Irish Rugby TV: ‘Beware The Thorns’ – Tralee RFC Women’s Rugby

‘The Rose of Tralee’ rang out around Ashbourne RFC last Saturday. Tralee RFC were the only club from outside of the Women’s All-Ireland League to feature across three finals on the day.

It was after the Women’s All-Ireland Shield final that the famous ballad could be heard – Tralee’s team spirit was there in victory or defeat. Cooke came through 15-10 on the day, but ‘Beware the Thorns’ as the banner says. Tralee RFC will be back to fight another day.

“You play for the woman alongside you,” said Tralee’s Irene Dillane. The prop is a native of Abbeyfeale, but says the 40-minute commute to training is worth it. “You play for everyone else. They’re a great bunch of girls. We’re all in it together.”

Blennerville, home of out-half Anna Murphy, is just a five-minute drive from Tralee RFC’s O’Dowd Park. It was the Co. Kerry club’s Tag rugby summer league that encouraged Murphy to first pick up a rugby ball and she has not looked back.

“I was playing football all along and a couple of us put a team together for Tralee Tag rugby,” she said. “From that I went on to play with the 15s. I’ve been playing for the past five years. It’s just being part of a team. Just the team spirit. It’s about being able to play together and play the sport that we love and just getting a good thrill out of it.”

Tralee are previous winners of the Women’s All-Ireland Shield and have enjoyed plenty of success at provincial level. Tralee head coach Sean Brosnan is hopeful that they can prove themselves again at All-Ireland level.

“What we’re looking at now is setting up a better age-grade system,” said Sean, who also works as a Club and Community Rugby Officer in Tralee. The plan is to help more underage players to transition into adult rugby. “We want to increase our playing panel and hopefully get to the AIL.”

Beware the Thorns…

Tralee RFC are also hosting an eight-week IRFU ‘Give It A Try’ programme for the summer of 2019. Sessions run every Tuesday from 6.30pm to 8pm, commencing on Tuesday, May 7.

‘Give It A Try’ for summer 2019 is an eight-week programme run in selected clubs where girls aged 10 to 14 can attend and learn how to play rugby in a fun environment. For more information on ‘Give It A Try’ in Tralee, contact Sean Brosnan at sbrosnan70@gmail.com or 0879717508.