Ireland Women 7s: Alcorn and Liston make Senior Squad for 2021-22 Season

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by

John McMurtry

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Donegal natives and have been named in the Ireland Women’s Sevens Squad for the coming season, they join Ulster’s veteran 7s players and in an expanded 26 player squad.

It’s certainly a squad that needed refreshed after a disappointing run of results across seven World Series tournaments from May 2019 to February 2020 as the Irish international women’s teams continued the general slump which has seen them miss every performance target, to date, that was set in October 2018.

Regular readers will be familiar with our appreciation of Alcorn. The Letterkenny native really is a prodigious talent who first came to our attention back in 2017 when, aged 15, she ran out for Ulster U18 against Stirling County.

Mya Alcorn crosses for Ulster U18 against Stirling County in August 2017.

Unfortunately there were a couple of injuries in the intervening years, and she was just too young to feature for the “Almost Legendary” Team FRU in 2018, but she did rack up the Ulster U18 caps before graduating to Ireland U18 7s en route to the senior side. With speed and a hard edge she has the potential to be a superstar on the sevens circuit and we look forward to following her continued progress.

It’s been a longer journey for Ballyshannon’s Maeve Liston who first appeared in the Ulster Senior squad, along with her ponytail, in 2016 while still at college in Cardiff. Liston returned to Ulster in 2018 having spent her college years as captain of the Cardiff University women’s team and training with Bristol Women.

Maeve Liston in action for Ulster against Munster in December 2016

Liston moved to Dublin, after a season with Cooke in the AIL and, after a season with Blackrock, she got the call up into the 7’s training squad before the Covid disruptions.

Liston and Alcorn both trained with Ireland 7s during lockdown and were involved in the International Sevens Tournament at the IRFU High Performance Centre which was a warm up tournament for Team GB prior to the Olympics.

Other new names in the 7s squad, since we last covered them, are Grace Moore (Railway Union), Enya Breen (Team FRU & UL Bohemian), Kate Farrell McCabe (Suttonians), Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock), Maebh Dealy (Blackrock College), Anna Doyle (Blackrock College), Dorothy Wall (Blackrock), Erin King (Old Belvedere), Orla Hayes (Railway Union), Soneva Scott (Irish Sevens), Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow RFC) and Aoife Wafer (Enniscorthy).

A quick count gives 11 dual internationals in the squad which is somewhat surprising given that both the XV’s and 7s teams are both trying to qualify for their respective World Cups. It is a shocking state of affairs that the talent pool is perceived to be so shallow and resources so sparing.

The full Ireland Women’s 7s Squad for the 2021-22 season is shown below.

Thursday 12th August 2021. There is a correction for this squad here.

  • Lucy Mulhall (Rathdrum/Leinster)
  • Amee Leigh Murphy-Crowe (Railway Union/Munster)
  • Claire Boles (Railway Union/Ulster)
  • Katie Heffernan (Mullingar/Railway Union/Leinster)
  • Brittany Hogan (DCU/Old Belvedere/Ulster)
  • Stacey Flood (Railway Union/Leinster)
  • Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College/Connacht)
  • Eve Higgins (Railway Union/Leinster)
  • Anna McGann (Railway Union/Leinster)
  • Kathy Baker (Blackrock College /Leinster)
  • Emily Lane (Blackrock College/Munster)
  • Megan Burns (Blackrock College/Leinster)
  • Grace Moore (Railway Union/IQ Rugby)
  • Enya Breen (UL Bohemian/Munster)
  • Mya Alcorn (Blackrock College/Ulster)
  • Kate Farrell McCabe (Suttonians/Leinster)
  • Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock College/Connacht)
  • Maebh Dealy (Blackrock College/Connacht)
  • Anna Doyle (DCU/Blackrock College/Leinster)
  • Dorothy Wall (Blackrock College/Munster)
  • Erin King (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
  • Maeve Liston (Blackrock College/Ulster)
  • Orla Hayes (Railway Union RFC/Leinster)
  • Soneva Scott (Irish Sevens)
  • Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow RFC/Leinster)
  • Aoife Wafer (Enniscorthy RFC/Leinster).

With the popular USA based opening round not happening at the minute the Womens Seven’s Series season is due to start with back to back tournaments in Dubai and Capetown on the first two weekends of December.

IF in Doubt, sit them out

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