Cooke battled to a 19 – 10 win against Malone in the final round of the Women’s All Ireland League before it is split into two separate leagues in the New Year. Unfortunately, both teams will be competing with the also rans in the bottom six with the top four sides someway ahead of the rest of the field in this season’s cobbled together AIL.

There was plenty of grit and determination on show from both sides in this game but it was a poor game overall with play lurching from set piece to penalty with very little continuity in between.

Cooke got onto the scoreboard first with Ilse van Staden battling over, from close range,towards the end of a scrappy first half played in difficult conditions. Amanda Morton added the extras and Cooke took a 7 – 0 lead into the break.

The hard working Helen McGhee added a second for Cooke at the start of the second half and with Morton adding the extras Cooke doubled their lead to 14 – 0.

Malone finally got their act together and a couple of breaks upfield ended with Neve Jones crashing over, five minutes later, to take the score to 14 – 5 but Cooke responded fairly quickly, keeping Malone pinned in their red zone until Aishling O’Connell came away with Cooke’s third try to push the score along to 19 – 5.

After 3 tries in quick succession we had to wait another 20 minutes for the next score as the game reverted to it’s first half slugging match but, as the match clicked on towards full time, Malone were able to work another try as Shirelle Wilson finished off a strong run from Lauren Maginnes to give a final score of 19 – 10 in Cooke’s favour.

Cooke:  Dolores Hughes, Georgia Boyce, Lucy Thompson, Coral Lapsley, Tamzin Boyce, Amanda Morton, Teah Maguire, Ilse van Staden, Beth Cregan, Aishling O’Connell, Sorcha Mac Laimhin, Caolinn McCormack, Megan Simpson, Naomi McCord, Helen McGhee. Replacements: Eimear McQuillan, Katie Hetherington, India Daley, Alanagh van Staden, Caitlin Fisher, Fiona McCaughan, Cara McKevitt 

Malone: Holly Brannigan, Anna Stanfield, Emma Jordan, Ella Durkan, Sophie Armstrong, Peita McAlister, Shirelle Wilson, Jo McMorris-Cloughley, Neve Jones, Chrissie McKee, Emma Taylor, Jasmine Ward, Erin Jones, Chloe McIlwaine, Lauren Maginnes. Replacements: Ashleigh Currie, Alexa Grudgings.

The result see’s Cooke leapfrog Malone in the AIL at the season’s mid point. However, as said above, both reams will be competing in the lower split of the league in the New Year.