CLOVERS 35 GWALIA LIGHTNING 20
Richard Bullick at Dexcom Stadium
CLOVERS began this Celtic Challenge campaign by scoring five converted tries in a victory over Gwalia Lightning and that stat was repeated as they beat the Welsh side to book their place in this Saturday’s showpiece clash with Wolfhounds in Edinburgh (3pm, BBC iPlayer).
Just before Christmas, those successful place-kicks by young Clovers outhalf Caitriona Finn proved the difference, for Gwalia also scored five tries in only losing 35-31 at Dublin’s Energia Park in the opening round of fixtures.
Finn is currently sidelined by a torn quad muscle and it was experienced Ireland midfielder Enya Breen who was splitting the posts at Galway’s Dexcom Stadium on Saturday, though this time Denis Fogarty’s side had a little more latitude on the scoreboard.
That said, this was a much more competitive encounter than the second semi-final between Wolfhounds and Brython, with Gwalia giving Clovers the sort of contest which could stand to them going into the weekend’s derby decider at Hive Stadium.
Brython had arrived in the west of Ireland full of confidence following a run of five consecutive victories but were blown away, whereas Gwalia really put it up to their hosts despite making the trip on the back of five straight defeats.
Although this was a deserved victory for Clovers, it wasn’t a straightforward win for a team wanting to bounce back from losing their last regular league game to Wolfhounds while also seeking to build on the encouraging second half fightback in that derby battle at Belfield.
Gwalia went ahead early on with the game’s opening try and, although Clovers led 21-10 at the interval and got their fourth touchdown with half an hour remaining, the visitors hit back by crossing the whitewash twice themselves.
Had either of those conversions been successful, the underdogs would have been within a score, but Clovers were glad of that little bit of a buffer and had the last word when centre Alana McInerney got her second try of the afternoon as the clock went red.
It was a nice way for the uncapped three-quarter from Clare to end a week in which she had been named in Ireland’s Six Nations squad, and reward for fighting through to the end of the game despite needing treatment on a couple of occasions.
There were no obvious injury concerns for Clovers coming out of this match and, despite the game being in the balance at times, gaffer Fogarty was able to get a few frontliners off and significant minutes into back-up players in what was still a viable battle.
After all their injury disruption earlier in the competition, Clovers have a fairly settled side now at the business end and Saturday’s starting team contained nine full internationals plus four uncapped members of the Ireland squad for the forthcoming Six Nations.
The two exceptions to either category were the two personnel changes to the run-on line-up from the Wolfhounds defeat, which included rangy young centre Niamh Murphy – a real find of this campaign – coming in for Kate Flannery with Breen switching to outhalf.
The other was slightly more surprising, tall lock Aoibhe O’Flynn coming in to partner skipper Ruth Campbell in the engineroom with new Ireland call-up Aoibheann McGrath going to blindside flanker and Faith Oviawe being benched after starting all 10 regular league games.
Incidentally, that means outstanding teenager Jemima Adams-Verling is the only Irish player to have started every game for her team in this season’s Celtic Challenge, though Aoife Corey and Oviawe have also more minutes under their belt than anyone from Wolfhounds.
Anyone expecting Clovers to get it easy in this noon kick-off had a rude awakening when an early line-break by Gwalia led to a sustained period of pressure which ended in lock Alaw Pyrs plunging over near the posts for a try which Carys Hughes converted.
Breen kept Clovers in the right areas of the pitch in what was a full-blooded and absorbing battle, but it took them until the quarter hour mark to respond to that concession, hooker Beth Buttimer – sporting a new black scrumcap – forced her way over from close range.
Ireland winger Anna McGann had been tackled inches short a few minutes earlier and Clovers then held up over the line but Breen’s conversion of Buttimer’s try after strong carries by both her fellow front rowers meant it was honours even for the first quarter.
Clovers flanker Ailish Quinn was sinbinned midway through the half for infringing underneath her own posts and Hughes nudged Gwalia back in front with the accompanying penalty but the hosts soon struck back with a try from Connacht’s own golden girl Beibhinn Parsons.
Frequently coming off her wing to get involved, Parsons showed her raw pace with a garnish of footwork after the alert Aoife Corey – unluckily left out of the Ireland squad again – had scooped up a loose ball and linked well with O’Flynn.
Except their away match against Brython in round three, when she came off the bench, Corey has been on the field for every minute of this Clovers campaign having nailed down the No 15 jersey at the expense of Meabh Deely, who was preferred for the World Cup.
It was an admirable display by Gwalia, who didn’t look low on confidence despite their recent losing streak, and they certainly weren’t flattered by the scoreline at half-time, which came with them trailing 21-10.
