but Fitzpatrick is confident the first team squad is ready to make history.

Although admitting it won’t be easy the big lock wants to first 15 to build on the success that saw them claim the Towns Plate and get to within one game of a promotion play off last year and go all the way this time round.

“As a club we have made huge strides of the pitch and the club is thriving at the moment,” Fitzpatrick explained. “We believe we are capable of translating that growth on to the pitch and that means getting promotion. It is not an easy task, but we have a strong squad here now and competition for places is rife. That means if we perform to our capabilities we can go up. We are setting the bar high and we are going to do all we can to achieve our promotion goal.”

The league may start next week but Clon’s season is three months old. The four senior male sides and the female outfit have undergone a rigorous pre season fitness regime. The local side have also enjoyed a successful Hoise Cup campaign registering impressive wins despite using the pre season tournament to experiment. And \'Big\' Dan believes all the hard work is about to pay off starting Sunday.

“We have put in a lot work in the off season and are fitness levels are improving. We are happy with how things have gone so far. We also used the Hoise Cup to look at players and give people a chance to stake their place for a starting place in the league campaign. We played some good rugby in that cup and coaches Kenny O’Brien and Paul Haycock have a lot of food for thought ahead of our game against Edenderry on Sunday. Similarly the players have an eager wait to see if they made the first 15 which in turn means training this week will be very competitive. It will be an interesting start to the season and we would like to extend a welcome to anyone who wants to come up watch the game and enjoy the unique Clondalkin welcome.” the captain added.

Article by Jonny Stapleton

Dan Fitzpatrick and Brian o Driscoll at the recent leinster training session in CRFC

Added by admin September 14, 2010 (10:25PM)

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