BY RICHARD BULLICK
YOUNG Ulsterwoman Sophie Barrett’s hopes of crowning a fantastic 12 months either side of her 20th birthday back in February by winning her first senior international cap for Ireland against Australia at Ravenhill last Saturday were dashed, but she may not have to wait long.
The Ballinamallard native had to be content with being Ireland’s spare prop covering the matchday squad for a Belfast fixture that Scott Bemand’s side won 36-10 with a superb performance against a Wallaroos side ranked fifth in the world.
Ireland’s exceptionally convincing victory should serve as a positive springboard for what will be a challenging inaugural WXV1 campaign in Vancouver, where their opening game at the end of the month is against current world champions New Zealand.
Both Barrett and fellow 20-year-old Ulsterwoman Sadhbh McGrath, who hadn’t recovered from surgery in June in time to be considered for the match against Australia, are among the six props included in Bemand’s squad of 30 announced on Tuesday for the trip to Canada.
With the experienced Christy Haney ruled out by the injury which forced her off against Australia, there is also room for the uncapped Andrea Stock of Ealing Trailfinders and Munster’s Siobhan McCarthy, who made her first appearance off the bench at the weekend.
The game against Australia launched the IRFU’s 150th anniversary celebrations and it is a credit to flame-haired Fermanagh forward Barrett that she even had a realistic chance of being given the green No 18 jersey considering she has been propping for just under a year.
During last August’s interpros, Barrett was still playing in the back row for Ulster, though she had to sit out the third-place play-off against Connacht when the women in white ended a winless streak stretching back more than a decade.
But during the autumn, young Barrett began featuring at tighthead for her new team Railway Union in the All Ireland League, ironically in a pack which had former international loosehead Lindsay Peat playing No 8.
Barrett took so well to her new role that she didn’t just make the inaugural Wolfhounds squad for the Celtic Challenge but started their first five fixtures – all of which were won – even when Ireland first-choice Haney was back fit.
If she could survive in the unfamiliar world of the scrums, Barrett’s background as a loose forward was always going to make her an asset around the park and she demonstrated that in the Irish derby against the Clovers in Cork last Christmas.
The then teenager was still carrying strongly late in the game and her huge clearout at a ruck helped pave the way for what proved the winning try for Wolfhounds from Ireland lock Eimear Corri.
Perhaps a little unlucky not to be called up by Ireland even as a Six Nations training partner given her good work for the title-winning Wolfhounds, Barrett still had an incredibly exciting end to April.
Straight after Ireland’s Ravenhill victory over Scotland which clinched third place in the Six Nations table and, with it, qualification for next year’s World Cup, Barrett was an influential figure for the Enniskillen side who beat Malone in the Ulster Cup final on the same pitch.
There wasn’t much time to celebrate her beloved Enniskillen’s success because, the following afternoon, Barrett featured for Railway Union in the first ever women’s All Ireland League final to be held at the Aviva Stadium.
She came on after half-time for the Dublin club and, although Railway ultimately lost a thrilling game to UL Bohs, rising star Sophie still had plenty to look forward to over a busy summer.
The only Ulsterwoman in a squad of 28, Barrett was superb for Ireland Under 20s in the inaugural Six Nations Women’s Summer Series in Italy in July, picking up her country’s Most Valuable Player Award at the end of the tournament.
Ireland rounded off a generally encouraging campaign with a stunning 37-7 victory over Scotland but Barrett hadn’t long to put her feet up afterwards with Ulster’s Vodafone Championship campaign just around the corner.
She impressed sufficiently in the round robin phase last month to receive a first call-up to Bemand’s squad of 35 for the autumn internationals and subsequently scored the first try as understrength Ulster lost to Connacht in the third-place play-off.
That was a challenging afternoon for the women in white, who fought hard after losing inspirational skipper Brittany Hogan to a straight red card well before half-time but Barrett appreciated the chance to play at Ulster headquarters on three consecutive Saturdays.
By the same token, Ravenhill would have been the perfect place for proud Ulsterwoman Sophie to win her first Ireland cap but the decision to start Niamh O’Dowd instead of Haney with Linda Djougang at tighthead worked against Barrett’s bench chances.
If Barrett had made the cut when the Ireland team was announced last Thursday, it might have swelled the attendance as there would undoubtedly have been a large contingent from the thriving Enniskillen RFC making the trip to Belfast to cheer her on.
Ulster skipper Kathryn Dane, just recently returned to action following a brain hemorrhage in November 2022, and the unlucky India Daley haven’t made Ireland’s autumn squad but a fourth Fermanagh woman, sevens star Claire Boles, was named as a training partner.
Dane and Daley will be hoping to join her in the green jersey between now and next August’s World Cup but for now the focus is firmly on Barrett, who is unusually tall for a prop, but so too was another converted tighthead John Hayes who became an Ireland legend!
Apart from the injured Haney, all those who featured against Australia last Saturday will be on the flight to Canada later this week along with McGrath, Barrett, Stock, Grace Moore, the fit-again Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird, Nicole Fowley, Katie Heffernan and Caitriona Finn.
Other than Donegal native McGrath and Barrett, the only current Ulster players included are Hogan and lock Fiona Tuite, though hooker Neve Jones, who plies her trade for English champions Gloucester Hartpury, will also be flying the flag for the northern province.
With the perhaps surprising inclusion of uncapped centres Heffernan and rookie Finn, there is no place among the tour party for Munster wingers Alana McInerney, scorer of seven tries in the interpros, or Chisom Ugwueru – or specialist fullback cover for Eimear Considine.
Recently returned from her second significant knee injury either side of a maternity break, Considine was only called up to the Irish squad after Meabh Deely withdrew due to injury but the 33-year-old impressed in a try-scoring comeback against the Aussies.
Another notable omission is Ealing Trailfinders skipper Shannon Ikahihifo, who was first capped by Ireland during this year’s Six Nations, but has been leapfrogged by young Irish sevens star Erin King, who made an eye-catching impact off the bench at the weekend.
The dynamic Nic a Bhaird’s ability to play in the middle of the front row if required means Bemand hasn’t needed to include specialist cover for his top pair of hookers, Jones and Cliodhna Moloney, among his 17 forwards.
