Irish international Claire Boles from Fermanagh captained Wolfhounds to last season’s Celtic Challenge title win ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
BY RICHARD BULLICK
WOLFHOUNDS’ hopes of achieving a Celtic Challenge hat-trick have been boosted by the acquisition of this season’s Munster interpro title-winning captain Maeve Og O’Leary and Connacht’s first-choice Ireland scrumhalf Aoibheann Reilly.
Neill Alcorn’s back-to-back Celtic Challenge champions get their campaign underway on Saturday against Edinburgh at Energia Park in Dublin (2.30pm), where they thrashed the Scottish visitors 102-0 in March to wrap up their second consecutive title.
Last season saw a tight title race between the two Irish sides, with Wolfhounds benefiting from Clovers losing points as a result of their away game against Glasgow Warriors falling foul of the weather in January.
There was no space in the schedule to rearrange that postponed fixture so the teams were awarded two points each and that ultimately cost Clovers the title, much to head coach Denis Fogarty’s frustration.
Wolfhounds and Clovers began with comprehensive victories over each other in two Irish derby battles in the space of six days either side of Christmas before going on to dominate against the Scottish and Welsh sides, including seven bonus-point wins apiece.
But for Clovers dropping points through no fault of their own against Glasgow, Wolfhounds would have been very vulnerable because of failing to score four tries in their narrow win over Gwalia Lightning in Cork in February, but in the end that didn’t prove costly.
This season, all six sides will again face each other home and away but top four play-offs have been introduced for the first time and few would bet against the two Irish teams meeting in the inaugural Grand Final at the end of March ahead of the Women’s Six Nations.
The regular league games between Wolfhounds and Clovers have been spaced out this time round, with the initial clash taking place at Creggs RFC in Roscommon on the first Saturday of 2026 and the rematch scheduled for March 8 at Belfield Bowl.
Both Alcorn and Fogarty announced their squads last Friday, Clovers edging the count of full internationals by 13 to the 12 for Wolfhounds, with some intriguing inclusions and notable names missing.
Since last season, Wolfhounds have lost three influential forwards to the English Premiership with Aoife Wafer signed by Harlequins, Ulster’s Brittany Hogan joining Sale Sharks and Niamh O’Dowd going to champions Gloucester Hartpury.
With 2024 World Rugby Breakthrough Award winner Erin King still sidelined by injury and previous skipper Molly Boyne not included, Wolfhounds’ stock of loose forwards from last season has been badly depleted.
However, their back row resources have been bolstered by the arrival of international openside O’Leary, return to fitness of Ulster skipper India Daley and interesting inclusion of Regan Casey, an Irish-qualified flanker from Canada.
Any concerns about the immediate future of Linda Djougang after she didn’t sign a new IRFU contract have been assuaged by her inclusion in this squad and women’s rugby followers will be delighted to see the name of her fellow prop Christy Haney there too.
Experienced campaigner Haney hasn’t played since the heartbreak of being ruled out of this summer’s World Cup due a hamstring problem, while young Ulster prop Sophie Barrett has been switched back from Clovers to Wolfhounds for this campaign.
Irish internationals Leah Tarpey and Natasja Behan are notable absentees from the list of 14 Wolfhounds backs which includes former Armagh gaelic footballer Niamh Marley as one of four wingers in a squad also shorn of Ella Roberts and Anna Doyle from last season.
Reilly’s move from Clovers presumably is to ensure both she and Emily Lane – Ireland’s top two home-based scrumhalves – are starting regularly in this season’s Celtic Challenge, with Katie Whelan and Jade Gaffney being Alcorn’s other options for the No 9 jersey.
Olympian Kathy Baker has been listed as a forward for Wolfhounds having featured in the backs for Leinster in this season’s interpros, while sparkling prospect Robyn O’Connor is set for her first taste of Celtic Challenge action having focused fully on sevens last season.
Other fresh faces include teenage Ulster prop Cara McLean and Leinster forwards Naoise Smyth and Kate Jordan, though none of that trio may make the strongest matchday squad of 23 with Wicklow’s Caoimhe Molloy likely to be among the reserve front-rowers.
With Irish international Sarah Delaney again absent injured, Ulster’s Maebh Clenaghan will hope to continue as first-choice hooker having started all 10 matches for Wolfhounds last season. Kelly Burke, her back-up then, hasn’t been named in this latest squad.
