Women’s Rugby Round-Up: Kelly Stars As Bohs Maintain Winning Start

There were some big wins for a few of the first division sides in the Women’s All-Ireland League over the weekend, while in the second division there were some closely fought affairs.

In Division One, champions UL Bohemians continued their winning start to the campaign with a 46-0 victory over neighbours Shannon. Tries from Fiona Coughlan, Caroline Mahon, Louise Beamish, Nicole Fitzgerald, Mairead Kelly, Sarahjane Coady and player of the match Patrique Kelly sealed the win to ensure that Bohs have the maximum return from their first two games.

Blackrock also secured a second bonus point in the space of a week with a 53-0 hammering of Cooke. In Cork, Highfield just about got a bonus point in their first outing of the season as they dismissed Galwegians 23-5.

A first half try from Munster captain Marie Barrett and a penalty from Norita Duggan saw Highfield lead 8-0 at the break. Nuala Ni Chadhain got a try back for Galwegians early in the second half but three more touchdowns from Highfield, including one from excellent hooker Chris Fanning, sealed the bonus point for the home team.

The result of the day though belonged to Clonmel who beat Boyne to secure their first ever Division One victory. The newcomers to the division scored tries through Bernie Corrigan (2) and Niamh Briggs, who also added the conversions and two penalties, to prove that they will not be just making up the numbers in the top tier.

The Division Two games proved to be much closer affairs with a few games coming down to just one score.

St. Mary’s beat Newbridge by just a point when they won a tight tussle by 13-12. Navan were the winners in their clash with Malahide as they scored three tries. Their scores came from Lynda Hennessy and Ciara Kennedy, who got two touchdowns, with the scores all converted by Aoife Ryan.

Ballincollig just edged out Waterpark on a score-line of 12-10. Nicola Scully scored a try on her debut for Waterpark with Louise Landers getting the other, but those scores were not enough to stop Ballincollig from picking up their second win in a row.

Old Belvedere also had a tough game in Dublin – this time against Trinity, who they managed to beat 11-8.
Nora Stapleton got their try and Elaine Cohalan added a conversion and a penalty while Trinity’s points came from a Jane O’Neill try and two Marie Therese O’Callaghan penalties.

Meanwhile, in the north, Carrickfergus got a fine win over Derry as they scored four tries from Nikita Armstrong, Jolene Cloghey, Jo Bell and Louise McAuley.

WOMEN’S ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE –

DIVISION ONE RESULTS:

UL Bohemians 46 Shannon 0
Highfield 23 Galwegians 0
Blackrock 53 Boyne 0
Clonmel 25 Boyne 0

DIVISION TWO RESULTS:

St. Mary’s 13 Newbridge 12
Old Belvedere 11 Trinity 8
City of Derry 0 Carrickfergus 25
Navan 21 Malahide 5
Waterpark 10 Ballincollig 12