Fermanagh front forwards India Daley (left) and Sophie Barrett with their medals after the Celtic Challenge Grand Final
WOLFHOUNDS 50 CLOVERS 29
Richard Bullick at Hive Stadium
SWASHBUCKLING Wolfhounds ran up a half-century of points as they completed a hat-trick of title triumphs in stunning style with this comprehensive victory over Irish rivals Clovers in the Celtic Challenge’s inaugural Grand Final in Edinburgh.
Neill Alcorn’s side sealed their three-peat in emphatic fashion at a sunny but chilly Hive Stadium, where Clovers came up short in their quest to claim the crown for the first time but contributed plenty to a full-blooded derby battle laced with 13 tries.
Five players bagged braces, Clovers replacement prop Eilis Cahill emulating the legendary Linda Djougang’s two touchdowns for Wolfhounds, with a trio of Olympians – Vicky Elmes-Kinlan, Erin King and Beibhinn Parsons – each crossing the whitewash twice also.
The other tries went to young Clovers centre Niamh Murphy, one of the finds of this season’s competition, and two Wolfhounds forward replacements, Maeve Og O’Leary on a dream return from injury and flame-haired Wicklow prop Caoimhe Molloy.
After suffering double defeat at the hands of Wolfhounds during the regular league phase, Clovers were desperate to turn the tables and Denis Fogarty’s team took an early lead to fuel hopes of an historic triumph.
Clovers scored first in Saturday’s showpiece and also had the last word with a consolation try right at the end, but their hopes of winning were long gone by then thanks to the devastating damage Wolfhounds had inflicted in between.
Led superbly by captain fantastic Aoife Dalton, who made good decisions, combined brilliantly with her fellow midfield maestro Eve Higgins in attack and defended ferociously, Wolfhounds showed why they are worthy three-in-a-row title winners.
Although table toppers Wolfhounds fell behind early in the second half, just as they had done in the first, Alcorn’s well-drilled back-to-back champions responded superbly by retaking the lead and imperiously pulling away with some glorious rugby.
Speedster Parsons book-ended the second half with her two tries but unstoppable Wolfhounds had plundered an incredible 31 unanswered points in between with a further five touchdowns of their own.
Wolfhounds have scored an astonishing 80 tries in their 12 matches this season and some of the kudos must go to their affable backs coach Ben Martin, who is set to return to his native Australia this summer after a long sojourn in Ireland.
Head coach Alcorn has presided over all three title triumphs and the humble Belfast man universally known as ‘Pops’ now has a highly impressive record of 26 wins, a draw and just two defeats from his 29 matches at the Wolfhounds helm.
Back from missing last season through injury, Ulster skipper India Daley is the only player to have featured in every match of this successful campaign for Wolfhounds, starting all but one of them and switching from hooker to back row when required.
Her fellow Fermanagh front row forward Sophie Barrett was with Clovers last season but has shone on her return to Wolfhounds and, unlike the unlucky Daley, is in Ireland’s Six Nations squad and hoping to pick up her first cap in the coming weeks.
The celebrations continued on Sunday as their beloved Enniskillen RFC put Connacht opponents Tuam to the sword in the All Ireland League promotion play-off despite the Ulster Premiership champions being without their biggest stars.
Barrett and Daley’s Claire Boles, last season’s victorious Wolfhounds skipper, missed the Celtic Challenge run-in this time due to injury, while Armagh-born north west woman Maebh Clenaghan had to sit out the semi and final due to suspension.
Aoife Dalton shares the moment with proud dad Tony after lifting the Celtic Challenge trophy as Wolfhounds skipper
Banned for three weeks after being red-carded against Clovers in the last round of regular league games, Clenaghan wasn’t allowed to be part of the official presentation but the Queen’s medical student was at the heart of the celebrations afterwards.
The Queen’s medical student has made more appearances for Wolfhounds than anyone in their history including starting all 10 last season and, until her red card, had featured in 26 of 27 matches with her only absence being due to an exam clash earlier in this campaign.