Ireland lock Fiona Tuite and young Balbriggan giant Alma Atagamen – arguably the find of last season’s Celtic Challenge – look like a formidable engine-room pairing for Wolfhounds, who didn’t have the recently-retired Eimear Corri-Fallon last term anyway due to injury.
Title-winning captain Claire Boles from Fermanagh, O’Leary and Daley would be a very mobile back row with India’s ability to cover hooker allowing Poppy Garvey, Casey and Baker all to feature in the strongest matchday 23.
Alcorn can call on five first-choice backs from the recent World Cup campaign in Reilly and Dannah O’Brien, the excellent centre combo of Eve Higgins and Ireland Player of the Year Aoife Dalton, plus the classy Stacey Flood at fullback.
Full internationals Vicky Elmes-Kinlan and Katie Corrigan may be slight favourites for the wing berths with O’Connor and Amy Larn joining Whelan on the bench, with Marley, Gaffney, Olympian Megan Burns and Kate Farrell-McCabe the other backs in the overall squad.
O’Connor, Larn, Marley, Corrigan, Burns, Farrell-McCabe, Whelan and Baker were all part of James Topping’s squad of 12 for the recent Dubai Sevens along with the Clovers trio of full international Aoife Corey, Alana McInerney and Lucia Linn.
Nicole Fowley’s recent retirement from international rugby clears the way for top prospect Caitriona Finn to take charge of the No 10 jersey for Clovers, with Kate Flannery getting game-time too and maybe Enya Breen featuring some in the role.
With all three of Ireland’s top-class World Cup wingers being in the Clovers squad, it seems likely that Anna McGann will partner last season’s skipper Breen in the centre with Amee-Leigh Costigan and Celtic Challenge newcomer Beibhinn Parsons in the wide berths.
Maebh Deely and Corey will battle it out for the No 15 jersey, with whoever loses out occupying a backs berth on the bench, perhaps along with McInerney and newcomer Eve Prendergast as reserve scrumhalf to Lane.
Unfortunately, exciting young wingers Hannah Clarke and Chisom Ugwueru are absent from the Clovers squad due to injury, with Fogarty’s other backs in a panel of 31 being centre Linn, Eabha Nic Dhonnacha and her young Connacht team-mate Siofra Hession.
The Ireland Under 20s captain of the past two summers, Jane Neill, is a notable absentee from the list of forwards – presumed injured – so with no Claire Bennett either, the versatile Faith Oviawe looks likely to partner World Cup star Ruth Campbell in the engineroom.
The dynamic Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird hasn’t been named in the Clovers panel, fuelling fears that she indeed retired from representative rugby after August’s interpros following her surprise omission from Ireland’s World Cup squad.
Her Munster skipper O’Leary’s switch to Wolfhounds opens up opportunities in the Clovers back row, which unlike last season won’t have occasional access to Ireland co-captain Edel McMahon this time round.
International Jane Clohessy could pack down on the blindside of a loose forward trio completed by two promising Connacht players who won their first caps in last August’s final World Cup warm-up match against Scotland in Cork, Ivana Kiripati and Ailish Quinn.
World Cup panellists Siobhan McCarthy, hooker Beth Buttimer and Ulster’s Sadhbh McGrath look like an obvious first-choice front row, possibly backed up by Lily Morris, Saoirse Crowe and Eilis Cahill, with Aoibhe O’Flynn and Jemima Adams-Verling also making the bench.
With no Grainne Burke or Emily Gavin among the front rows and Brianna Heylmann a back row absentee, the other forwards listed in Fogarty’s squad are Ella Burns, Aoibheann McGrath, Rosie Searle and Sally Kelly.
Star Ireland winger Beibhinn Parsons is set to grace the Celtic Challenge for the first time in her career this season
No captains have been named yet but both head coaches could conceivably stick with last season’s capable all-international leadership pairings of Boles and Dalton for Wolfhounds, Breen and Costigan for Clovers.
In terms of box-office appeal, Wafer will be a loss to the Celtic Challenge – though she barely featured for Wolfhounds last season – and most of Ireland’s frontline forwards are now based across the water.
However, that gives others the chance to put their hands up for future reference, while watching both the star-studded Wolfhounds and Clovers backlines in action is a mouth-watering prospect.
It remains to be seen how the coaches – no doubt in consultation with Bemand – approach selection, but it would be nice to see them go fully loaded, injury permitting, for this weekend’s opening games and then that eagerly-awaited Irish derby on January 3.
