Looking back over the past season, it has been so pleasing to note so many highlights – not just the trophy successes, but the growth in our playing numbers and development of our players across all grades.

Our Womens 1sts were Irish Senior Cup winners once again. Winning the trophy for the 3rd season in succession and being only the second team in the Cup’s 100+ year history to achieve that feat.

Last weekend was tremendous as the squad was also crowned EY Champions Trophy Winners. Completing a second three in a row in consecutive weekends as we defeated rivals Loreto once again and booked our place in the premier European competition, the Euro Hockey League, for 2027.

Huge congratulations to Sarah Patton and her squad and to the coaching team led by Una McCarthy, a skilled tactician, tough task master and someone driven to develop all around her.

Our Womens 2nds were league winners and runners up in the Irish Junior Cup with Riona Norton and Kate Dillon directing a team which sought to balance experience with emerging talent. Our Womens 3rds, coached by Ciara O’Brien this season, picked up a league bronze medal but lost out in their cup final. Our Womens 4ths finished fourth and were runners up in their cup final also with Joy Duggan taking up the coaching reins this season. Our W4s-I and W4s-II teams both had solid seasons and finished in the Top 4 of their leagues also.

Our mens squads had a tougher season, with a focus on developing the young emerging talent through the club and building for stronger future seasons. The development of the mens squads was once again driven by the tireless Kenny Carroll, supported by Club Member of the Year, Peter Yates.

Excelling on the pitch is about preparation, commitment, resilience and determination. The depth of our talent pool was an important factor this year. The results of all our teams is a testament to the contributions of the wide group of players who contributed to each team across the course of the season. Having strong squads across all our teams was an important feature this season and helped maintain performance levels throughout a season impacted by injuries and periodic unavailability.

At Indoor level, we were successful in Leinster but our Women lost out on penalties to Ards in the National Final. We competed at indoor competitions at under age levels from Under 12s up to Under 18s.

Our Under 16 boys won the Leinster Cup with our Under 14 boys making their final. It was pleasing to see that we had a number of our youth teams – girls and boys – challenging for a top 4 league play off place right up to the final weeks of the season.

We’ve had new internationals across the club – in the Senior Womens team, indoors and outdoors, at Underage levels and also from our Railblazers in the Ireland Hockey ID team.

We’ve worked to expand hockey in the community with our outreach programmes and school blitzes to organise hockey training and competitions for school groups across all ages.

We’ve brought youth teams to Kilkenny, Waterford, Midleton, Wexford, Instonians, Hamburg and most recently to Braxgata. We hosted Annadale, Instonians, Ulster Pumas as well as numerous schools and clubs from within Leinster at the underage tournaments we organised.

We want to continue to Develop.

Anyone who has recently been down to the club will have spotted that those big piles of stone are finally gone! We have works underway to deliver a series of developments designed to help every player Enjoy, Develop and Excel — the values that guide everything we do. You can read more about our planned development works in our 27th April article (Help us build the future of Railway Union).

Looking ahead, we have further ambitions to expand our on-site facilities and strengthen our structures. As always, we will need to draw upon on the ideas, energy and support of all of you, our members. We want to create the best possible environment for all our players – youngsters starting out, right up to the senior teams – to enjoy hockey, develop their skills and excel on the field of play.

And on we go.

We look forwards now. We wipe the slate clean, enjoy the season just gone but regroup and re-commit to one another so as to deliver an enjoyable, developmental and successful season next year in 2026/2027.

We continue our ambition to GROW.

We want to grow our playing membership and attract in new members of all ages and standards.

We want to grow our coaching structures and further improve how we develop our members – youths teams and adults alike, right up to our elite teams.

We want to grow our facilities – you’ll have seen our recent articles about how we plan to develop Park Avenue to make training more fun, accessible and interesting for our players and help them develop.

We want to grow the connectivity between the club and our members, parents and volunteers to deliver sport more effectively and increase its enjoyment.

Once again, thank you to all our players, coaches, managers, parents, team coordinators, volunteers and umpires for making the 2025/2026 season a special one for all.

Paul O’Brien
Chair, Railway Union Hockey Club