Former Armagh gaelic footballer Niamh Marley didn’t make the matchday 23 for the final but the oldest of the 43 players used by Wolfhounds this season has scored several tries including one which helped the champions clinch first place in the table by beating Clovers.
Marley turns 34 later this week, but at the other end of the age scale, teenage prop Cara McLean from county Antrim featured regularly earlier in the campaign, while Sarah Roberts and Moya Hill made one appearance each as a replacement.
The other two Ulster players in the Saturday’s matchday squad were Leinster natives Fiona Tuite, the influential Ireland forward, and back-up outhalf Abby Moyles, whose conversion late on took Wolfhounds to the 50-point landmark.
Dominant Wolfhounds have benefited from fast starts throughout this successful title defence, with so many matches effectively put to bed by half-time, but they have tended to be much less effective after the interval.
Only in their opening game against Edinburgh at Donnybrook before Christmas had Wolfhounds done better on the scoreboard in the second half compared to the opening period, but they bucked that trend spectacularly on Saturday.
On an afternoon when they only led 19-17 at the interval and went behind again just over a minute after the resumption, Alcorn’s crew couldn’t have afforded to be outscored in the second half like they were on their last two outings.
Albeit Wolfhounds had very healthy interval leads in the bank both times, Clovers eclipsed them 20-7 in the last 40 minutes of the final regular league game at Belfield Bowl and Brython edged the champions 10-5 in the second period of last weekend’s semi in Galway.
So there was interest going into the final in what might happen if Wolfhounds didn’t have their customary cushion by the break, but even though they actually trailed briefly early in the second half, Alcorn’s women were out of sight heading down the home straight.
By the time Parsons sliced through for that last score, victorious captain Dalton, Player of the Match King, Ireland’s most capped present player Djougang and ice-cool conductor Dannah O’Brien were all watching from the comfort of the front row of the stand.
Just two weeks out from the Six Nations opener against world champions England in front of a record Twickenham crowd, Scott Bemand would have been relieved to see key figures survive unscathed, notably his new skipper King and Ireland Player of the Year Dalton.
It had looked like the seemingly-indestructible Dalton might have to bow out injured for the first time in her 65-match professional career after she hurt herself slipping when trying to stop sharply having raced some 40 metres at top pace in a bid to cut off a Clovers attack.
There was a lengthy stoppage while the tough 22-year-old Offaly woman was attended to but, just like in Ireland’s Six Nations match in this stadium last spring when her foot got caught under her, the little warrior got her ankle strapped up and played on.
Dalton’s injury occurred some 25 minutes into an attritional first half which had already seen Clovers lose three players, including skipper Ruth Campbell temporarily after a clash of heads with team-mate Alana McInerney.
Campbell returned but McInerney took no further part in the game as the medics weren’t able to get her stitched within the time allowed for a blood sub, while young Ulsterwoman Sadhbh McGrath was helped off in evident discomfort midway through the half.
Understandably upset prop McGrath appeared the only major injury concern arising from the final for Bemand out of his 21 Six Nations squad members who were on show, with the others having benefited from this high-intensity tussle ahead of facing England.
It was heartbreaking though to see eye-catching Clovers replacement Lucia Linn leaving the field, in pain and distraught, with her jersey serving as a makeshift sling, a few days after being named Ireland captain for the inaugural Under 21 Six Nations.
Incidentally, Linn was one of 13 members of that Ireland U21 squad to be involved in this Celtic Challenge final, five of whom started for either team with the remaining trio being on the Clovers bench, underlining the development potential of the competition.
Clovers captain Ruth Campbell (top) and team-mates celebrate taking an early lead but they were well beaten in the end
With Ireland’s Grace Moore back on English Premiership duty with Ealing Trailfinders after featuring in the last two Celtic Challenge games, Aoife Corcoran came in at openside flanker in Alcorn’s sole change to the starting team from the semi-final against Brython Thunder.
