Armagh gaelic footballer Niamh Marley after a 2023 Ulster Senior Championship victory over Cavan in Clones
BY RICHARD BULLICK
FORMER Armagh gaelic footballer Niamh Marley has been handed the perfect platform to impress as she returns to the Celtic Challenge with Wolfhounds this Saturday after an absence of almost two years.
After getting to pull on a green jersey for the first time at the Dubai Sevens a few weeks before Christmas at the age of 33, the St Ronan’s College Lurgan PE teacher has been named on the right wing against Edinburgh at Hive Stadium (3pm, TG4/Youtube).
Marley is one of three Ulster players in Neill Alcorn’s starting team along with influential front row forwards from Fermanagh, India Daley and Sophie Barrett, while the visiting bench includes Irish international Fiona Tuite, Maebh Clenaghan, Cara McLean and Abby Moyles.
Champions Wolfhounds will be aiming to stay top of the table by following up last Saturday’s bonus-point away win against Clovers at Creggs RFC by completing a double over Edinburgh, who they beat 34-7 in the season opener at Energia Park before Christmas.
This is the first time that Marley will have featured in the competition since tearing her cruciate in training in early February during her first Celtic Challenge campaign two seasons ago, and the Ulsterwoman will be keen to make up for lost time.
Although she will have turned 34 by the time the competition begins and might have seemed well down the pecking order at the start of the season, the ambitious and determined Marley still harbours hopes of playing for Ireland in this spring’s Six Nations.
Niamh Marley (right) in action against Glasgow on her most recent visit to Scotland with Wolfhounds two years ago
With so many exciting young flyers around, rugby latecomer Marley’s age might have been expected to count against her, but being brought to the recent Dubai Sevens and Wolfhounds selection now suggests she is genuinely in the mix like everyone else.
Wolfhounds head coach Alcorn handed Marley her Ulster debut three years ago and rates her highly, but Ireland supremo Scott Bemand also has a strong say in Celtic Challenge selection and she wouldn’t be featuring in Edinburgh without his approval.
What makes this such a golden opportunity for Marley is that has been picked to start in a star-studded backline containing no fewer than five first-choice Ireland players from the recent World Cup, giving her the best possible opportunity to impress.
She will be playing outside one of the best centre combos in world rugby in Ireland Player of the Year Aoife Dalton and Eve Higgins and in a back three with the classy Stacey Flood for a team with top halfbacks Aoibheann Reilly and Dannah O’Brien pulling the strings.
We saw the well-worked tries which that axis of O’Brien, Higgins, Dalton and Flood laid on for Amy Larn, albeit on the left wing, against Clovers and Brython Thunder last season and now Marley is being given a great chance to put her hand up for higher honours.
Winger Niamh Marley at Ravenhill after making her Ulster debut against Connacht in January 2023
Any Celtic Challenge game-time is welcome for those hoping to impress Bemand, but being slotted into such an established backline close to full-strength is a big bonus for the third of four sisters to follow their dad Noel by playing inter-county gaelic football for Armagh.
Renowned for her physicality as a gaelic footballer, Niamh Marley won three Ulster Senior Championships in the orange jersey, before focusing solely on rugby, a sport which has helped showcase her impressive pace.
If Wolfhounds can secure a decent share of possession, Marley can hope for opportunities to get her hands on the ball given the ability of the ghosting Higgins to open up defences, Dalton’s unselfishness and Flood’s sublime range of passing when she comes into the line.
The cultivated left boot of O’Brien can offer the wingers in her team the potential of productive chases and the women out wide for Wolfhounds should also be alert to support Reilly if she repeats her blistering breaks from last weekend’s victory over Clovers.
Playing alongside Wolfhounds skipper Dalton, who is not only world-class in that facet of the game but also an excellent communicator, will also help Marley defensively in what is the most important match of her relatively brief rugby career to date.
Niamh Marley (left) and Orla Dixon wore the green jersey for the first time at the recent Dubai Sevens
Having attended an Ulster Talent Identification day at Chambers Park in Portadown just before the 2017 World Cup, complete newcomer Marley impressed so much that she was invited to join the province’s extended training squad ahead of that season.
However, it emerged that she had been playing gaelic football for the previous few months with a cruciate tear and the major knee surgery which followed kept the flame-haired Marley sidelined for the best part of 18 months.
Upon returning to fitness, she focused solely on Orchard duty until opting to give rugby another go in the autumn of 2021, finally taking the field for her first game in the sport 1526 days after first picking up an oval ball.
