Short Finds Her Voice As Young Leader For Wicklow

Short has lined out for both Wicklow and the Wolfhounds, the reigning Celtic Challenge champions, this season, and her game has gone from strength to strength since playing rugby for the first time eight years ago.

Her older brother Brian has played for Old Wesley in Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Division 1B, having started out with Wicklow where Ciara also first picked up an oval ball.

Hailing from Newtownmountkennedy, she got involved with the Under-12s at Ashtown Lane and rose through the ranks, making the J1 team in the Leinster League before playing regularly for Wicklow’s senior team last season.

Speaking about grasping that opportunity play All-Ireland League rugby at just 18, Short told IrishRugby.ie: “Playing for the J1 team was nothing compared to the jump up into the AIL, especially playing the likes of Railway Union and UL Bohs.

“Even though I played underage with Leinster and that kinda thing, it’s a big jump when you’re going from being 17 playing against other 17-year-olds, then being 18 playing against girls that could be nearly in their thirties, and who have so much more experience behind them.

“I really enjoyed it, all the girls were so welcoming. But then once I got into it, just upped my training and got a bit more focused on the gym and that kind of thing to put on a bit of size to be able to compete with the others.

“But I absolutely love it. I want to be playing against the best players in the country, and be able to put myself up against them and see how well I can do and how well my team can do against them.

“I’ve absolutely loved that, and along the way, I’m able to do it with some of my best friends as well because there’s maybe six of us that would have been on my underage team or underage teams in my last year, and we’re all there now on the AIL team.”

Coming into the group as the youngest member of the Wicklow squad, the talented back rower was not that vocal last year as she adapted to the higher standard of rugby. However, with that debut campaign under her belt, she has certainly found her voice and grown her leadership skills.

She has gone from not wanting to make the wrong calls last season to being much more confident in herself now, and playing with the Wolfhounds in the Celtic Challenge had definitely helped.

With her club-mates Caoimhe Molloy, Ella Roberts, Vicky Elmes Kinlan, and Erin McConnell also part of Neill Alcorn’s Wolfhounds squad, she was delighted to get the call-up which gave her a huge boost in confidence.

“That was not even on my radar at the start of the season. It was never a possibility in my mind really, but after brought in with the Wolfhounds, it’s just such confidence to be able to bring that kind of thing back to the (Wicklow) team.

I was just so happy (to get the call-up) and it kind of felt like I was showing that I’m not just a club player. I’m able to go on and represent myself in a higher standard. I was just so happy, and my family was so happy for me as well. We just couldn’t believe it.

“I definitely feel I’m able to lead a bit more (now), because at underage I would have been captain of a good few of my teams and even on the South East (selection) as well, captained my second season there.

“I was a little bit quieter last year as a player. I was the youngest last year, not that you can’t put your hand up and say what the others should be doing around you, but I kind of stood back from it a little bit.

“That’s one thing this year that I feel I’m a bit more able in myself to put my hand up in a leadership role and share a bit of what I think.

“I was a bit afraid to say the wrong thing last year or that what I was thinking was completely wrong in terms of our lineout calls, what we should be doing in a match, something we should change, or just things like that.”

In her second year studying Veterinary Medicine in UCD, Short is balancing her studies with her rugby commitments. Wicklow are still in contention for a top four finish at the end of March, building on years of growth.

Huge work at Ashtown Lane in developing strong underage structures has helped the club to compete at senior level, with the likes of Short, Jessica Griffey, Robyn Johnston (pictured below), and Laura Griffin all part of title-winning age-grade teams.

Currently fifth in the table, Jason Moreton’s young Wicklow side are hoping to eat into a 10-point gap to Old Belvedere, their round 14 visitors for a crunch clash on Saturday evening (kick-off 5pm).

It is a ‘must win’ encounter for the Garden County outfit, especially with a trip to third-placed Blackrock College coming up at the start of March. Their teenage openside flanker is determined to make home advantage county against ‘Belvo.

“I think we’re all kind of feeling the pressure for this weekend, but in a good way. Training has been really good. We have really good numbers out, and everyone’s getting geared up to be ready for Sunday.

“We’re ready to have that home crowd behind us. It’s nerves, but it’s also exciting because at the end of the day, it’s the AIL and you want to be in that top four.

“You want to put your club on the map, and this would be absolutely huge for Wicklow if we were able to get into that top four spot.

“So there is a lot of pressure, but at the same time, it’s not everything. You have to have that bit of perspective that the season won’t just finish after this match at the weekend.”

Although Wicklow have four more regular season games to follow next month, a third defeat in a row could significantly dent their hopes of reaching the semi-final stage. After a 24-point loss to Railway, they went down to UL Bohemian last Saturday and trailed 48-0 at half-time.

Falling to a 68-21 defeat in the end, they did take some encouragement out of a three-try second half showing. Despite losing 45-12 at Old Belvedere earlier in the season, Moreton’s charges believe they have what it takes to turn that result around.

“It’s kind of that thing of we can’t take the loss last week with us. We can take the stuff that we need to improve on and look at the match and say, ‘Okay, we didn’t do this right, didn’t do that right, but we came back out in the second half and put a few scores on the board’,” noted Short.

“So what can we do in order to do that from the very start against Belvedere? Can’t really let it ponder on us that the last two games haven’t gone our way, and we have a big one coming up.

“It probably puts even more pressure on us that we need to now prove ourselves after those last two results. You just have to take the things that you have to improve on and try to do that during the week at training and then bring it to the match.

“Have that mindset that you’re like, ‘Right, okay, these last two weeks didn’t go great, but what can I do in order to improve it? And how are we going to do that as a team when it comes to Saturday?’

“We still have a couple of matches that are going be just as tough. It’s not just a singular match for us. It’s the whole season we want to finish off on a high note. We just have to do what we can as a team in order to improve from the last two games.”

Injuries really hindered Wicklow’s chances of progress last season, with a seventh place finish and four of their four wins coming during the second half of the season. They began the current campaign with a trio of bonus point wins, enjoying some time at the top of the table.

Those reverse fixtures are still to come against Suttonians, Galwegians, and Tullow, and Short and her team-mates have the belief that they can get a result on Saturday and in the four games that follow.

With an exciting climax to the season in the offing, she reflected: “Looking at it last year where we finished seventh, it’s the lower end of the table, and no one wants to be at the lower end of the table.

“Looking at it now, the fact that we even have a chance to get into the top four is something in itself, and shows how much work we’ve put in over the last few years and the girls from before have as well.

“You have to take the positives every year. If it comes to it that we don’t get into the top four, yeah, we’re going to be disappointed because it’s our main goal of the whole season.

It’s taking the positives as we go along, but as well as working on ourselves because we know we can do better. We know we’re able to get into the top four if we actually put our heads down and work together as a eam.

“It’s just actually putting that out there on Saturday when we play ‘Belvo, and then in the following rounds when we go to Blackrock and then host Suttonians. It’s just building week on week.

“You just have to keep building as a team in order to work your way up the table and get to the level that those top four teams are at, which I think we’re very close to and could be doing, if not this year, in the coming year.”

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