The only other alteration to the matchday squad saw Munster’s interpro title-winning skipper O’Leary make a miraculous return, via the bench, a few weeks after badly injuring her wrist in the away game against Glasgow on her last visit to Scotland.
O’Leary displaced lock Cliodhna Ni Chonchobhair, while there was a slight shuffle to the Clovers run-on line-up, Annakate Cournane coming in at blindside flanker with young Ireland call-up Aoibheann McGrath returning to the engineroom instead of Aoibhe O’Flynn.
Lock O’Flynn dropped to the bench at the expense of flanker Rosie Searle, with Grainne Burke taking over from Ella Burns as replacement loosehead and Linn wearing the No 23 jersey in place of Chisom Ugwueru.
However, Beth Buttimer – involved in the incident which saw Wolfhounds replacement Clenaghan sent off in the last derby – was a late withdrawal due to illness so Emma Dunican was promoted to start and Aoife Fleming brought onto the bench.
In terms of the champions not getting due credit for their Celtic Challenge dominance, it was frustrating to hear one of the commentary team claim that ‘Wolfhounds have a lot more Irish representation’ and another wrongly state Clovers had only seven internationals.
The facts are that Clovers had nine full internationals in their starting team compared to eight for Wolfhounds and 11 of the Ireland Six Nations squad who were on matchday duty in Edinburgh compared to 10 in navy and white.
Teenage outhalf Caitriona Finn and international Jane Clohessy – both in the Six Nations squad – have been notable absentees at the business end of the campaign for Clovers but Wolfhounds haven’t been at full-strength either.
In-form Ireland scrumhalf Aoibheann Reilly was a huge loss for the knockout stages, while last season’s successful captain Boles and her fellow international flanker O’Leary have both been out injured over the past few weeks.
The unfortunate suspension of Clenaghan was offset somewhat by the timely return of international Sarah Delaney as bench hooker for the play-offs after the best part of two seasons out with a succession of injuries.
These two teams had a joint training session earlier in the month, travelled over on the same flight, stayed in the same hotel and their respective buses pulled up at the back of Murrayfield one after the other on Saturday.
But this was always sure to be a fiercely-competitive encounter with silverware at stake, bragging rights heading into Six Nations camp at the start of this week and the opportunity to impress Ireland boss Bemand with green jerseys up for grabs.
Clovers got off to a dream start, Enya Breen attacking going right from a scrum on halfway and her halfback partner Emily Lane putting Aoife Corey through a hole to stride deep into the 22 before a well-timed offload sent Murphy under the Wolfhounds posts with 2:37 gone.
Racing back in an attempt to cover, Dalton flung herself at Murphy but she was already over the tryline thanks to the great work from fullback Corey, who made her Ireland debut in this stadium last April but is a notable omission from the squad for the upcoming Six Nations.
Breen converted and Stacey Flood fumbled the Clovers outhalf’s long clearance from the restart backwards into touch, but play was brought back upfield for Cournane being in front of the kicker and Wolfhounds soon got another penalty.
Wolfhounds went quickly, Dalton darting to the Clovers 22, Robyn O’Connor dancing on off her wing and Barrett going on her first rampage of the afternoon, though both she and Daley needed treatment after the ball was finally nudged forward.
The Ulster contingent (from left) Maebh Clenaghan, Sophie Barrett, Abby Moyles, India Daley, Fiona Tuite and head coach Neill Alcorn
Breen kicked from the ensuing scrum, catcher Flood and young O’Connor ran back from halfway, with Ailish Quinn being penalised at the breakdown and O’Brien – curtailed by the breeze – putting it into touch 15 metres inside the Clovers half.
King won the resulting lineout, Clovers bought a dummy from Higgins in midfield and Dalton went on a carving run into the 22 before passing out of the tackle to fullback Flood, who put winger Elmes-Kinlan over in the left corner for a beautiful eighth minute try.