That was for a pre-season friendly with Ulster Premiership side Dungannon and Marley marked her debut with four tries before scoring a hat-trick against Omagh in her first competitive match next time out at the age of 29.
Marley’s exploits brought her to the attention of the Ulster set-up and she had a couple of run-outs with select teams at the end of her first season in the sport, before being picked to start all three matches in the January 2023 interpros.
Although Ulster struggled in the course of another whitewash, Marley was invited for a three-week trial with the Irish sevens set-up on the back of those interpros and brought back into that camp for a more prolonged period that summer.
Armagh’s four Marley sisters (from left) Niamh, Caoimhe, Sarah and Catherine after a victory over Cork in 2019
In May of that year, Ireland’s women had secured qualification for the Olympics for the first time and Marley appeared well-placed to stake a claim for squad selection for Paris 2024 but things didn’t work out that way.
Perhaps there was annoyance that Niamh – who crucially won the kickout that led to Aimee Mackin’s last-gasp winning goal against Mayo which secured a home All Ireland quarter-final – was continuing to line out for Armagh that summer.
Or maybe the then Irish hierarchy’s heads had been turned by the ill-fated plan to recruit Meath All Ireland winner Vikki Wall, who was brought on board with much fanfare but proved an expensive flop, was unselectable come the Olympics and subsequently quit the sport.
For whatever reason, Marley was jettisoned but she has shown much more enduring commitment to rugby than Wall, including giving up playing for her beloved Armagh after a decade and a half of service in the orange jersey, and also lining out at club level.
Initially on a dual registration basis and then following a fully-fledged move from Dungannon, Marley began lining out in the All Ireland League for Belfast club Cooke but it was in the interpros two seasons ago that she really caught the eye.
Marley scored a breath-taking try as Ulster finally ended a winless streak of more than a decade with a comprehensive victory over Connacht in the third place play-off in Cork and was rewarded with Wolfhounds squad selection.
She started in the Celtic Challenge’s inaugural Irish derby, when Wolfhounds came from behind to beat Clovers on the same Musgrave Park pitch, just before Christmas and got good game time over the following weeks.
Wolfhounds skipper Aoife Dalton (left) and new winger Maggie Boylan during the victory over Clovers
After away wins against Edinburgh and Glasgow – this weekend won’t be Niamh’s first time to appear in the navy-and-white quarters on Scottish soil – Marley bagged tries against Welsh sides Brython Thunder and Gwalia Lightning in Belfast and Dublin respectively.
Then disaster struck in the shape of another catastrophic knee injury, sustained in innocuous fashion training with Wolfhounds, and although Marley worked hard to get back in action by December, she didn’t feature in last season’s Celtic Challenge.
Niamh added another string to her bow by playing fullback for Cooke, and Ulster utilised their strike-runner there some as well as on the wing in the interpros at the start of the current season.
Although Marley has opted to line out for Ulster Premiership side Queen’s this season rather than continuing in the AIL with Cooke, that decision certainly hasn’t reflected any winding down on the player’s part.
Her selection for the largely young Irish sevens squad for Dubai – Marley and another newcomer, Connacht Player of the Year Orla Dixon, were considerably older than everyone else – was a significant feather in Niamh’s cap.
With Ireland having dropped out of the World Series, James Topping’s squad were just taking part in the international invitational competition in Dubai and the country’s leading lights like Amee-Leigh Costigan, Flood and Higgins no longer play sevens.
However, it still showed that Marley hadn’t been excluded from the representative picture as did her selection in the Wolfhounds squad even though this is part of a new World Cup cycle and she will be 37 by the time that Australia 2029 rolls around.
A lot of time has elapsed since Marley last featured for Wolfhounds, during which Ireland have kept progressing, more new wing talent has emerged and the clock might have seemed to tick loudly for a thirty-something who could have felt out of sight and mind.
Being named in the initial Wolfhounds squad last month was a notable endorsement by appearing to at least put Marley in a cluster of eight wingers fighting for a probable maximum of five places in Bemand’s Six Nations training group.
Irish international Natasja Behan wasn’t included in the Wolfhounds squad along with several others who have featured over the past couple of seasons, notably Ella Roberts and Anna Doyle along with Marley’s former team-mates Ava Ryder and Aimee Clarke.
Meanwhile, the official Clovers squad for the competition didn’t include Ireland-capped Clara Barrett, IRFU-contracted sevens regulars Clare Gorman and Ellen Boylan, or the exciting but injured duo of Chisom Ugwueru and Hannah Clarke.
