Heroic Tullamore ladies through to All-Ireland final

On a sunny April afternoon, Tullamore welcomed the Skibbereen women to Shay Murtagh park’s 4g pitch for the All Ireland Cup Semi-final. It was set to be a nail biter as the Cork women came to Mullingar with a strong pedigree.

All-Ireland Womens Rugby Junior Cup semi-final

Tullamore 29

Skibereen 13

Tullamore started strong with the majority of possession, however this Skibbereen side met them with aggressive and showed little weakness in defence.
The Tullamore women were relentless in attack, crashing the ball up through strong carries from Eve Tarpey and Laura Sampson. They pushed the Skibbereen women to their own 5m but came away with nothing for their efforts.
They were put on the defence then with a strong and savvy kicking game from the Skib outhalf. A silly slip of discipline and the Cork ladies opened the scorecard with 3 points from a penalty.
This bolstered the Tullamore resolve and led by centres Kate McCann and Sinead Rigney, they came back into the Skib 22m, to put on huge pressure in attack. With dominant scrums and lineouts from the Tullamore pack, a creak in the Skib defence was inevitable. Outhalf Becky Gavin, made light work of the kick for the posts following sloppy play from Skibbereen. It was 3-3 and tensions were high.
It was a dogfight. Two sides meeting each other with intense aggression. Tullamore fired on with clever linking between the pack and the backline, centre Kate McCann slipped through the Skib defence to score the first try of the game. And the opening half finished at 8-3.
The second half began with some hard running rugby from both sides. However it was Skibbereen who profited first with a penalty kick, bringing the scoreline to tense 8-6 to Tullamore.
Not long after the substitutions from Tullamore began to have real impact and through some powerful carries from the pack, the home side put Skib under some real pressure. It wasn’t long before the pack would score, with lock Saoirse Quinn and openside flanker Niamh (Boris) Hickey making serious yardage. It was inevitable that a score would come, through no other than no.8 Hannah Foxe, Leaving it 15-6.
The Tullamore pack showed no letting up, challenging every Skib woman on the ball. They were setting up camp in the Skib 22. A quick tap and pop allowed Eve Tarpey to power over leaving it 22-6, when Becky Gavin added on the extras.
An ever resilient Skibbereen team began to hit back. They carried and carried and managed to dip and slip through the Tullamore defence and dot down to bring themselves back into the game: 22-13.
Tullamore were on the hunt now. The backline were looking dangerous everytime they got ball in hand, with fullback Caroline Aherne showing some real intelligence in attack, linking up with Claire Leonard on the wing. Skib managed to shut the Tullamore attack down on the outside, they weren’t expecting Tullamore club captain Ann Maree Manley to come charging down the centre and place the ball between the posts. Becky Gavin split the uprights to make it 29-13.
Skibbereen were not going to go down without a fight and spent the final few minutes attacking Tullamore on their 5m line. The Tullamore defence wasn’t slipping and Dermot Tierney’s side defended with all their might with bone-shaking hits from Boris, Saoirse and new recruit Ciara Dunne. Eventually Saidhbh McIntyre ripped the ball, and that finished the game.
Tullamore ladies march on to the All Ireland Final.
TULLAMORE: 15 Caroline Aherne, 14 Veronica Smyth, 13 Sinéad Rigney, 12 Kate McCann, 11 Claire Leonard; 10 Rebecca Gavin, 9 Aoibhe Kelly; 1 Eve Tarpey, 2 Catriona Kielty, 3 Robin Maher, 4 Saoirse Quinn, 5 Laura Sampson, 6 Kate Fox, 7 Niamh Hickey, 8 Hannah Foxe. Replacements: 16 Ebony Hogan, 17 Saidhbh McIntyre, 18 Roisin Feighery, 19 Ann-Maree Manley, 20 Ciara Dunne, 21 Abaigeal Connon, 22 Vanessa Craven.