Preview: Energia All-Ireland Women’s Junior Cup Final 2022/23

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. 

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),