So Marley had cleared the first hurdle by being included in the Wolfhounds squad of 30, albeit appearing probably fourth in the winger pecking order behind Irish internationals Katie Corrigan and Vicky Elmes-Kinlan along with the latter’s fellow Olympian Larn.
She was then usurped by Blackrock’s prolific finisher Maggie Boylan, not named in the original squad but parachuted in to start on the left wing against Edinburgh in the first fixture of Wolfhounds’ title defence.
The confident Boylan has translated her form from the AIL to the Celtic Challenge, getting on the scoresheet and delivering impressive performances in both the Edinburgh game and then the Irish derby against Clovers which followed.
With young firecracker fullback Robyn O’Connor deployed on the wing from the off against Clovers to accommodate Ireland first choice Flood’s return to the No 15 jersey, and scoring a try, it was starting to feel like a very crowded field in terms of the Wolfhounds wide berths.
On paper, it seemed Marley might now be down as far as sixth cab, behind – in whatever order – Corrigan, Elmes-Kinlan, Larn, O’Connor and Boylan, but she has been handed an early chance to shine this weekend in round three of the Celtic Challenge.
Corrigan and O’Connor are each just 20, Larn is 21 and Elmes-Kinlan 22, so there is a big difference between them and Marley, but thankfully those selecting these sides haven’t appeared hung up on players supposedly being too young or too old.
Marley has played with Dalton and O’Brien before, when both were just 20 but already established internationals, but this Saturday will be her first time as a team-mate of Olympians Flood, Higgins and Erin King as well as Ireland star Reilly.
She and Boylan are occupying the wide berths with no winger on the bench – none of O’Connor, Corrigan, Elmes-Kinlan and Larn are in the matchday squad of 23 – so both will probably play the full 80 minutes barring injury.
Corrigan’s sensational 12 tries in five outings for Wolfhounds two seasons ago catapulted her into the Ireland starting team aged just 18 and she scored a try in all three home matches in the 2024 Six Nations but she has yet to feature in the current Celtic Challenge.
Larn’s only involvement in the first three matches came off the bench against Edinburgh, while Elmes-Kinlan started that opening game and was a replacement in the Clovers clash but won’t be involved at Hive Stadium.
Alcorn has made three changes to the team which started in the 24-7 away win against Clovers for this trip to the Scottish capital, with Marley for O’Connor on the right wing being the only alteration behind the scrum.
Niamh Marley touches down for a breakaway try for Wolfhounds against Gwalia Lightning (Pic: Aoife Wafer)
Wicklow’s Caoimhe Molloy comes in at loosehead for Ireland legend Linda Djougang – who isn’t in the matchday squad – while last season’s Wolfhounds captain Claire Boles is replaced by Poppy Garvey at blindside flanker.
Connacht’s Garvey had started the first game against Edinburgh, getting through a lot of work, and then came on midway through the opening period last week having given way in the starting line-up to King, who was making her return from long-term injury.
With Boles lining out for Railway Union in the AIL on Saturday afternoon and Wolfhounds reverting to a 5:3 bench split from last week’s 6:2 configuration, it would appear King is on course to play a lot longer here than her scheduled 20 minutes against Clovers.
Current Irish sevens skipper Megan Burns and adopted Ulsterwoman Moyles will make their first appearances of the season if they come off the bench at Hive Stadium, where the other back is scrumhalf Katie Whelan.
In the absence of Djougang and fellow Ireland stalwart Christy Haney, Alisha Flynn from Munster is a fresh face on the bench as one of the three front row reserves along with the Ulster duo of hooker Clenaghan and teenage prop McLean.
Rookies Kate Jordan and Naoise Smyth are paired in the engineroom for the third game running as Ireland’s Tuite eases herself back into action while Ireland U20 flanker Aoife Corcoran replaces last week’s Wolfhounds newcomer Moya Hill of Enniskillen on the bench.
In Flood, Dalton, Higgins, O’Brien, Reilly, O’Leary and King, Wolfhounds field seven full internationals from the off and will start favourites to complete the double over Edinburgh, who were Celtic Challenge runners-up two seasons ago.
As marginally the better of the two Scottish sides, Edinburgh would probably be expected to make the competition’s inaugural semi-finals this time round along with the two Irish teams and Gwalia Lightning from Wales.
Since their 27-point defeat by Wolfhounds in difficult conditions in Dublin before Christmas, Edinburgh have got their first victory of the campaign, 31-25 in the Scottish derby at home to Glasgow Warriors over the festive period.
