A strong Limerick contingent took part in the world record attempt, which was the centrepiece of a 'Festival of Rugby' day at Railway Union Sports Club in Sandymount, Dublin on Saturday August 24.

Clodagh Daly from Ballinacurra Gardens, John Stokes from Doon, Brian Begley from Castletroy, Luke Duffy from Moyross and Julie Fitzgibbon from Dromcollogher braved the temperamental weather for event, which marked the culmination of weeks of organising and fundraising.

Ms Daly told the Limerick Leader that the event was an overwhelming success: "We're absolutely delighted. For weeks everyone has been pouring in so much effort in organising the rugby and raising money as well. We've sold hundreds of raffle tickets and rattled so many collection buckets. Our target was €3,500 - we never expected to raise as much money as we did. Everyone was quick to donate when they heard we were collecting for Cystic Fibrosis."

The Bank's world record attempt was a bruising affair - they were looking to surpass 4,130 tackles in 60 minutes. Despite falling short of that figure, they set a new Irish and European record of 2832 tackles - a total of 142 tackles per person from each of the 20 participants.

Organiser Ross O'Donovan praised the efforts of everyone who took part: "We didn't get the world record, but we beat the previous European record by a big stretch. But the important thing was the success of the fundraising. To be honest, most of us were taken aback in the days before the Festival when we saw the size of the donations coming in."

Organiser Fergal Campion said: "People are starting to realise just how serious Cystic Fibrosis is in Ireland and the response we've had to the fundraising reflects that."