The Front Row UnionThis is a category page for Cooke RFC and it will show all posts and galleries where the club have been tagged on The Front Row Union. New coverage will appear here automatically as it is produced and we’ll continue to transition “historical” coverage across until complete, around the end of August 2020.
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Malone Women met Cooke Women on a rainy Sunday lunchtime in the first round of the Women’s Community Series games. From kick off Cooke took it to Malone with a series of forward drive and after 5 minutes were rewarded with a Hannah Harris try, converted Amanda Morton, to lead 7-0. Cooke were relentless and […]
Cooke and City of Derry women’s sides came together last weekend for the second part of the Beth Cregan Challenge Cup as they continue their preparation for the Community Series. The teams were divided up and it was more like an old fashioned trials match with reds playing blacks with the usual carnage expected from […]
We ended up at Shaws Bridge for the second week running due to a late Covid cancellation but having got there I’m pleased to report that the Cooke and Academy players have realised that you have to run at towards the camera when you are going to score if you want to get those pictures […]
City of Derry welcomed Cooke to judges Road on Saturday evening for a preseason training match, known locally as the Beth Cregan Inter City Challenge. Cregan being the coach of City of Derry and a leading player with Cooke. The teams spent equal time in defence and attack as they looked to dust off the […]
UL Bohemian continued their domination of the regular season with a comfortable win against Cooke at Shaw’s Bridge on Saturday night, the Limerick side now on an eleven game winning run. A few late changes saw Cooke move Breana Kaio Te Whetu into the centre for Leah McGoldrick. It was an improved performance from Cooke […]
[pullquote]Report and images courtesy of Bob Given Photography[/pullquote] Saturday’s McCrea Cup Semi Final, between Cooke and Belfast Harlequins, at Shaw’s Bridge, was a decidedly one sided affair. Cooke kicked off and immediately went on the offensive. After 8 minutes of pressure Harlequins conceded a penalty try. The Cooke onslaught started with a penalty try followed […]
Blackrock College pulled away in the second half, against Cooke at Shaw’s Bridge, to record a comprehensive win in the Women’s Energia AIL. It’s been a few weeks since Cooke have managed to get a game at Shaw’s Bridge under their belt and they started this one with plenty of enthusiasm with Beth Cregan crashing […]
Cooke Women powered to a 41 – 12 win against Tullamore in the semi final of the All Ireland Plate on Saturday evening at Shaws Bridge. Cooke got off to the best of starts with Eliza Downey crossing out wide to open the scoring. Further tries followed from Naomi McCullagh and Delores Hughes, all converted […]
I caught up with this match at half time with Cooke leading 19 – 7. Having kept half an eye on this game, while covering the first half of Inst v CI, it appeared that Cooke were applying the first half pressure so I positioned myself at the end Cooke were attacking and waited for […]
Old Belvedere returned to D4 with an Energia All Ireland Cup Semi Final place in their back pocket after a first half blitz against Cooke at Shaw’s Bridge on Sunday afternoon. The visitors were quick out of the block as Kathryn Dane sent Fiona Tuite under the posts after four minutes for Jemma Jackson to […]
A depleted Cooke side went down heavily to Railway Union in their Energia AIL match at Shawsbridge on Saturday afternoon. The home side were largely competitive in the first half with Aishling O’Connell, Kelly McCormill and Katie Hetherington showing well alongside a few bursts from Ilse van Staden. Aishling O’Connell featured strongly for Cooke in […]
[pullquote]Report and pictures by JC Sports Photography[/pullquote] Cooke made the trip down the M1 to a sunny Stradbrook Road for round three of the Women’s AIL and a strong final quarter saw them record a valuable bonus point win. Blackrock were without their Irish contingent who are in Scotland for an Ireland training camp and […]
Cooke Women edged the first meeting, at this level, in four seasons between two Ulster women’s club sides, with a 12 – 7 win against newly promoted Malone Women in their Energia AIL fixture at Shawsbridge. This will hopefully become a classic rivalry in years to come, but the first meeting at this level was […]
[pullquote]Report and pictures by Richard Owens[/pullquote] Cooke must feel their pockets were picked as they left the field, heads bowed, with only a draw, having been in front nearly the entire match. With strong sunlight dazzling the visitors, Cooke started brightly and after 10 minutes were rewarded with a try as the ball was spread […]
Dromore travelled to Shaw’s Bridge, on Saturday afternoon, to play Cooke in Kukri Ulster Rugby Championship Division One league game. Dromore pressed from the start and Cooke found themselves 12 – 0 down, in as many minutes, through tries by Josh Pentland and Graeme McCandless, one of which was converted by Lee Steenson. Dromore contain […]
Continuing from Part 1. Old Belvedere and Cooke had completed their Pool matches, both recording two wins from two. This left the following matches to decide who would join them in the semi finals. Match 5: Blackrock v Galwegians (Pool A) Match 6: Cooke v UL Bohemian (Pool B) The results and galleries from the […]
Six Women’s All Ireland sides competed in the inaugural Women’s Club Sevens competition yesterday afternoon at Terenure College RFC. The six teams were split onto two pools as follows. Pool A Pool B Blackrock College Cooke Galwegians UL Bohs Railway Union Old Belvedere I’d made the two and a half hour trip down to cover […]
Cooke RFC Women successfully defended the Rosie Stewart Bowl on Sunday afternoon against an Ulster Women’s Select side. It was a somewhat scrappy but fairly intense game, typical of the trials game that it actually was. The select side took a deserved 0 – 8 lead into the break after a try by Malone’s Gemma […]
The Showpiece Final for the Women’s Club Super Sunday at Carrick Rugby Club wasn’t the tense thriller I was hoping for as a rampant Queen’s University put an understrength Cooke 2nd XV to the sword in a dominant first half performance that saw the students run in six tries. Queen’s started the match determined to […]
Ulster Women junior clubs have put together a Super Sunday of matches tomorrow afternoon at Carrick RFC. The afternoon features three matches as follows; Ulster Women Junior Cup Competitions 13:00 Carrickfergus – Dungannon Rejenerate Cup Final 13:00 Belfast Harlequins – North Down Rejenerate Shield Final 15:00 Cooke II – Queen’s University Ulster Junior Shield Final […]
The much maligned Women’s All Ireland League finished it’s regular season on Saturday 23rd March with UL Bohemian, Old Belvedere, Railway Union and Blackrock going forward to the league playoffs to see who will be crowned Champions of Ireland for 2019. The semi finals will take place on Saturday 13th April as follows Old Belvedere […]
The Front Row Union can exclusively reveal that top Women’s All Ireland League sides, Railway Union and UL Bohemians will be joining the English Women’s Premier League for the 2019 – 2020 season. This will come as a major shock to the IRFU who have spent an “absolute fortune” trying to develop the women’s club […]
The second final at Ashbourne on Saturday afternoon featured AIL side Cooke RFC Women against promotion chasing Tralee RFC Women with the Belfast girls edging an entertaining encounter in the Shield Final. An all action display from Cooke youngster Vicky Irwin pushed the game in favour of AIL side. Irwin kicked the decisive five points […]
Cooke and St Mary’s College produced an entertaining game at Shawsbridge on Saturday evening to finish off their Women’s All Ireland League campaigns, the home side taking the spoils with a 22 – 20 win. St Mary’s started the game in determined mood, as they looked to put a disappointing campaign behind them. After a […]