Tullamore Rugby Club unveils new head coach

TULLAMORE Rugby Club have unveiled their new head coach. The appointment of South African Johan Taylor was announced on Thursday evening.

Taylor has been based in Ireland for over 25 years and has vast experience. He has coached teams in the All-Ireland League, the Sri Lanka national team, who he led to two Asian Five Nations ChampionshipS, among others. He has coached Naas in the All-Ireland League as well as Portlaoise and Portarlington in junior ranks, locally – he played with Portarlington after moving to Ireland.

An IRB accredited coach, he has a fine coaching pedigree and has played lead roles in academies in Ireland and France – he has worked at the Phillipe Saint Andre Academy in France and the Kildare based Rugby Academy Ireland.

Taylor will be taking over Tullamore at a time of great transition. Relegated out of the All-Ireland League after several years in Division 2C last season, they are now back in the top flight of Leinster junior rugby.

Pictured above: Coaches and captains of Tullamore Rugby Club mens' teams for 2025-2026: Kevin Finlay, (J1 backs coach), Cormac Moloney, (J2 coach), Brendan Daly, (J2 manager), Johan Taylor, (head coach), Marty Cummins, (forwards coach), Karl Dunne (club captain), Colin Draper (J3 captain), James Joyce (J1 manager).

He replaces a long time local rugby stalwart and former club player, Dave Hanlon, who had one season at the helm last year. Tullamore were unlucky in some ways last year as injuries handicapped them while they suffered a series of heartbreaking late defeats, conceding calamitous last gasp scores but never got the consistency they needed and were fighting an uphill battle from start to finish.

Tullamore will be very anxious to quickly return to senior ranks but will be sticking to their amateur philosophy and not paying big money for the services of players, as many All-Ireland League and some junior clubs do.

Pictured above: Tullamore Rugby Club Junior 2 coaches: Brendan Daly (J2 manager) John Tobin (J2 captain) Cormac Moloney (J2 coach).

The new head coach will be supported by the backs coach Kevin Finlay, a local business man from a very well known construction trade family and forwards coach, Marty Cummins, who played with Tullamore last season.

The club captain is Ballycommon man Karl Dunne. A well established first team player with Tullamore, he is also well known locally for his football commitments with Ballycommon – he played senior football for them last season and was outstanding as they won the Senior “B” Football Championship in 2023.

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Tullamore will have two big targets in 2025-2026: promotion back to the All-Ireland League and winning the Provincial Towns Cup, a competition that occupies a very special place in Tullamore's near 100 year history.

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