There is a Donnybrook double-header on Saturday as Clovers tackle Gwalia Lightning in the first fixture of this season’s competition (11.30am) ahead of the Wolfhounds-Edinburgh clash on the same pitch later. Brython Thunder host Glasgow Warriors in Llanelli (12.30pm).
The only Celtic Challenge action on Ulster soil in the regular season will be on January 18, with a Sunday double-header at Ravenhill, now named Affidea Stadium, with Wolfhounds hosting Brython Thunder (12 noon) followed by Clovers facing Glasgow Warriors (3.00pm).
It is hoped that Ireland’s inspiring World Cup campaign meantime will lead to considerably better attendances than last season’s Celtic Challenge, though there has been little proactive promotion of the upcoming competition in advance and virtually no media interest.
The departure to England of Wafer, Hogan and O’Dowd won’t help but the growing Green Wave fanbase should be attracted by the prospect of watching all of Ireland’s leading backs on home soil over the coming months.
There are only nine Ulster players among the two squads of 60, all of them with Wolfhounds except the Clare-born Sadhbh McGrath, who actually captained Clovers, aged just 19, in a match two Januarys ago.
While this competition may be seen as an opportunity for primarily young players to put their hands up for higher recognition, that same ambition applies in the case of the 33-year-old rugby latecomer Marley.
Marley will be hoping that opportunities to slot into a star-studded Wolfhounds backline anchored by Six Nations Team of the Championship centre Dalton can help her stake a claim for inclusion in Scott Bemand’s squad next spring.
Having worn the green jersey for the first time at last month’s Dubai Sevens, Hamiltonsbawn sportswoman, Marley is one of four wingers who will be vying for the exciting chance to benefit from playing with five first-choice Ireland backs from the recent World Cup.
New recruit Reilly will service the established 10-12-13-15 axis of O’Brien, Higgins, Dalton and Flood, which created some fantastic tries last season for those out wide including former Kildare Minors gaelic captain Larn.
Keen Wolfhounds followers will readily recall Larn scorching clear for an early try in the opening game against Clovers last Christmas and another sublime move which put her away without a finger being laid on her in the comprehensive victory at Brython Thunder.
Along with Larn and Marley, the other two wingers in Alcorn’s squad are full internationals in the former’s fellow Paris Olympian Elmes-Kinlan and Corrigan, who aged just 18 scored a try in each of Ireland’s three home matches in the 2024 Six Nations.
Corrigan crossed for 12 tries in five matches as Wolfhounds won their first title two seasons ago, but both she and Elmes-Kinlan, who started the last Six Nations match against Scotland in Edinburgh at the end of April, missed out on World Cup squad selection.
Marley was doing well for Wolfhounds in their inaugural campaign two winters ago before rupturing her cruciate in training and didn’t feature last season having just recently returned to action following her injury.
With her 34th birthday looming in early April and this being the start of a new World Cup cycle, it might have been assumed age could count against Marley but former Ulster supremo Alcorn is an admirer and Bemand must have green-lighted her selection too.
On paper, the St Ronan’s College PE teacher may be behind Corrigan, Elmes-Kinlan and Larn in the pecking order out wide but there should be some opportunities in the course of a 10-game campaign, hopefully followed by two knockout matches.
Just getting into the new Wolfhounds squad was the most important thing for the determined Marley, who still harbours Ireland ambitions despite just taking up rugby at the age of 29 with Ulster Premiership side Dungannon.
With Behan, Roberts and Doyle not listed for Wolfhounds duty and Clarke, Uguweru, Clare Gorman, Ellen Boylan and Clara Barrett all absent from the Clovers panel, Marley can consider herself as one of eight wingers vying for a place in Bemand’s Six Nations squad.
Parsons, Costigan and McGann appear nailed on, leaving the other one or two squad spots to be fought over by the Wolfhounds quartet of Corrigan, Elmes-Kinlan, Larn and Marley plus the uncapped McInerney, who was the leading try-scorer in last season’s interpros.
Marley’s Wolfhounds wing rivals are all more than a decade younger than her, with Elmes-Kinlan being 22, Larn 21 and Corrigan just 20 while Munster’s McInerney is still only 24 and that currently injured duo of Clarke (20) and Ugwueru (23) also have youth on their side.
Especially with luckless Irish international Delaney again sidelined by injury, young Ulster hooker Clenaghan will hope to retain the No 2 jersey for Wolfhounds, having packed down in the middle of the front row for every game last season.