That unfortunate clash of heads for Clovers came on 12 minutes, with O’Flynn and Linn entering the fray as a result, and despite playing into wind, Wolfhounds went in front for the first time on the quarter hour mark courtesy of Djougang’s first try.
With Clovers also conscious of Dalton coming round on a well-timed burst should another pass have been needed after a stampede by Daley, the formidable Djougang barged over from close range to reward Wolfhounds pressure.
O’Brien added the straightforward conversion and, although Dalton made a crucial flying tackle to stop dangerwoman Parsons getting away shortly afterwards, Clovers kept pressing with waves of pressure in the Wolfhounds 22.
It was a sad sight to see a crestfallen Sadhbh McGrath being helped off injured before the ensuing scrum, replaced by behemoth Cahill who would have a major impact, but bandaged Clovers captain Campbell made a welcome return to the fray at the same time.
But Clovers were soon down to 14 players after Wolfhounds had shown how ruthless they can be, firstly in a break up the left from the scrum 10 metres from their own line and then an incredible burst by Dalton down the middle which led to the yellow card.
From a long pass by O’Brien, compact powerhouse Dalton somehow escaped the clutches of physically imposing Ireland prop Siobhan McCarthy, who had caught her high, and beat several more defenders on a weaving run before freeing trusty accomplice Higgins.
Replacement Linn did brilliantly to haul Higgins down when most would have backed her to reach the tryline, but flanker Quinn’s infringement at the breakdown saw her sinbinned and Dalton shrewdly opted for the scrum in midfield rather than a tricky kick to the corner.
For the second time in quick succession, teenager Alex Connor made a decoy run going one way off the base of a scrum while No 8 King picked and went the other, and one of those ferocious, surgical clear-outs from Dalton helped create the gap for Djougang to score again.
O’Brien beautifully added the extras from well to the left of the posts to put Wolfhounds 19-7 up with that extra player for the next eight minutes. It seemed an ominous situation for Clovers but, to their great credit, Fogarty’s side scored the game’s next three tries.
The force was with Wolfhounds but perhaps the lengthy stoppage for Dalton’s injury almost immediately after Breen’s restart stemmed the flow while giving Clovers a much-needed chance to regroup.
Most importantly though, Wolfhounds didn’t lose their inspirational skipper and she seemed to be moving fairly freely as her side found themselves defending for a prolonged period until Cahill forced her way over for an unconverted try on the half hour just before Quinn returned.
The restart from O’Brien going out on the full further encouraged Clovers and invited new waves of pressure, helped by a trademark dummy from very promising lock Aoibheann McGrath before freeing Murphy wide on the left.
Play remained in that corner until Cahill crashed over for the second time in six minutes and, although Breen’s attempt at an equalising conversion was well off target, the half-time scoreline of 19-17 left the game well-poised even if Wolfhounds would now have the breeze.
Clovers were back out a few minutes earlier than their opponents and they started faster, moving the ball left from O’Brien’s clearance to Breen, Quinn bumping the Wolfhounds outhalf on a rampage down the touchline and Parsons stretching over after just 61 seconds.
But as in the first half, Wolfhounds responded promptly to falling behind, O’Brien judging a penalty to the corner perfectly and Dalton – now with a huge white bandage covering a badly skinned knee – probing twice before King got through a gap to score near the posts.
The easy extras from O’Brien made it 26-22 and that was to be the first of three tries in 16 minutes for Wolfhounds, for whom Wexford firecracker O’Connor now began coming into the game more, as if Clovers hadn’t enough to deal with.
Linn had taken a long time to get up after Breen brought her through at full tilt only to be scythed down brutally by Dalton, with Flood doing great work to win a turnover, O’Brien clearing to touch and the Clovers lineout throw not being straight.
Dalton opted for the scrum, from which hot prospect O’Connor carved through the middle at pace, stepping between Breen and Murphy, and got a pass away to Flood who moved the ball on to Elmes-Kinlan out wide as Wolfhounds showed their teeth.
