The men’s and women’s Energia AIL finals are an Aviva Stadium double-header again on Sunday
BY RICHARD BULLICK
SUNDAY’S eagerly-anticipated women’s Energia All Ireland League final at the Aviva Stadium (1.30pm, TG4) will be between the expected pairing of table toppers Railway Union and reigning champions UL Bohemian, but only after two encouragingly close semis.
Railway went through the 18-match regular season with a 100 percent record but were grateful for a couple of fortuitous bounces as they came through to win 37-24 against Old Belvedere, who had finished a whopping 31 points behind them in fourth place.
By contrast, there was a low-scoring but equally compelling clash later in the afternoon in Limerick where UL Bohs had to fight from 12 points down to edge out Blackrock 15-12 in a wind-affected game which also attracted a shower of hailstones.
Last season’s showpiece was the first women’s final to take place at Irish rugby headquarters and these clubs served up a superb spectacle to mark the historic occasion, with UL Bohs eventually triumphing 48-38 in a thrilling game laden with 14 tries.
There have been difficulties facing club rugby, with too many one-sided scorelines in the elite tier of the women’s domestic game and this month’s news that Suttonians have folded despite avoiding relegation is a considerable blow.
As with the men’s side of the sport two decades ago, women’s rugby going professional – and in particular the advent of the Celtic Challenge – means that Ireland’s leading lights will largely be absent from the club game going forward.
Like last April, this Sunday’s domestic showpiece takes place the same weekend as the final round of fixtures in the Guinness Six Nations but being part of a televised double-header in the Aviva Stadium with the men’s decider does put the big game on an appropriate pedestal.
UL Bohs captain Chloe Pearse scores a crucial try in the narrow win over Blackrock in the semi
On paper, Railway Union will be without a number of frontline internationals including five Ireland backs in Stacey Flood, Anna McGann, Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe, Eve Higgins and Molly Scuffil-McCabe but they haven’t had them all season – or hardly ever really.
Prop Siobhan McCarthy was also on Ireland duty and former international Nikki Caughey didn’t feature in the semi either, yet Railway were still able to field no fewer than 11 capped players in their matchday squad against Old Belvedere.
That contingent included industrious Ulster flanker Claire Boles, who came off the bench in the semi but has since broken back into Ireland’s matchday squad for the last two rounds of the Six Nations so won’t be available for Railway this weekend.
But Mike South can call upon a nucleus of very experienced campaigners headed by evergreen veteran Lindsay Peat, the 44-year-old ex-Ireland prop and Dublin gaelic footballer who now plays No 8 at club level and has scored 23 tries in this campaign.
Blackrock winger Maggie Boylan has also crossed the whitewash 23 times but won’t have the opportunity to add to her tally, so few would bet against last season’s Energia AIL Player of the Year Peat ending up topping the try-scoring charts on her own.
Athletic ex-Ireland lock Aoife McDermott’s return from Australia gives Railway a brilliant lineout option and the gangling Sligo woman, who was partnered in the engineroom in the semi by sister Sonia, is also an effective carrier for a squad with seven Connacht reps.
Having the elder McDermott back compensates for the absence of future Irish international Faith Oviawe along with Ulster lock Keelin Brady from Cavan, while Wolfhounds second row Poppy Garvey was deployed at blindside flanker in the semi.
With Lisbellaw’s Boles being unavailable, it seems a reasonable bet that Garvey will pack down there again in a loose forward unit completed by Peat, who doubles up as an assistant coach, and last season’s Wolfhounds skipper Molly Boyne at openside.
South’s embarrassment of propping riches is such that, even with McCarthy and young Ulsterwoman Sophie Barrett unavailable, ex-Irish international Katie O’Dwyer and Tricia Doyle, a Celtic Challenge title winner with Wolfhounds, just started on the bench in the semi.
Kirstie Stevenson and Megan Collis, capped by Ireland at WXV3 in Dubai the autumn before last, started either side of Clovers hooker Emily Gavin, who has useful bench back-up in the shape of Meabh Keegan.
In Ulsterwoman Caughey’s absence, young Hannah Scanlan wore the No 10 jersey against Old Belvedere but the other three halfbacks on duty that day were a trio of former internationals in backs coach Ailsa Hughes, Mary Healy and Claire Keohane.
The powerful Leah Tarpey, who may harbour hopes of breaking back into the national squad ahead of the World Cup, showcased her emerging kicking game in the semi and forms a useful centre pairing with club captain Niamh Byne, who has also been capped by Ireland.
Winger Chisom Ugwueru scored a hat-trick of tries for UL Bohs in last April’s Energia AIL final
Long-serving skipper Byrne lifted the trophy when Railway made their historic breakthrough by being crowned All Ireland champions six years ago and again when they successfully defended their title after the hiatus caused by the pandemic.
Six years ago, Railway dethroned UL Bohs with a 13-8 victory in Donnybrook and this weekend is their fifth final in a row, albeit punctuated by the campaign having to be abandoned in 2020 and the following season simply not taking place due to the restrictions.
