It was a baptism of fire for AIL newcomers Malone and Suttonians as they hosted two of the form teams in the Women’s AIL in their opening fixtures. Both went down heavily, but there were enough positives from their performances for them to expect brighter days ahead.
The biggest surprise of the opening round was Blackrock’s big win at home against Galwegians. The talk at the matches we covered was on Rock’s impressive pre-season recruitment but WOW what a result.
You can view the results below.
Rock, Boh’s and Railway all picked up a bonus point win but, in the other match, Cooke will be disappointed that they returned to Belfast with no points following a narrow loss against our pre-season favourites Old Belvedere. We might have to kick that favourites tag down the shore a bit if Rock continue to build on their sensational start!
All this gives Week 1 League Standings as follows.
Scorers
There were 247 points scored in Week 1. The points came from 41 tries, 18 conversions (44% conversion rate) and 2 penalties.
A sensational game from Rock’s Hannah O’Connor, who is in the form of her life, puts the Interprovincial’s leading scorer in first place after Week 1.
However, young veteran, Chloe Pearse has found a new lease of life in the front row, something I can relate to having played there in 3 decades and 2 centuries 😀 😎 but only in my dreams did I ever score five tries in one game!
Honourable mention to Railway’s Stephanie Carroll who bagged an early season hat-trick and Suttonians Maeve O’Brien who bagged two in her club’s first game in the AIL.
I’m also reliably informed that Cooke’s Vicky/Victoria Irwin continued her 100% kicking record for the season bagging both Cooke’s chances this week to add to her 7/7 in last weeks cup win.
You can see all the scorers below. We’ll break it out for the individual clubs as the season progresses.
| PLAYER | TEAM | T | C | P | DG | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hannah O’Connor | Blackrock | 2 | 7 | 1 | 27 | |
| Chloe Pearse | UL Bohemian | 5 | 25 | |||
| Stephanie Carroll | Railway Union | 3 | 15 | |||
| Ailsa Hughes | Railway Union | 2 | 10 | |||
| Laura Sheehan | UL Bohemian | 2 | 10 | |||
| Maeve O’Brien | Suttonians | 2 | 10 | |||
| Mairaid Holohan | Blackrock | 2 | 10 | |||
| Michelle Claffey | Blackrock | 2 | 10 | |||
| Larissa Muldoon | Railway Union | 3 | 6 | |||
| Caoimhe Tiernan | UL Bohemian | 1 | 5 | |||
| Ciara Griffin | UL Bohemian | 1 | 5 | |||
| Clodagh O’Halloran | UL Bohemian | 1 | 5 | |||
| Daisy Earle | Railway Union | 1 | 5 | |||
| Dearbhla Canty | Galwegians | 1 | 5 | |||
| Elise O’Byrne White | Old Belvedere | 1 | 5 | |||
| Grainne O’loughlin | Railway Union | 1 | 5 | |||
| Hanna Harris | Cooke | 1 | 5 | |||
| Jenni Burke | Blackrock | 1 | 5 | |||
| Kate Sheehan | UL Bohemian | 1 | 5 | |||
| Linda Djougang | Old Belvedere | 1 | 5 | |||
| Lindsay Peat | Railway Union | 1 | 5 | |||
| Lisa Callan | Railway Union | 1 | 5 | |||
| Maeve Liston | Blackrock | 1 | 5 | |||
| Netasja Behan | Blackrock | 1 | 5 | |||
| Niamh Byrne | Railway Union | 1 | 5 | |||
| Ray Lawless | Blackrock | 1 | 5 | |||
| Rosie Newton | Blackrock | 1 | 5 | |||
| Sarah Quin | UL Bohemian | 1 | 5 | |||
| Tara Buggie | Galwegians | 1 | 5 | |||
| Victoria Dubanovich O’Mahony | Old Belvedere | 1 | 5 | |||
| Vicky Irwin | Cooke | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| Aine Donnelly | Old Belvedere | 2 | 4 | |||
| Katelyn Faust | Railway Union | 2 | 4 | |||
| Nicole Fowley | Galwegians | 2 | 4 | |||
| Nicole Fitzgerald | UL Bohemian | 1 | 2 |
Players Player Nominations
The players player nominated by their opposition for Week 1 are:
- Blackrock >> Hannah O’Connor
- Cooke >> Aishling O’Connell
- Galwegians >> Mary Helaly
- Malone >> Neve Jones
- Old Belvedere >> Kathryn Dane
- Railway Union >> Lisa Callan
- Suttonians >> Julia Bauer
- UL Bohemian >> Chloe Pearse
Well done to all.
Upcoming Fixtures
Some cracking fixtures this weekend. We will, of course, be all over Cooke v Malone and we hope to get someone along to Limerick to get an early season look at Rock and refresh our Hannah O’Connor and Chloe Pearse picture collections 😛
Corrections, comments or questions?