On a beautiful Galway summer’s day, the first ever Budweiser Tag All-Ireland Open Championships took place with teams from all four provinces competing for titles.
With the music pumping, the sun shining, the BBQ sizzling and Galway Corinthians RFC alive with tag matches all day, the inaugural All-Ireland Open Tag Championships turned out to be the festival highlight of the season as predicted.
Starting at midday, Grades B and Beginners kicked off their group games with the multi-venue cameraderie delivering a perfect chance for teams to pit their wits against similar from tag venues all over.
Both leagues went right down to the wire and when the full-time hooters sounded in the afternoon, lots of celebrating took place as the victors, G-Whizz and the Wild Oysters of B and Beginners grades respectively high-fived their way back to the Budweiser Marquee for awell-earned post-match beer and bite.
Next up, were the the A Grade and C Grade leagues kicking off at four o’clock. The A Grade winners were also competing for the Paul Flood Memorial Cup which is an annual perpetual trophy held in honour of our colleague in the IRFU Leisure Rugby Dept, Paul Flood, who sadly passed away earlier this year.
The various C grade leagues were very close affairs indeed with at least one of the finalists in all three leagues being decided on points difference.
With finalists coming from venues such as Corinthians, Garryowen, Newforge, Colaiste Stiofain Naofa (Cork), Old Belvedere, Portlaoise and Suttonians and referees from each branch of the IRFU, this event was a fantastic example of all that is great about Budweiser Tag.
So what were the final results?
Paul Flood Memorial/A Grade Cup – EYPS Streamliners
A Grade Runner-Up – Dirty Dozen
A Grade Plate – Dirtier Dozen
B Grade Cup – G-Whizz
B Grade Runner-Up – Kingfisher Clan
B Grade Plate – Le Racing Club de Belfast
C Grade Cup – Fancy A Tag?
C Grade Runner-Up – Sheep Taggers
C Grade Plate – Unmotivated
Beginners Grade Cup – Wild Oysters
Beginners Runner Up – Cookie Monsters
Beginners Plate – Liqeurs
As the sun set, it was back into the Budweiser Marquee for all where Scott Walker (Domestic Games Manager, Irish Rugby Football Union), Martin Gallagher (Domestic Games Manager, Connacht Rugby) and Barry McCann (Corinthians Budweiser Tag Venue Manager) presented the winning teams with their silverware.
Following the celebrations and photo-shoots, the All-Ireland party continued on into Galway City as the Tag teams converged on Busker Brownes for a well earned pint with winners medals catching the eye of the other punters present.
With this being the first ever All-Ireland Open, Budweiser Tag wish to congratulate all who won, comiserate all who came in as runners-up and thank EVERYONE who took part by playing, spectating, volunteering and refereeing. Already next year’s event is in the planning stage with an even bigger day expected.
Photos from the day’s play and subsequent trophy presentations can be viewed HERE.
For further coverage of the day’s events, please also see next Sunday’s edition of the Sunday Star.
If you have any images of ANY Budweiser Tag events, venues, teams or players, send them in to us via email to tag@irishrugby.ie.
Images must be at least 495×495 pixels in size and if you want a caption showing with picture on gallery, save the image name as whatever you wish the Gallery caption to say.
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