Young Ulster hooker Maebh Clenaghan was one of only two players to start every Wolfhounds game last season
Queen’s University medical student Clenaghan, who is still just 21, was the only player apart from captain Boles to start all 10 matches during last season’s successful campaign by Alcorn’s women.
Although Clenaghan’s Ulster captain Daley can also play hooker, she will likely be needed more in a back row depleted by the loss of her provincial predecessor Hogan and the world-class Wafer, especially until King’s eagerly-anticipated return from long-term injury.
Dublin-born Tuite showed her ability to play blindside flanker during an impressive World Cup campaign for Ireland but seems more likely to partner Atagamen in the engineroom, especially with Cliodhna Nic Chonchubhair not named in the Wolfhounds squad.
Alcorn will be joined on the Wolfhounds coaching ticket by Leinster boss Ben Martin and Matt Gill, while Larissa Muldoon has been replaced as Fogarty’s number two by fellow Ireland legend Niamh Briggs with fellow ex-international Leah Lyons remaining involved.
Based on the strength of the Wolfhounds and Clovers squads, it is hard to imagine the Celtic Challenge trophy going outside of Ireland this season but the hope is that the Scottish and Welsh sides are competitive in a tournament being broadcast on both BBC and TG4.
The fact that more of the leading Scottish and Welsh internationals ply their trade in the English Premiership has led to an unhealthily imbalanced Celtic Challenge but the recent cross-channel exodus may level the playing field a little this time round.
However, if what are largely second-string Ireland forwards can provide a decent supply of possession, both Wolfhounds and Clovers have potentially lethal backlines capable of doing real damage.
CLOVERS Team & Replacements (v Gwalia Lightning, 2025/26 Celtic Challenge First Round, Energia Park, Saturday, December 20, kick-off 11.30am):
15 – Aoife Corey (Munster)
14 – Béibhinn Parsons (Connacht)
13 – Anna McGann (Connacht)
12 – Niamh Murphy (Leinster)
11 – Alana McInerney (Munster)
10 – Caitríona Finn (Munster)
9 – Emily Lane (Munster) (capt)
1 – Ella Burns (Connacht)
2 – Emma Dunican (Munster)
3 – Sadhbh McGrath (Ulster)
4 – Aoibhe O’Flynn (Munster)
5 – Jane Clohessy (Munster)
6 – Rosie Searle (Leinster)
7 – Faith Oviawe (Connacht)
8 – Jemima Adams Verling (Connacht)
Replacements:
16 – Uillian Eilian (Connacht)
17 – Siobhán McCarthy (Munster)
18 – Lily Morris (Munster)
19 – Aoibheann McGrath (Munster)
20 – Caoimhe Murphy (Munster)
21 – Eve Prendergast (Munster)
22 – Síofra Hession (Connacht)
23 – Méabh Deely (Connacht)
WOLFHOUNDS Team & Replacements (v Edinburgh Rugby, 2025/26 Celtic Challenge First Round, Energia Park, Saturday, December 20, kick-off 2.30pm):
15 – Robyn O’Connor (Leinster)
14 – Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Leinster)
13 – Aoife Dalton (Leinster) (capt)
12 – Eve Higgins (Leinster)
11 – Maggie Boylan (Leinster)
10 – Dannah O’Brien (Leinster)
9 – Aoibheann Reilly (Connacht)
1 – Cara McLean (Ulster)
2 – India Daley (Ulster)
3 – Sophie Barrett (Ulster)
4 – Naoise Smyth (Leinster)
5 – Kate Jordan (Leinster)
6 – Poppy Garvey (Connacht)
7 – Maeve Óg O’Leary (Munster)
8 – Claire Boles (Ulster)
Replacements:
16 – Maebh Clenaghan (Ulster)
17 – Caoimhe Molloy (Leinster)
18 – Linda Djougang (Leinster)
19 – Clíodhna Ní Chonchobhair (Leinster)
20 – Aoife Corcoran (Leinster)
21 – Jade Gaffney (Leinster)
22 – Amy Larn (Leinster)
23 – Stacey Flood (Leinster)
Hot prospect Robyn O’Connor is set for her first taste of Celtic Challenge action having focused on sevens before (©INPHO/Travis Prior)
Balbriggan’s giant teenage lock Alma Atagamen of Wolfhounds was the Irish find of last season’s Celtic Challenge
Ireland’s first-choice scrumhalf Aoibheann Reilly (centre) has switched from Clovers to champions Wolfhounds
