At a recent celebration hosted by President, Dr. Hugh Brady three of UCD Rugby Clubs athletes Kieran Moloney, Danny Kenny and David Lynch were presented with the ‘Australia 1984’ Scholarship.

The Australia 1984 Scholarships have been established to honour the UCD RFC First XV of 1984/85 who toured Australia and was the last UCD RFC team to have made an appearance in the Leinster Senior Cup final. The scholarships were made possible through the generosity of John Gardiner (BCL 1984), captain of the 1984/85 team and are named in honour of Finbar Costello (BComm 1961), Adrian Burke (BComm 1962) and Ned Thornton (BComm 1963), honouring the contributions and continuous involvement of these remarkable UCD RFC alumni to rugby in UCD.

The purpose of the Australia 1984 Scholarship Fund is to develop the potential of elite rugby players receiving full time third level education in UCD into professional rugby players who will be supported in turn by the development programme in UCD and in Leinster. Every year the fund is there to award three scholarships to elite undergraduate or post graduate players, nominated by the UCD Director of Rugby and endorsed by the first team coach, who will play an influential role in the UCD RFC First Team Squad. This year the recipients were Kieran Moloney, Danny Kenny and David Lynch.

A portion of the fund will subsidise the recipients’ fees, maintenance and accommodation and a portion will relate to coaching and development.  In addition, each candidate will be presented with a commissioned piece marking the scholarship award.

At the reception many representatives from UCD, UCD Sport and UCD Rugby were there to celebrate the occasion. These included Director of Sport, Brian Mullins, UCD Vice-President for Development Ms. Aine Gibbons, UCD Rugby President Mr. James Meenan and Director of Rugby Bobby Byrne. Adrian Burke and Finbar Costello, whom the scholarship was in honour of, was in attendance as well the benefactor of the scholarship, Mr. John Gardiner who was also there to welcome other guests and speak with the scholarship recipients.