Family Ties Driving Tuam/Oughterard Cup Ambition

In just their third year operating as a Senior Women’s outfit, Tuam/Oughterard are gearing up for their second Energia All-Ireland Women’s Junior Cup semi final, as they  play Malone on Sunday. (Kick-Off 2:30pm).

The two Connacht clubs clubs that are over an hour apart by road, but this amalgamation of the pair has proved very successful in the short time they have fielded a team at this grade. Last year was their first time competing in the competition, making it all the way to the final, where MU Barnhall claimed victory in a dramatic twist late in the second half.

Now they look to push on and make it back to the final once again, hoping this time they can go that one step further and make history. Coach Norman Tierney spoke to IrishRugby.ie ahead of the tie and felt his team were unlucky in the decider last term, as they look to have learned from that this year.

“The first game, when we were down to Skibbereen, we didn’t really know where we were at because, as a women’s club, that was our second year in existence. We created a women’s team because our girls turned 18, and they had no team to play for. In our first year we won Connacht.

“And we really did know how good they were or weren’t. And then when they went to Skibbereen, and they turned over a fancied Skibbereen team at the time. I think they got a bit of belief in themselves then from there on, which stood to us. And I’m hoping it might stand to us again now with the weekend that we had that experience of the Junior Cup under our belts from last year.

“We were unlucky in the final, it probably could have went either way. Injuries on the day probably didn’t help, but these things happen, that’s sport for you. Twas a pity now, we were happy enough the way the girls played. We couldn’t fault them.

“They fought to the end. Just injuries in wrong positions and just maybe a lack of inexperience probably at that level. I think Barnhall saw out the game better than we did. But we are hoping we might have learned a bit from it from last year.”

As mentioned the two teams are quite far apart and joined forces at underage level with both struggling to find the numbers. Now they are really thriving, with an underage structure that is both doing well with numbers and with silverware to boot. That underage structure served as the catalyst for this Senior team to take to the field, and many of those former minis are hoping to win this competition.

Along with that they have developed players who have donned the Irish jersey at underage level, the Connacht Senior jersey, and no doubt a future Senior Ireland International will have plied their trade at the club. While they might have struggled with their identity at the start, those now famous navy and pink jerseys have made them a real force to be reckoned with.

Tierney along with fellow coach Owen Lydon have coached at the club since that amalgamation first began and Tierney feels it is a massive achievement for the club to be where they are going into another Junior Cup semi final this weekend.

“From underage, we didn’t have enough numbers, and they didn’t have enough numbers and myself and Owen are really good friends. And we put a team together. I think it was U13s or U14s. And that group, they were just as thick as thieves like. They wouldn’t separate, so we left them as they were.

And with that Tuam/Oughterard continued to grow up along at U14s, U16s, U18s, and we had good success up along. We got a lot of players on the Irish underage teams and Connacht Interpro teams along the years. But at the end of the day, if the girls are having fun I think they’ll stay with you. Tuam/Oughterard as a club the girls side, I think it’s our eight or ninth year now as a unit. This will be our third year as a women’s team.

We’re not big clubs, we’re only two small clubs. And to get where we are, it is massive like. It’s a massive achievement from where we started. Most of our girls that we’d have, let’s say, probably start now the next day, they’d have all come up from their minis. We’d have had most of them since they were probably U10/U12, which is great to see them progressing up to this level then.

You’d always get a natural drop off at certain age groups. But to be fair, the majority of those girls have been together since they were U10s/U12s. We have a good under age now coming up. We have a good U16 team, we have a good U18 team. We’d be hoping you get a few players each year, then they’ll be feeding into your ladies team.

We sort of got our own identity now the last few years, initially when we started off, we’d be rotating jerseys. Home game in Oughterard, we will wear the Oughterard jerseys, and then the home game in Tuam, we’ll wear the Tuam jerseys. So then we said, we are one team. So we changed the jerseys totally. So we’ve gone navy and pink, which are none of the colours of either club, and they’ve stuck to that. That’s sort of their identity now, and the girls in the team all respond to that. And it has worked very well for us now, they are a great bunch of girls. They’re a joy to coach.”

Tierney is no stranger to rugby, lining out for Tuam in his younger days. Daughter Karly lines out in the back row, the 20 year old a star on the rise having been once again involved with the Connacht Senior Women’s team in their latest Interpro campaign. Tierney also played a stint with UL Bohemian in the Women’s Division of the Energia All Ireland League last season.

A real family feel with this group exists, along with Tierney, fellow coach Lydon has three daughters that have lined out for the club, Áebha, Ceoladh and Nia. Along with that four sisters are playing together in the same team, all four Burns sisters started in the quarter final win over Enniskillen, Ella and Karen in the forwards, while Emma and Amy lined out in the backs.

That family feel has seen the likes of Norman and Owen coached their daughters up along from their mini days, in a busy sporty household, Karly and another of Norman’s children Nathan have dipped their toes in other sports, but rugby for both is a real passion. Tierney admits it is something you often see in smaller clubs, but he has enjoyed being a part of his daughter’s growth playing the sport.

