Preview: Energia All-Ireland Women’s Junior Cup Final 2022/23
Leinster Women's Rugby League Division 1, MU Barnhall RFC, Parsonstown, Leixlip, Kildare 5/3/2023 MU Barnhall vs Tullamore Tullamore's Shannon Touhey and Emma Tilly of MU Barnhall Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
Tomorrow will see the first ever Energia All-Ireland Women’s Junior Cup champion crowned as Tullamore and MU Barnhall renew rivalries in Shay Murtagh Park, the home of Mullingar RFC.
MU Barnhall have seen off Ulster contenders Queen’s University and Enniskillen without conceding a try to date while Tullamore had a bye in the quarter-finals and came through an entertaining tussle with Skibbereen in the last four.
“What we’ve really enjoyed about this whole experience is getting to play clubs from outside our own province,” says Tullamore Head Coach Dermot Tierney. “We know where we are within Leinster but we’ve been able to test ourselves in new ways and the semi-final could have gone either way, in fairness.
“We try to play before the defence get set and we had some nice offloads, a few nice kicks in behind and some good quick ball, but we had a few lucky breaks as well.”
Tullamore Captain Ann-Maree Manley is looking forward to returning to Shay Murtagh Park.
“We knew we had the mobility and the speed to adapt to astro in the semi-final and it’s a great facility as well.”
“We were neck and neck with MU Barnhall in the Leinster League and it came down to the last game. They were first in the table and we were second, a point behind. We put everything on the line on that day it was just the case that things didn’t go our way.
We can’t wait to go again and in a competition like this, it makes it even more important for us.
Leinster Women’s Rugby League Division 1, MU Barnhall RFC, Parsonstown, Leixlip, Kildare 5/3/2023
MU Barnhall vs Tullamore
A view of a scrum
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
Sunday April 16th 2023
Energia All-Ireland Women’s Junior Cup Final
Tullamore v MU Barnhall, Shay Murtagh Park, 2:30pm
IrishRugby.ie will have recap and reaction, full video highlights and a gallery of photos from the game.
Energia All-Ireland Women’s Junior Cup Semi-Finals
ENNISKILLEN 0 MU BARNHALL 46, Mullaghmeen
TULLAMORE 29 SKIBBEREEN 13, Shay Murtagh Park
Energia All-Ireland Women’s Junior Cup Quarter-Finals
QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY 0 MU BARNHALL 32, Dub Lane
SKIBBEREEN 61 v WESTPORT 5, Mill Road
SLIGO 7 ENNISKILLEN 17, Hamilton Park
TULLAMORE V BYE
Top Scorers – 2023
Points: 28 – Ciara Faulkner (MU Barnhall); 22 – Emma Connolly (Skibbereen); 20 – Lauren Patterson (MU Barnhall)
Tries: 4 – Lauren Patterson (MU Barnhall); 3 – Ciara Faulkner (MU Barnhall); 2 – Zara Flack (Enniskillen), Yvonne Hoey (MU Barnhall), Jasmine Kiely (Skibbereen), Kate O’Sullivan (Skibbereen), Sharon Stoutt (Skibbereen); 1 – Sophie Barrett (Enniskillen), Katelyn Doran (MU Barnhall), Ruth Campbell (MU Barnhall), Niamh Quinn (MU Barnhall),Averyl Condell (Skibbereen), Fiona Love (Skibbereen), Mollie O’Connell (Skibbereen), Sinead O’Donovan (Skibbereen), Emma Connolly (Skibbereen), Kate McCann (Tullamore), Hannah Foxe (Tullamore), Eve Tarpey (Tullamore), Ann-Maree Manley (Tullamore),