Edgewood youth making his name in rugby

A young local man called Aidan Mulligan has been making waves in recent years in rugby circles wearing the Irish jersey at under-18 level and appears to have great prospects with the oval ball in the coming years.

Aidan who learnt his rugby with the local Coolmine club is from Edgewood Lawn in Blanchardstown. He started playing rugby at the age of five with Coolmine following in the footsteps of his two older brothers who also played with the club. From the very start Aidan stood out as a talented player and won many player of the year awards during his time there.

When being awarded the under 16 player of the year award at the club, his coach Mick Carroll predicted not only would he gain a Leinster cap but would some day be wearing an Ireland jersey. The prediction did not take long to come to fruition. Aidan first caught the eye of the Leinster selectors after taking part in under-16 trials in 2006.

This resulted in numerous appearances in the number 8 jersey for Leinster under-18s where he played a big part in getting his team to the inter-provincial final against Connacht. Although they lost the game Aidan scored Leinster’s only try and was voted man of the match.

Trials for the Irish squad followed and he was successful in winning a place with the 26 man squad to compete in this year’s FIRA Aer European U18 Championship in Treviso, Italy. Aidan was capped twice in the tournament, first against Russia and then against France in the final where Ireland went down narrowly 12-5 in a hard fought contest. The icing on the cake was a phone call from his rugby idol Trevor Brennan shortly afterwards offering plenty of advice and encouragement.

Last September Aidan was offered an elite players’ scholarship from Bective Rangers and made the move to the Dublin 4 AIL club where he plays regularly for the under-20 team often filling the role as captain. He attends Carlow Institute of Technology where he is studying for a BA in Sports Exercise (Rugby) and Business which is sponsored by the IRFU. He was just recently awarded a scholarship by the college.

He will spend the coming summer training with the Leinster under-19 squad. As a 17 year old still developing, Aidan appears to have a bright future ahead of him.

 

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