THE success of trailblazing Clonakilty Rugby Club and double world kickboxing champion Oran Brady will be celebrated at the 2024 West Cork Sports Star Awards this month.
Clonakilty Rugby Club have scooped the 2024 West Cork Sports Star Club of the Year Award while Bantry teen Oran Brady will be presented with the West Cork Sports Star Paudie Palmer Youth Award at the gala celebration night on Saturday, January 18th.
For both Clonakilty RFC and Brady, 2024 was a year to remember, and they will take centre stage at the annual West Cork Sports Star Awards, which is the biggest celebration of West Cork sports.
On and off the pitch, Clonakilty RFC is making headlines – the club was also named the Bank of Ireland Junior Club of the Year for the 2023/24 season at the Munster Rugby Awards last September, in recognition of its development and initiatives.
Between pre-minis, minis and youths levels, the Clonakilty rugby club has almost 700 underage players between boys and girls. Incredibly, in the last ten years its membership numbers have grown from 250 playing members to around 750, with the hard work and dedication of the club’s 150-plus group of hardworking volunteers key to the success. The club is the perfect example of team work making the dream work.
With a new state-of-the-art 4G astroturf pitch, Clonakilty RFC takes great pride at the growth of its underage section which has enjoyed plenty of success, while their introduction of red and green teams to ensure all players get good game time has been a winner, too, keeping players involved in the sport.
As well as taking part in the Sustainable Clubs Programme, developed by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communication, Clonakilty RFC is working with Cork County Council to extend the Joe Walsh Greenway alongside the club, offering a safe walkway into Clon town. The club has also signed up to the IRFU initiative to ‘Go Green’, so the club members have been working hard on and off the pitch – and will now add the 2024 West Cork Sports Star Club of the Year Award to their growing collection.
Oran Brady won two world titles at the 2024 WAKO Youth World Kickboxing Championships in Budapest.
Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí Leaving Cert student Oran Brady (17) has also amassed an incredible collection of medals, boosted by his two gold medals at the WAKO Youth World Kickboxing Championships in Budapest in August.
Oran won gold in both the -84kg junior light contact and kick light categories on the same Friday morning to become a double world youth kickboxing champion, and shooting to the top of the Brady brothers’ roll of honour – his older brothers, Sean and Oisín, previously won world kickboxing titles, but Oran now has two.
Already a six-time national champion, Ion Kickboxing Club fighter Oran enjoyed a memorable 2024 because as well as winning two world titles, he won gold in the light contact category at the Italian World Cup, and a bronze in the points fighting category. He also brought home silver and bronze medals from the Bristol Open, and finished the year with a junior title win at Skill Striker VI in Bristol in December.
