Guerin’s Saints Hoping To Go ‘One Step Further’ In Energia Junior Cup

Beyond the reach of Thomond Park’s floodlights, where streets echo with old rivalries and shared memories, sits St. Mary’s RFC, a club that has lived in the shadow of the giants, yet has always carried something uniquely its own.

This season that pride has stirred again. For the first time, St. Mary’s find themselves competing at the quarter-final stage of the Energia All-Ireland Men’s Junior Cup.

A modest line in the national fixtures perhaps, but a monumental moment in the life of a community club determined to reclaim its place in the story of Limerick rugby.

For head coach Rob Guerin, it feels like a circle finally closing. His rugby journey began here, long before he was pulling on the colours of Shannon, Young Munster, or Garryowen.

It was at St. Mary’s where he first learned what rugby meant to a city that measures itself by it. And now, years later as player, mentor, and leader, he has come home to help the club believe again.

“It was massive,” Guerin says of the club’s historic Energia Junior Cup first round win over Castlebar, which secured their place in the last-eight.

“You could even kind of feel the buzz. The fact that even we had a fourth official was kind of alien to some of these lads. They wouldn’t be used to it, even touch judges, never mind the fourth official.

“There was a big pre-match put on, the club filled it with about seventy people. So there was a good buzz around.”

It was the kind of day St. Mary’s had not seen in years. A decade in the making, the clubhouse humming, players’ families shoulder to shoulder, and a core of diehards now affectionately dubbed ‘the Ultras’, the extended squad who had fuelled themselves with food, drink, and anticipation long before kick-off.

“They were firing on all cylinders by the time the match started,” Guerin laughs. “There was a great occasion about it.

“And I think the game against Castlebar was the first home fixture the club had ever been drawn in for that competition. Naturally, I felt there was an onus and a responsibility to do them justice and get the first win.”

The 36-20 victory was not just a result, it was a signal. After years of rebuilding, St. Mary’s were back among the national contenders.

The quarter-final draw rewarded them again, another home tie, another Saturday to savour. Creggs will arrive from Connacht this weekend, seasoned campaigners in the Energia All-Ireland Junior Cup, and Guerin knows exactly what that means.

“We wouldn’t be underestimating Creggs by any means. They’re stalwarts in this competition in terms of coming through the Connacht side for the last few seasons. That experience alone will definitely stand to them.

“They won’t let the occasion get the better of them. Some of our lads, this is as big and as far as they’ve gone in a long, long time.

“I’m not even sure if all of them understand the severity of this competition and how big it is to be in it and to get this far.”

Guerin’s words carry both excitement and caution, shaped by his own journey through Irish club rugby’s unforgiving landscape.

He has been here before with Newcastle West, reaching an All-Ireland Junior Cup semi-final back in January of 2023, only to fall agonisingly short against eventual champions Clogher Valley.

“We had a kick at the very end to win it,” he recalls. “But it wasn’t to be. So I do understand what a great competition it is.”

That understanding gives his voice weight now, both in the dressing room and beyond it. For Guerin, cup runs are not just about medals or milestones, they are about culture, continuity, and convincing a new generation that there is something worth building on their own doorstep.

In a city where Garryowen, Shannon, and Young Munster have dominated the conversation playing in the Energia All-Ireland League’s top flight, St. Mary’s have often been overlooked amongst others. Yet their story of local loyalty and quiet persistence feels just as essential.

Limerick, for all its rugby grandeur, is a divided ecosystem. The clubs feed off the same talent pool, each fighting to hold players in a city where opportunity and ambition constantly pull in different directions. It is something Guerin sees every week.

“Limerick is fairly diluted in terms of its player base. We just wouldn’t have the squad that some of these more rural community teams might have.

“Limerick is constantly pulling and dragging, players going to different clubs each season. And obviously, the further you get into these competitions, the more toll it takes on the squad.”

Still, he would not trade the challenge for anything, and says they are ‘absolutely thrilled’ to be challenging for a semi-final place in the All-Ireland Junior Cup.

“To be in a quarter-final of an All-Ireland Cup is always great to say. The club are delighted. We hope to even go one step further and try to get into the semi-final for December 13. But we’re not getting ahead of ourselves,” he insisted.

“There’s a definite degree of respect that we have for Creggs. They have been in this competition for a good couple of years now, and they definitely have earned our respect. So we’ll definitely be showing that this Saturday.”

If that sounds like the voice of a man steeped in tradition, it is because Guerin has lived the entire arc of Limerick rugby himself, from promising teenager to seasoned campaigner, from the clubhouses around the country to the coaching huddle at his boyhood side.

“I left St. Mary’s probably from the ripe old age of sixteen,” he explained. “But it was always a promise, myself and Sean Duggan, our forwards coach. We grew up together, went to Munchin’s, played senior rugby and all that.

“And we decided we were always going to go back before we were at retirement age, to give a season or two to our childhood club.

