What a response we had for our Dream Team nominations with 17, 661 votes cast, the votes not only coming from Ireland and the UK but from 51 different countries with the USA, New Zealand, France, Australia and Canada all showing substantial activity.
It was fun watching how the voting proceeded with the Munster mafia first to get mobilized followed by a lot of activity round Dublin and a late, well timed, surge from Galway.
Such was the interest we’ve decided to announce a 23 player squad for the Dream Team, and you never know, we might get a challenge match organised for charity once things return to normal.
Given, the quality of the nominations I knew this was going to be a good team. It’s slightly different that he one I envisaged, and some big names have missed out, but it’s a team I’d happily put forward against any other women’s side in these islands.
Unsurprisingly, our Team of the Season, UL Bohemian, lead the way with 7 starting nominations and 1 replacement. Next up we have Railway Union with 3 starting players and 3 replacements followed by Galwegians with 3 starts and Blackrock with 1 start and 2 replacements. Malone and Old Belvedere make up the numbers with 1 start and 1 replacement respectively.
The replacements were selected as the player with the second highest number of votes in the relevant position, or positions, as appropriate.
The Front Row Union Dream Team
| Position | Total Votes | Player | Club | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Loosehead | 1202 | Chloe Pearse | UL Bohemian | 545 |
| 2. Hooker | 1288 | Kate Sheehan | UL Bohemian | 512 |
| 3. Tighthead | 1258 | Fiona Reidy | UL Bohemian | 567 |
| 4. Second Row | 1396 | Ciara O’Halloran | UL Bohemian | 548 |
| 5. Second Row | 1063 | Clodagh O’Halloran | UL Bohemian | 460 |
| 6. Blind Side | 1448 | Edel Murphy | UL Bohemian | 669 |
| 7. Openside | 1045 | Ciara Griffin | UL Bohemian | 576 |
| 8. Number 8 | 1186 | Deirdre Roberts | Railway Union | 482 |
| 9. Scrumhalf | 1626 | Mary Healey | Galwegians | 783 |
| 10. Outhalf | 1799 | Niclole Fowley | Galwegians | 775 |
| 11. Left Wing | 741 | Steph Carroll | Railway Union | 309 |
| 12. Centre | 711 | Michelle Claffey | Blackrock | 320 |
| 13. Centre | 838 | Aoife Doyle | Railway Union | 424 |
| 14. Right Wing | 1075 | Ursula Salmon | Galwegians | 474 |
| 15. Fullback | 985 | Ella Durkan | Malone | 388 |
| 16. Rep. FR | — | Lisa Callan | Railway Union | 428 |
| 17. Rep. FR | — | Lyndsey Peat | Railway Union | 498 |
| 18. Rep. FR | — | Katie O’Dwyer | Railway Union | 518 |
| 19. Rep. SR | — | Judy Bobbett | Blackrock | 489 |
| 20. Rep. BR | — | Caoihme Molloy | Blackrock | 508 |
| 21. Rep. HB | — | Jemma Jackson | Old Belvedere | 739 |
| 22. Rep. C | — | Rachel Allen | UL Bohemian | 249 |
| 23. Rep. BT | — | Larissa Muldoon | Railway Union | 338 |
The captaincy of such a fine team should go to the player with the highest number of individual votes and the Galwegians half back pairing came first and second in this regard with Mary Healy just piping Nicole Fowley by 8 votes.
However, this pair will be doing enough chittering throughout the game 😀 so I’m going to indulge myself and name Malone and Ulster’s Ella Durkan as captain, with the brief to run everything from full back as we look to enforce a Barbarians style of rugby. With that bench, we have a plethora of players to come on and close out the game.
Thanks to everyone that took part and congratulations to all the players nominated and, of course, to the selected players above. After seeing some of those voting campaigns in action I should get some of you to run the membership campaign for the site. 🙂
You can view all the votes here.