Ulster team-mates India Daley (left) and Sadhbh McGrath will be in Celtic Challenge action this weekend
Meanwhile, Denis Fogarty has made a number of changes to his matchday squad as Clovers seek to bounce back from that home defeat against Wolfhounds with victory over bottom team Brython Thunder at Cardiff Arms Park on Sunday (3pm, BBC iPlayer).
International Sadhbh McGrath, scorer of two tries in a Player of the Match performance in the opening victory over Gwalia Lightning at Energia Park, starts at tight-head prop for the third game running as the sole Ulster representative in the Clovers line-up.
With Ireland star Beibhinn Parsons absent and no sign of Costigan yet this campaign, Anna McGann moves to the right wing from outside centre with Emily Foley continuing out on the left and Meabh Deely taking over from fellow international Aoife Corey at fullback.
Lucia Linn, who was sinbinned after coming on as a replacement last week, slots in alongside impressive find Niamh Murphy in the centre while the halfbacks remain unchanged with hot prospect Caitriona Finn again partnering skipper Emily Lane.
Ireland loosehead Siobhan McCarthy, whose scrummaging was so effective against Wolfhounds, isn’t involved this week, so Ella Burns comes back into the front row alongside World Cup squad hooker Beth Buttimer and Sadhbh McGrath.
In Aoibhe O’Flynn’s absence, her engineroom partner Jane Clohessy – capped by Ireland last spring – takes over the vice-captaincy and big Aoibheann McGrath gets a start, while the loose forward trio will have a third consecutive outing together from the off.
With the exception of full international Corey, who was excellent last week, the Clovers bench has a particularly callow look with Connacht prop Hannah Coen and the Munster pair of Amelia Green and Annakate Cournane set for first appearances at this level.
Hooker Emma Dunican, who started the opening game, and prop Orlaith Morrissey continue as front row reserves from last week, Connacht’s diminutive Grainne Moran remains the back-up scrumhalf and Lyndsay Clarke of Ennis comes in to wear the No 23 jersey.
Along with Irish internationals Parsons and McCarthy plus the athletic O’Flynn, the other player to drop out from the group of duty last weekend is Caiomhe Murphy, who was the reserve back row for the first two fixtures.
Although Clovers are without Parsons, Costigan, Alana McInerney, last season’s skipper Enya Breen, Kate Flannery, McCarthy, Ruth Campbell, O’Flynn, Ivana Kiripati and Ailish Quinn, they will still be targeting an away win with a bonus point in the Welsh capital.
It has been a difficult start to this new Celtic Challenge campaign for Brython, who started with a 36-17 defeat to Glasgow Warriors at Parc Y Scarlets in Llanelli before being thumped 36-10 in the Welsh derby by rivals Gwalia Lightning at this Sunday’s venue.
Gwalia had given Clovers a great game at Energia Park in Dublin a week earlier, just going down 35-31 by virtue of missing two conversions compared to Finn’s perfect five from five, but, as with nature, Thunder would appear to be trailing a bit behind Lightning.
WOLFHOUNDS (v Edinburgh, Hive Stadium, Saturday 3pm): Stacey Flood; Niamh Marley, Aoife Dalton (capt), Eve Higgins, Maggie Boylan; Dannah O’Brien, Aoibheann Reilly; Caoimhe Molloy, India Daley, Sophie Barrett, Kate Jordan, Naoise Smyth, Poppy Garvey, Maeve Og O’Leary, Erin King. Replacements: Maebh Clenaghan, Cara McLean, Alisha Flynn, Fiona Tuite, Aoife Corcoran; Katie Whelan, Megan Burns, Abby Moyles.
CLOVERS (v Brython Thunder, Cardiff Arms Park, Sunday 12noon): Meabh Deely; Anna McGann, Lucia Linn, Niamh Murphy, Emily Foley; Caitriona Finn, Emily Lane (capt); Ella Burns, Beth Buttimer, Sadhbh McGrath, Aoibheann McGrath, Jane Clohessy, Rosie Searle, Faith Oviawe, Jemima Adams-Verling. Replacements: Emma Dunican, Orlaith Morrissey, Hannah Coen, Amelia Green, Annakate Cournane; Grainne Moran, Lyndsay Clarke, Aoife Corey.
Wolfhounds winger Niamh Marley on the attack against Brython Thunder at Ravenhill (Pic: Aoife Wafer)
Poppy Garvey (right) returns to the Wolfhounds starting line-up for Saturday’s away game against Edinburgh
