Laois Touch Rugby player wins bronze at the Atlantic Youth Touch Cup

THE 2025 Atlantic Youth Touch Cup was the largest international Touch Rugby tournament ever held in Ireland with 45 international youth teams from 12 countries descending on the University of Limerick. And for one young player from Laois, it was a dream come true as he picked up a bronze medal.

Jack Dempsey from Borris-in-Ossory was a member of the Ireland Boys 15s team that came third in their division beating Lebanon 10-2 in the play-off to claim the bronze medal.

There were also two other players from Laois who played in the tournament with Erin Fitzpatrick from Mountrath on the Girls 18s team and Keelin O’Brien from Ballyroan on the Ireland Mixed 15s.

Jack and his teammates were the first Irish Boys 15s team to ever compete internationally and 15 of the 16 players were making their international debuts. Despite this, the boys showed great team spirit and skill throughout the tournament. They were unlucky in fact not to finish higher, as they lost narrowly 7-6 to Wales in a very tight game.

Jack did not get on the scoresheet for Ireland but impressed throughout the tournament with his strong defence. Jack plays rugby with his club Roscrea RFC and also with his school, Cistercian College. In order to prepare for the tournament, he had been training with Buccaneers Touch Rugby in Athlone.

Erin Fitzpatrick and her Girls 18s teammates had a very tough tournament. Along with the majority of her teammates, she was making her debut at international, having only started playing Touch this year.

The Girls 18s were prevented from contending for a medal by two narrow defeats to South Africa and Wales but they gained some invaluable experience here for future tournaments. Erin plays rugby with Portlaoise RFC and has also played with the North Midlands regional team.

Keelin O’Brien meanwhile impressed while playing on the wing for the Ireland Mixed 15s. They scored wins against Belgium, Portugal and England Lions to qualify for a quarter-final against Scotland. Unfortunately Ireland went down to a narrow 9-8 defeat to the Scots but they recovered with victories over Belgium and Portugal again to seal fifth place.

Keelin showed an eye for a score throughout the competition, bagging four tries. Like Erin, Keelin has also played rugby with Portlaoise RFC as well as with her school, Kilkenny College.

All the details of the Atlantic Cup competitions as well as live streams of many games involving Jack, Erin and Keelin can be found at https://www.internationaltouch.org/events/atlantic-youth-touch-cup/2025/.

Laois can be very proud of all these fantastic young players who represented their county and country so well in Limerick.

Anyone who wishes to emulate the Atlantic Cup stars and give Touch Rugby a go can play at Thursday nights from 8pm at Portlaoise RFC. Contact Lynn on +353 86 798 0744.