UL Bohs Show Quality Of Champions

An enthralling encounter between the two top teams in Irish Women’s club rugby ended with UL Bohemians showing all and sundry why they are the reigning champions, writes Michael Gallagher.

UL came to Sandymount and ended Railway’s seven-match unbeaten record with a deserved but hard-earned 12-0 victory.

WOMEN’S ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE: Sunday, November 26

RAILWAY UNION 0 UL BOHEMIANS 12, Park Avenue

Scorers: Railway Union: –

UL Bohemians: Tries: Laura Sheehan, Aine Staunton; Con: Edel Murphy

HT: Railway Union 0 UL Bohemians 7

UL Bohemians started yesterday’s rescheduled match on the front foot and were the more prominent of the sides in the opening quarter. A well-worked try from Laura Sheehan was converted by Edel Murphy for a 7-0 lead early on, but Railway found their rhythm in the second quarter and created a number of opportunities for themselves.

However, Bohs’ tackling and restriction of space proved decisive and they took the 7-0 advantage to the interval. The second half started in the same way as the first, with Bohs looking to get across the Railway whitewash at every opportunity. They were successful in their efforts when Aine Staunton barged over to make it 12-0.

That score sealed the deal with the result seeing the Red Robins extend their advantage at the top of the table to five points. As their captain Fiona Hayes predicted, it was very much a hard-fought forwards-dominated game but the backs were outstanding when brought into play, and it took a a massively effective team effort to take home the spoils.

Railway Union director of rugby John Cronin said that the result was disappointing for his side, but he was more upset by the performance that then final score. “We just never turned up. We probably had the most handling errors and most penalties conceded all season,” he admitted afterwards.

“You just can’t do that against a team like Bohs. We never got going in attack as we kept giving the ball away. All credit to Bohs, they deserved the win. We made two defensive mistakes and they scored two tries. That’s why they are champions.”

WOMEN’S ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE – ROUND 9 FIXTURES:

Saturday, January 13 –

OLD BELVEDERE (3rd) v UL BOHEMIANS (1st), Anglesea Road, 5pm

Sunday, January 14 –

BLACKROCK (6th) v TULLAMORE (5th), Stradbrook, 1pm

GALWEGIANS (7th) v COOKE (4th), Crowley Park, 1pm

RAILWAY UNION (2nd) v HIGHFIELD (8th), Park Avenue, 1pm

Women’s All-Ireland League Results/Fixtures

Women’s All-Ireland League Table