McInerney crashed over for the third try on the half hour after strong carries by Ulsterwoman Sadhbh McGrath and her fellow international prop Siobhan McCarthy, Breen completing her hat-trick of conversions as Quinn returned from the plastic chair on the dog-track.
Gwalia lived dangerously in the closing stages of the opening period but avoided any further concessions against a Clovers team for whom breakout star Aoibheann McGrath was showing why she has been included in Ireland’s Six Nations squad.
Fogarty first turned to his bench just six minutes after play resumed, teenager Emma Dunican replacing Buttimer at hooker, and Clovers extended their lead to 18 points with half an hour remaining courtesy of another converted try.
That fourth Clovers try was somewhat historic in being the first in the Celtic Challenge’s history to be awarded after input from a television match official, with replays suggesting Campbell had indeed got the ball grounded under the opposition posts.
The match officials were off to the monitor in the mouth of the tunnel again six minutes later, the outcome this time being the awarding of a Gwalia try to replacement Caitlin Lewis despite a valiant attempted tackle by Corey tracking across to the corner.
Lightning soon struck again, with a second try from Pyrs around the hour mark – neatly executed from a lineout – and, although the significant conversion attempt was just off target, it was certainly game on again now going into the last quarter.
By this stage, Fogarty had replaced both starting props, Ireland scrumhalf Emily Lane who had captained Clovers for the first five fixtures of this campaign and O’Flynn with Ella Burns, Ireland call-up Eilis Cahill, Katie Whelan and Oviawe joining the action.
With a place in the final far from certain, the understudies stood up to be counted, something gaffer Fogarty took real reassurance from, and ultimately there was no nasty twist in the tale, nothing to spoil the script of an all-Irish showdown seven days hence.
A clever Clovers variation, trying to go round the front at a lineout deep in the Lightning 22, wasn’t quite executed, and the Welsh visitors had the moments too in a final quarter which remained scoreless until right at the end.
Clovers should head to Edinburgh in good heart after the impressive McInerney’s second try put the icing on the cake and Player of the Match Breen, who had remained at outhalf when Flannery came on for Murphy, converted for good measure.
The final scoreline of 35-20 was somewhat harsh on Gwalia, whose forwards including captain Bryonie King carried with real intent, with the backs threatening on occasions and lively Wales scrumhalf Sian Jones showcasing her box-kicking amongst an array of talents.
Having forced the knock-on deep in the opposition 22 which effectively finished off any hopes Lightning had of a dramatic comeback in the closing stages, it was fitting that McInerney should then round off the scoring.
From the scrum, Clovers probed the blindside first before coming back right and the behemoth Cahill had a carry before Whelan first fed Adams-Verling and then hit McInerney with a flat pass and the three-quarter smashed through to touch down with five seconds left.
A credible contender for the green No 23 jersey, McInerney will hope to win her first cap for Ireland in the upcoming Six Nations but before then has her sights set on adding a Celtic Challenge medal to the interpro triumph in the red of Munster last autumn.
Injured young guns Jane Neill and Hannah Clarke have missed the entire campaign along with pregnant great Amee-Leigh Costigan, but, with the exceptions of Finn and Ireland back five forward Jane Clohessy, Fogarty has everybody back coming into the knockout stages.
It is testament to the quality in the Clovers ranks that there is no place in what now looks like a first-choice matchday squad for the likes of recent Player of the Match award winner Lucia Linn and full international Deely.
Likewise, loose forward Ivana Kiripati has recently made a welcome return from injury but is unlikely to be involved in Edinburgh, with the main threat to the incumbent back five forwards in the 23 likely to come from flanker Annakate Cournane, if fit.
There is a popular narrative around how the Irish sides in the Celtic Challenge supposedly have so more experience than their Scottish and Welsh counterparts, but the age profile of Fogarty’s pack – with the exception of McCarthy – is exceptionally young.
CLOVERS (v Gwalia Lightning): Aoife Corey; Anna McGann, Alana McInerney, Niamh Murphy (Kate Flannery, 70), Beibhinn Parsons; Enya Breen, Emily Lane (Katie Whelan, 61); Siobhan McCarthy (Ella Burns, 61), Beth Buttimer (Emma Dunican, 46), Sadhbh McGrath (Eilis Cahill, 57), Ruth Campbell (capt), Aoibhe O’Flynn (Faith Oviawe, 57), Aoibheann McGrath, Ailish Quinn (Rosie Searle, 72), Jemima Adams-Verling. Unused replacement: Chisom Ugwueru.
Ulsterwoman Sadhbh McGrath had won Player of the Match against Gwalia in the competition opener