“I’d have played with Tuam when I was younger, so rugby probably would be my sport, but we’d also play Gaelic, and there’d be hurling, and there was basketball. So there was a combo of games, when they’d be at that age, when they’d be younger they’d be trying every sport. The only sport they actually didn’t try in our house was soccer, which clashes with rugby anyhow. So that suited us fine. Karly would still play football with the home club Moycullen.

“Rugby is the first love, and her brother would be the same. He’d still be playing hurling, football, and he’d be playing rugby as well, they’ll dabble in all sports, and eventually, they’ll find one that they really like.

To be honest, it was never a sport I thought she’d go into. And so probably the reason I got into coaching, once she was U12. I think her brother was playing minis, and she came up and she just liked the atmosphere, and she stayed with it. Loves the sport now, and I’ve got a great enjoyment out of watching her develop over the years, which is great to be part of as she was growing up along.

“And then on another note, I would say with that team, there’s 4 sisters playing on that team. There’s four Burns playing, which is unusual as well, and they all came up with us all the way up along from U12’s as well. Owen the other coach with me, he’d have been with the minis all the way up along. He has three daughters playing all the way up through the different age groups as well.”

So that was his involvement, watching his girls develop up along to the senior women’s as well. But you’ll see that in an awful lot of the smaller clubs. You’ll probably end up starting off as, you’re a dad to one of the girls, you end up getting dragged into coach, and the next thing a lot of the dads would be coaching up along.

“It works the fact that we have three coaches involved in that team. So at least it’s not a case of, they’re not listening to me all the time or they’re not listening to Owen all the time or you know, it’s a different voice on different nights, which helps.”

Last year with a very young squad they almost got over that line, MU Barnhall grabbing a pair of late tries to snatch a consecutive Junior Cup. Éabha Nic Dhonnacha scored all their points in that final, she has transferred fully toUL Bohemian this year, while Hannah Clarke has joined Galwegians.

In the recent Interpro series, Karly Tierney, Ella Burns, Molly Boote, Aifric Ní Ghibne and Beibhinn Gleeson were all named in the Connacht squad, joining former teammates Nic Dhonnacha, Clarke and Ivana Kiripati.

Tuam/Oughterard are not shy of leaders, admits Tierney, and he hopes that the more experienced players can help lift those younger girls to get over the line in a tough clash on Sunday.

“We’re lucky enough that way, we had five girls on the Connacht Senior Women’s this year, which is great. They’re playing at a higher level, which definitely helps the girls that are at home, and it brings on the girls in the club.

The one thing about our team, all the girls work for the team, which is great. Even the bench that we bring on, we sort of have been playing all along. We’ll say most girls try and get equal amount of time. What might start our game, we’ll have equally as good on the bench. And on any given day, we rotate them, which I think is like it keeps a happy squad, which is great.

We’d be hoping that our experienced girls would lift the rest of our team, which I’m sure they will. They usually play well on the big days, they don’t shy away from it. We have the likes of Ella Burns, you have Karly Tierney, you have Molly Boote, you have Niamh Corless, you have a few key players there, they’re good leaders on the team, Beibhinn Gleeson also. We’re not short of leaders. We’ll just see how it happens. We’ll see how it pans out.”

Alongside Tierney and Lydon is Barry Ruane, the three amigos have worked hard to get the preparation done for a big clash with Malone this weekend. A semi final against debutants in this newly created competition, Malone of course were playing in the All Ireland League until a few seasons ago.

Malone got the better of Mullingar 46-14 on their home patch in the quarter final, and are once again drawn at home to face the beaten finalists from last year. Off the back of the 22-7 win over Enniskillen five weeks ago, they will have plenty of confidence, along with their strong form in Connacht.

It will be a tough task against Malone admits Tierney, but believes his young squad will always give 110% on the day, and a bounce of the ball could determine who makes the decider this year.

“The girls enjoyed that whole experience. So the trip away to Malone now, it’ll be another day out. Our squad are very young and we’re younger last year. I think the oldest is 22 or 23, right down to 18. But the girls want it, so we’ll try and push on now again on Sunday, and we’ll see how we get on. It’d be a big ask against Malone now. They’re going very well at the minute.

Malone I think are rebuilding again, I’d say they’re hoping probably to get back into the AIL again. They won the league last year. I think they defeated Enniskillen there lately in the league. We’re under no illusions. It’s gonna be a tough ask, especially up on their pitch.

It’s a long haul for us. But you never know on the day, bounce of a ball. You never know which way it’ll go. The one thing I have to say about our team and the girls themselves, sometimes at training you think they’re giddy, they’re messing.

Once they go on the pitch, you could never fault them. They’ll give you 110%, from the word go. Someone makes a mistake, so be it. The rest of the team will try and work and fix it. Be it a knock on, so be it. Grand, we will scrum, we’ll try and win the scrum back. There’s no issues.

They’ll all work for each other, which is great. So once they go on the pitch, I have no doubt they’re gonna leave it all behind them. And if it’s good enough, it’s good enough. And if it’s not, you know you were beaten by a better team. Playing Malone in their home pitch will be a big ask as I’ve said. I don’t think the girls are gonna shy away from it either. We’ll just see on the day.”

Energia All-Ireland Women’s Junior Cup Semi Finals

Sunday, November 24, 2.30pm

Malone v Tuam/Oughterard, Gibson Park
Tralee v MU Barnhall, O’Dwoad Park