Kayla Waldron, who wore the green jersey on Ireland’s tour to Japan in the summer of 2022, hasn’t featured for Railway since breaking her leg in last April’s AIL final while club stalwart Aimee Clarke wasn’t togged out against Belvo.
The home club’s back three for that semi-final was young fullback Caoimhe McCormack, who has scored 14 tries this season, ex-international winger Laura Sheehan and Rhiann Heery, though this may be one area when UL Bohs might have expected to have the edge.
Alana McInerney, who picked up a nasty head injury early on in last season’s showpiece, will likely be unavailable due to Irish sevens commitments along with young centre Lucia Linn, but Fiona Hayes has had a plethora of backs to choose from most of the time.
Flying winger Chisom Ugwueru was the Limerick team’s hat-trick hero against Railway in the corresponding game 12 months ago, when fullback Aoife Corey also shone, but the Munster vice-captain will now miss this season’s final for a very good reason.
Although Corey represented UL Bohs on Tuesday’s media day in advance of the AIL final – and thus appears with Railway skipper Bryne in all the promotional photos with the trophy – she was drafted into the Ireland team to make her debut against Scotland on Saturday.
Although delighted to see their players receiving international recognition after feeling somewhat overlooked in recent seasons despite their domestic record, UL Bohs have taken a double hit for this final with Jane Clohessy also called up for Ireland’s game in Edinburgh.
Hayes could opt to play Irish international Clara Barrett, who scored the winning try against Blackrock to put UL Bohs into the final, at fullback with Connacht colleague Laoise McGonagle and Ugwueru out wide, while she is also spoilt for choice in midfield.
Eabha Nic Dhonnacha started alongside Munster regular Stephani Nunan in the semi, but UL Bohs will surely look to accommodate Caitriona Finn, who was taken to WXV1 by Ireland last autumn as an 18-year-old and is part of Scott Bemand’s Six Nations squad.
Versatile teenager Finn came off the bench in the Blackrock clash and, if she starts, it is likely to be at inside centre rather than at the expense of regular flyhalf Kate Flannery, with young Ulster stand-off Abby Moyles another option on the bench.
Club legend Nicole Cronin is, sadly, sidelined by injury yet again and Munster’s first choice scrumhalf Muirne Wall has barely featured for UL Bohs in this campaign but Abbie Salter-Townshend is a perfectly capable performer for the Red Robins in the No 9 jersey.
Young hooker Beth Buttimer is a travelling reserve for Ireland in Edinburgh but – along with Railway Union’s Sophie Barrett – could conceivably feature from the bench in Sunday’s final with Connacht’s Lily Brady in the middle of the front row initially.
Grainne Burke, who played in the recent Celtic Challenge for Clovers, will be pushing hard for a start at loosehead, with Eilis Cahill at tighthead as successor to Fiona Reidy, who officially retired on the back of last season’s success.
In addition to her scrummaging bulk, Cahill has scored more tries than anyone for UL Bohs this season, with her hefty haul of 17 including braces in both regular league games against final rivals Railway Union.
A late try by Boles gave the Dubliners a one-point victory in Limerick last autumn and they then won 17-10 at home when these teams met again in mid-March on their way to a perfect first phase of the campaign in which they averaged over 50 points.
Neither Clodagh O’Halloran not Brianna Heylmann lined out in the semi against Blackrock but UL Bohs still had a formidable back five featuring captain Chloe Pearse, the versatile Clohessy, Munster lock Claire Bennett and Clovers player Aoibhe O’Flynn.
It should be an intriguing tussle in the Aviva and, rather than having had their confidence dented by being pushed harder than some expected in the semis, those tough games should stand to both finalists by making them more battle-hardened.
Although the build-up has inevitably been overshadowed by the focus on Ireland’s impressive Six Nations campaign, the IRFU have very proactively sought to promote these Energia AIL finals.
Last April’s inaugural double bill attracted an attendance of 7768 and these top club sides do deserve the big stage on Sunday, when a number of the players on show will be hoping to catch the eye with the World Cup coming up.
That in itself shows club rugby remains an important part of the big picture as well as being a fascinating sub-plot, but the day will be all about the aspirations of two well-matched teams battling it out to land the coveted title of Energia Women’s All Ireland League champions.
With fairly similar line-ups to last year, Railway will have the extra motivation of seeking to avenge that defeat along with wanting to seal the deal after a flawless league campaign in which they have done the double against Sunday’s opponents during the regular season.
UL Bohs have a fantastic tradition in the women’s All Ireland League, which they have won more times than anyone else since its inception, and their head coach Hayes could probably best be described as a cult hero rather than simply club legend.
The former front row forward steered her beloved Bohs to back-to-back titles ahead of Railway’s breakthrough success of 2019 and the Limerick club’s next triumph – after a barren run by their standards – came when Hayes was back at the helm last season.
That was the 14th time the Red Robins have been crowned champions and, although Railway will go in as marginal favourites – compounded by the late loss of Corey and Clohessy for UL Bohs – another cracking contest is expected on Sunday.
Two of last year’s AIL final stars Faith Oviawe (right) and Aoife Corey are set to be absent this time