“I’m still playing, just about. The body is definitely telling me to slow down, but I can’t. That fire of passion is still burning inside me.

“The games where I’m on the sideline are the hardest, you want to be out there, to have that bit of control. But I’m enjoying it. It’s good to be able to give back to a club that’s given me so much.”

What he is giving back is structure, belief, and the standards of elite club rugby. Few in Limerick have seen the inside of as many powerhouse dressing rooms as Guerin – Shannon, Young Munster, and Garryowen.

“I have taken what I’ve learned from each coach I’ve had the pleasure of playing under, little pieces that stuck with me. I’ve brought that in here.

“You can’t go full professional mode at junior level. So I had to make sure that I wasn’t going to come back and go full professional mode. Slowly but surely each season, I’ve been kind of tweaking bits and bobs.

“But I’ll still never get over the vaping inside the changing rooms as a coach! That’s something that I think is specific to junior rugby, and it’s something that I’ll never be able to get over.”

For all the humour, there is depth behind the jokes. Guerin’s own playing career was brought to a halt by injury, a knee problem that pushed him out of the senior game and, briefly, out of rugby altogether.

He admitted: “I was done and dusted. Then a good friend, Shane Airey at Newcastle West, asked if I’d come play a bit of ball, a bit of junior rugby. I’d accepted the senior dream was done, but he coaxed me in.

“I got the love for it again. You have a bit more time on the ball at junior, a bit more freedom to express yourself. That was when Mary’s got relegated, and they came looking for me again the following season.”

It is a familiar story in Irish club rugby, the player who steps away, then rediscovers the joy of the game in a smaller, community-driven setting where it all began.

For Guerin, the return was not just about himself. It was about his family, about balance, about finding meaning in something that had once been purely competitive.

“They were like, ‘Would you have any interest in coming down for Munster Juniors?’. And once again, like I had a young family at home, so it was a debate and definitely a conversation I had with my partner to make sure that it was something that I could get away with, because we were gone again another two evenings.

“And fairly long, I would commute down to Fermoy. So I wasn’t too sure if it was something for me. And this year, unfortunately, even though my brother Adam actually made the (Munster) side this year, I decided to turn it down.

“I was kind of raging that, in hindsight, it would have been lovely for the photo, just even for my parents to see the two of us in the red jersey. But look, it wasn’t meant to be. And I have to put my family first sometimes.”

That self-awareness, and the humility behind it, has fed into his coaching. The Saints, under Guerin, are a team built on culture and tradition, on sweat and buy-in.

It would be massive to get another win (in the cup). Massive in the sense that these guys have really, really committed and bought into everything that I’ve asked of them.

“Like, even during pre-season, I”d have them do gruelling CrossFit and Hyrox sessions on a Thursday, to the point that some of these junior players are just not in that condition or shape to be running those types of sessions.

“They stuck with it, they really bought into everything we’re doing. The game style that I brought in is really starting to click in year three which is a positive. I think there is a lot of talent there.

“There’s a lot of guys there that will be capable of playing a bit of senior rugby if they’re willing to commit to that next stage again of doing their own personal training for two days extra a week. So I really think it would be a credit to them.”

Whether they do or not, there is already a sense that something meaningful is happening at St. Mary’s. The clubhouse and dressing rooms are busier. The club continues to grow and enhance their facilities.

The players, many of them locals who may have once drifted away, are staying longer after training, talking rugby again. It is the kind of cultural shift that cannot be measured on a scoreboard.

On Saturday, when Creggs arrive, Grove Island will hum with the same anticipation from St. Mary’s opening round clash. Plenty of familiar faces coming through the gates, and a number making the trip down in support of the visitors.

The time for second chances are over, the romance of knockout cup rugby is well underway, and for someone like Guerin, he is hoping for the club’s history that the jersey can be left in a better place now going forward.

“I always said, come back down and put yourself in the shop window. Come back to St. Mary’s and be a big fish in a small pond, and you’d be surprised what kind of senior teams will come knocking on your door next season,” he acknowledged.

“I’m all for that, and I encourage guys to go away and play senior and learn a few bits. But always come back home and try share it. It’s very similar to what I’ve done.

“Like, for instance, Lee Nicholas is a guy that’s after taking on the Shannon gig. But he’s also a St. Mary’s underage lad. So is Shane Airey. They’re all spread out everywhere.

“So, I’m like if we can just get a couple of us to come back and buy in and share the expertise that we’ve achieved and gained over our careers, the club will just keep taking on further and further. And that’s the plan.

“Its own history, it’s never actually won the league. For its player base and how local and central it is in Limerick city, I think that’s crazy.

“I’m not going to say it’s my goal this year, but it’s definitely something that I’m setting out to try and correct and fix.

“My plan was to always leave the club in a better position than I got it. After making history against Castlebar, I’m hoping we can go that one step further again this weekend.”