Dragons Lair Martial Arts

A Great Weekend at Dragon’s Lair

What a fantastic weekend at Dragon’s Lair, with instructors and students travelling from Norway, Germany, Wales and Ireland to join us.

A special thank you to Sensei Barry Davis, who delivered an explosive and inspiring seminar, showcasing an incredible level of martial arts skill and teaching. We are extremely grateful to Barry for everything he did throughout the weekend.

A huge thank you also to everyone who travelled from near and far to be part of it. Much was learned, plenty of fun was had, and it was fantastic to see everyone training together.

We look forward to doing it all again next year!

Thanks again to everyone who made the weekend so special, and we hope you all had a safe journey home. 🥋🇮🇪🇩🇪🇳🇴🏴

🇮🇪🏹 A Very Successful Trip to the 7th European Kyujûtsu Championship! 🏹🇮🇪

What an incredible weekend for the Irish Kyujûtsu contingent at the 7th European Kyujûtsu Championship in Twistringen, Germany! 🇩🇪

A total of 8 Irish competitors travelled to Germany to represent Ireland, with 4 competitors from Dragonslair Honbo Dojo in Kilkenny and 4 from the Japanese Martial Arts Centre in Carlow.

The hard work, dedication and training paid off, with some fantastic results across the different disciplines under the expert tutelage of our leader and president of the Kyujûtsu International Federation, Larry McEnroe

🥉 Luke Dwyer – 2 Bronze Medals
• 3rd Place – Tower Shoot
• 3rd Place – Speed Shoot

🥉 Aibhrán Prendergast – 2 Bronze Medals
• 3rd Place – Tower Shoot
• 3rd Place – Precision Shoot

🥈 Caolan Prendergast – 1 Silver Medal
• 2nd Place – Speed Shoot

🥈 Tom Walsh – 1 Silver Medal
• 2nd Place – Tower Shoot, following a shoot-off for 1st place with Martin Mcgarry — an outstanding performance and a fantastic result! 👏🏹

🏆 Nicki Kenny – 3 Gold Medals
• 1st Place – Precision Shoot
• 1st Place – Tower Shoot
• 1st Place – Speed Shoot

🏆 Martin McGarry – 3 Gold Medals
• 1st Place – Precision Shoot
• 1st Place – Tower Shoot
• 1st Place – Speed Shoot

An outstanding achievement by the Irish team, with 12 podium finishes, including 6 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 4 bronze medals! 🇮🇪🏆🥈🥉

A huge congratulations to everyone who travelled, competed and represented Ireland with such pride. These results are a testament to the commitment, dedication and countless hours of training put in by the competitors, as well as the support and camaraderie within both dojos.

A special congratulations to Nicki Kenny and Martin McGarry on their three gold-medal performances, and to Luke, Aibhrán, Caolan and Tom on their fantastic podium finishes.

Most importantly, congratulations to the entire Irish contingent. Every competitor played their part in making this a hugely successful trip, both on and off the competition floor.

This weekend was an important one for 3 members of the Dragon's Lair Dojo who were awarded their black belts after a long tough day. They earned their way into the black belt club the hard way as is the tradition with jiujitsu. Nothing is given everything is earned, we are delighted they all took on the challenge and accomplished it, very few do.

Out of the thousands of students that walk through the doors only a small number make it to the level of black belt.

Congratulations to Tom Lacey who has been a part of Carlow Dragon's Lair Jiujitsu Club since it began. He has been an important member of that club giving his time to help others on the mat. Thank you to his Sensei Maurice Nolan for getting him to black belt level.

Congratulations to Ian Byrne who is part of the Japanese Martial Arts Center an affiliate of the Dragon's Lair Dojo. Thank you to Sensei Noel Amond fir guiding Ian to this achievement after years of training.

Congratulations to Tomas Grogan who is a member of the Dragon's Lair Dojo in Kilkenny. Tomas has been with the club since March 2016, he was 7 years old when he began his training and he is now 17 years old with a black belt in jiujitsu to his name. We are all extremely proud of him and have watched him grow up, mature, and become a leader on the mat.

All the club members offer our congratulations to the three newest members of the black belt club, we look forward to sharing the mat with you. 🥋🥋🥋

A number of our kyu grade students spent the day earning their respective belts, they all did a great job and are a credit to their Sensei.

Congratulations to all that completed and passed gradings over the last few weeks within the Dragons Lair Dojo.

A great weekend on our 10th international kyujutsu seminar was had by all competitors from a range of clubs from Ireland, England, Northern Ireland, Germany and more , in all we had 3 competitions , precision, 3D animal and the Dirk Fromm memorial shoot , precision won by Martin Mcgarry, the 3D animal shoot won by Tomasz Szmagara and the Dirk shoot won by Dieter Kordez, we also had some fun doing some clout shooting and some long distance shooting and in between we had some fantastic Barbecue food in the picturesque setting of Swiftheath outside Kilkenny , on the Saturday we had our shoot in Kilkenny college and in the afternoon we got to give the kids a go , hopefully to inspire the next generation of Kyûjutsu archers , we’re already looking forward to next years Gathering of the clans where the “friendly rivalry and banter “ will resume.
Finally a big thank you to all who helped set this up and to all the competitors who travelled to Kilkenny, we wouldn’t have this amazing yearly event without your continued support

Gathering of the clans 2026 was incredible, we are grateful to have wonderful friends that travel to Kilkenny each year to instruct and take part in our annual seminar. A big thank you to the behind the scenes Dragons Lair crew who are always there to help out, organise, and support the club when needed.

As always we take tonight (Monday) off for a well earned rest, dojo reopens as normal on Wednesday.

Big thanks to all for a successful Gathering of the clans 2026.