Ulster hookers Maebh Clenaghan (left), who holds the Wolfhounds appearances record, and India Daley, the only player to feature in all 12 matches this season
Clovers survived that raid but it was merely a foretaste of things to come in the 54th minute, O’Connor coming off her wing to loop round Flood, explode through a gap and deftly put Elmes-Kinlan away down the touchline from 45 metres out for a scintillating unconverted try.
The injured Linn left the field for Clovers, replaced by Kate Flannery, as O’Leary took over from Corcoran in the Wolfhounds back row and immediately made her presence felt, starting by catching Breen’s restart.
Consecutive tackles on Corey and Lane by the industrious Dalton summed up the Wolfhounds skipper’s exceptional work ethic and the graceful Flood showed her class by switching the direction of play with a sublime kick which was inches from being a 50:22.
But Dunican’s throw wasn’t straight again, with Wolfhounds opting for the scrum and, although Corey covered across to dot down a little dink through by O’Brien – who may have been obstructed by Anna McGann – it was to be a very brief reprieve.
Katie Whelan, who began this campaign with Wolfhounds, and Faith Oviawe replaced Lane and Cournane respectively on the hour mark, but O’Leary caught Clovers’ goal-line dropout and stepped between Cahill and Campbell before beating Breen to score a very popular try.
The conversion attempt to take Wolfhounds three scores clear squeezed past the near post but, four minutes after her counterpart Campbell had given way to O’Flynn for Clovers, Alcorn felt confident enough to call his heroic captain ashore at 14 up with 14 to go.
She had just made another fantastic tackle, leading to a penalty for Wolfhounds at the breakdown, but there was no need to Dalton to take any more physical punishment so close to the Six Nations so she made way along with Djougang and Daley.
Djougang and Daley – who had needed several visits from the Wolfhounds physio during the game – were replaced by Molloy and Delaney respectively, with Olympian Amy Larn coming on for Dalton and Elmes-Kinlan switching to centre.
A couple of knock-ons cost Wolfhounds promising positions but they scored again on 70 minutes, King getting over wide on the right just before being replaced by Regan Casey and O’Brien – whose long pass to Elmes-Kinlan had been key – curling over a nice conversion.
There was to be no let-up for Clovers, a wonderfully tantalising long kick by the pink boot of Flood being brilliantly chased by the flying Larn sporting a pink scrunchie, and her follow-up tackle just short of the tryline led to a siege which ended in Wolfhounds being held up.
Alcorn unleashed his last subs before the ensuing five-metre scrum, Hannah Wilson coming on for Barrett – who had put in another enormous shift – while bench halfbacks Jade Gaffney and Abby Moyles replaced Connor and O’Brien respectively.
Molloy moved over to tighthead, promptly won a penalty at the scrum, plunged over for Wolfhounds final try after they tapped it close to the line and did an exuberant cowboy celebration like a ginger Irish front row answer to England fullback Ellie Kildunne!
The conversion from Moyles, whose place-kicking was superb when deputising at outhalf for O’Brien on occasions during this campaign, brought up the Wolfhounds half-century, a fantastic tally for any team in a final, even one as prolific as this.
To their credit, defiant Clovers were determined to finish with a flourish and, with Breen distributing nicely and any number of willing carriers, they eventually got their deserved reward when the hungry Parsons scorched through a gap in midfield.
It was uplifting to see young No 8 Jemima Adams-Verling, who was on the field for all but 45 minutes of Clovers’ 12 matches, still fighting for inches right at the end of what has been a herculean campaign from the Connacht teenager.
There was no shame in being eclipsed somewhat by her world-class counterpart King in the big game but Adams-Verling has a bright future and deserves her inclusion in Ireland’s Six Nations squad alongside Bemand’s established back row stars.
There was just time to restart after Breen’s successful conversion, but before long the final whistle officially confirmed magnificent Wolfhounds as Celtic Challenge champions for a third year running.
Although Wolfhounds won well in the end, this cracking contest was a much more fitting way to crown the champions than last season, when they retained the title with a facile 102-0 rout of injury-ravaged Edinburgh in the final round of regular league games.
This showpiece should have taken place in Ireland but, that aside, these two tremendous teams served up a fantastic spectacle which made for a worthy inaugural Grand Final at a great venue, and the play-offs format has certainly enhanced this season’s competition.
Both the match itself and the pyrotechnics which welcomed the teams onto the field and accompanied the presentation ceremony would have deserved a bigger crowd but many of the players did have family members who made the trip to the Scottish capital.
King got the nod over captain Dalton and the former’s fellow Wicklow woman Elmes-Kinlan for Player of the Match, and the remarkable back row forward has finished as the Celtic Challenge’s leading try-scorer this season with nine.
The understated Dalton lifted the trophy before fading quietly into the background as the boisterous celebrations began, but this class act who always leads by great example possesses the enviable record of 10 wins from her 10 outings as Wolfhounds skipper.
Ulster skipper India Daley (left), comeback kid Sarah Delaney, Kate Jordan who played most minutes in this campaign and Munster skipper Maeve Og O’Leary
Both Dalton and King were rested for Wolfhounds’ sole slip-up, a 14-0 defeat to Brython Thunder in atrocious conditions in Llanelli last month, but the champions proved unstoppable at the business end of the campaign despite being relatively untested in tight games.
The Celtic Challenge’s only two World Top 50 listers are exceptional players but would undoubtedly acknowledge the wider efforts of the extended squad along with Alcorn’s coaching colleagues Martin and Matt Gill.
It was fitting that some of those invaluable back-up players were on the field when the final whistle went along with unsung heroes like locks Kate Jordan and Naoise Smyth, who both played the full game in Edinburgh.
Dalton has played more minutes than anyone in Wolfhounds history, but her coming off a little early in Saturday’s showpiece meant Jordan had the honour of topping the clock charts for this campaign, a proud footnote for the hard-working Blackrock second row.
An awful lot of players have featured for Wolfhounds during the course of these three title triumphs and it is testament to Local Women Sport award-winner Alcorn that this well-oiled machine has kept producing such consistently good displays despite personnel changes.
The teams left Edinburgh on Saturday night, albeit after a flight delay, and the focus will switch quickly to the Six Nations so there won’t be extended celebrations, but this latest chapter in the Wolfhounds success story is a fantastic credit to everyone involved.
WOLFHOUNDS: Stacey Flood; Robyn O’Connor, Aoife Dalton (capt; Amy Larn, 66), Eve Higgins, Vicky Elmes-Kinlan; Dannah O’Brien (Abby Moyles, 73), Alex Connor (Jade Gaffney, 73); Linda Djougang (Caoimhe Molloy, 66), India Daley (Sarah Delaney, 66), Sophie Barrett (Hannah Wilson, 73), Kate Jordan, Naoise Smyth, Fiona Tuite, Aoife Corcoran (Maeve Og O’Leary, 55), Erin King (Regan Casey, 71).
CLOVERS: Aoife Corey; Anna McGann, Alana McInerney (Lucia Linn, 12; Kate Flannery, 55), Niamh Murphy, Beibhinn Parsons; Enya Breen, Emily Lane (Katie Whelan, 60); Siobhan McCarthy (Grainne Burke 66), Emma Dunican (Aoife Fleming, 71), Sadhbh McGrath (Eilis Cahill, 21), Ruth Campbell (capt; Aoibhe O’Flynn temp 12-21, 62), Aoibheann McGrath, Annakate Cournane (Faith Oviawe, 60), Ailish Quinn, Jemima Adams-Verling.
Ulster duo Sophie Barrett (left) and Maebh Clenaghan flanking teenage scrumhalf Alex Connor and breakthrough lock Naoise Smyth
Victorious Wolfhounds captain Aoife Dalton had support from family including Offaly county footballer brother Marcas (back)
