Sam Monaghan (centre) is back to captain Ireland this weekend after a year out through injury (©INPHO/Ben Brady)
BY RICHARD BULLICK
SAM Monaghan is back to captain an Ireland team featuring two new caps in Saturday’s opening women’s World Cup warm-up match against Scotland in Cork (2.00pm) with her fellow lock Eimear Corri and star winger Beibhinn Parsons also making welcome returns from injury.
All three missed Ireland’s entire nine-match campaign this past season but having them back in the mix for the World Cup helps offset the loss for the entire tournament of Erin King and Dorothy Wall, while Aoife Wafer is also in a race against time to be fit.
The two debutants in the starting line-up are Exeter Chiefs centre Nancy McGillivray, who just switched her allegiance to Ireland at the start of this month, and young Connacht loose forward Ivana Kirpati, who has been studying in the United States.
There could be another first cap off the bench in the shape of teenage bolter Ailish Quinn from Ballina, who was added to Ireland’s World Cup preparation squad this summer shortly after leaving school and has clearly impressed in camp.
Young Ulster star Sadhbh McGrath joins Ireland regular Brittany Hogan in the Ireland pack in what will be her first Test start at tighthead, having made her international debut in the No 1 jersey as an 18-year-old against Wales in the 2023 Six Nations.
With McGrath’s fellow Clare native Siobhan McCarthy selected to start at loosehead, this will be the first Ireland game since 2021 for which this squad’s most capped player Linda Djougang hasn’t been in the run-on line-up.
The first-choice front row from this spring’s Six Nations are all named on the bench for this weekend, Djougang being joined among the replacements by fellow prop Niamh O’Dowd and Ulsterwoman Neve Jones of Gloucester Hartpury.
Hooker Cliodhna Moloney, the only woman in the present squad with previous World Cup experience, will pack down between McCarthy and McGrath on only her second start since returning to the fold 18 months ago after a period of exile.
This first of two warm-up matches – Ireland’s send-off fixture is against Canada at Ravenhill next Saturday – is being used by boss Scott Bemand to give a few fringe players the chance to push for selection in his World Cup squad of 32, which will be announced on August 12.
As a result, several leading lights won’t be involved in this Saturday’s Scottish clash including Ireland Player of the Year Aoife Dalton, who was on the field for every minute of this year’s Six Nations, co-captain Edel McMahon and regular fullback Stacey Flood.
Being rested for this fixture ends a run of being in all 24 Ireland matchday squads since her debut in Japan three summers ago for Dalton, who made the official 2025 Guinness Six Nations Team of the Championship along with Wafer and Jones.
Beibhinn Parsons (right) returns for Ireland while Aoife Dalton sits out her first Test since 2022
Dalton’s No 13 jersey will be occupied at Musgrave Park this Saturday by newcomer McGillivray, who was on an RFU contract as part of the extended England set-up until the end of June before joining the second of Ireland’s two three-week pre-season camps.
The physically-imposing McGillivray partners Eve Higgins at centre against Scotland with Parsons on the right wing and Amee-Leigh Costigan starting on the left in the stadium where she captained Ireland against England in this year’s Six Nations, scoring a memorable try.
Despite only being named as a training partner when Ireland’s initial World Cup preparation panel was announced at the end of May, Maebh Deely has been given a chance this weekend to stake her claim for a place on the flight to England next month.
Connacht’s Deely is back in the No 15 jersey she last wore in the final fixture of the 2024 Six Nations, when Ireland clinched World Cup qualification by beating Scotland in Belfast, and would appear to be in a straight fight with Aoife Corey for the second fullback berth.
Munster vice-captain Corey made her debut in the corresponding game this spring, against Scotland in Edinburgh, but like Flood she won’t be involved this weekend so Deely could get the full 80 minutes in what may be her only chance to impress.
As he did for the first two matches in this year’s Six Nations, Bemand has gone with a 6:2 split on the bench, which means no place in the matchday squad for Connacht captain Nicole Fowley as a second specialist outhalf.
Versatile Clovers skipper Enya Breen will provide cover from the bench for Dannah O’Brien, who as usual wears the No 10 jersey and is partnered at halfback by Molly Scuffil-McCabe as was the case for the last two Six Nations games.
Emily Lane is the other back on the bench here with Aoibheann Reilly, although certain to be included in the World Cup squad as one of three scrumhalves, having to wait until the following weekend’s Belfast fixture for another opportunity.
Reilly missed last summer’s Olympics due to a cruciate rupture, while her Ballinasloe buddy Parsons broke her leg at Paris 2024 and sustained a second fracture four months later playing for the Ireland sevens side in the Cape Town leg of the World Series.
Connacht’s rising star Ivana Kiripati (right) will make her debut for Ireland at openside flanker (©INPHO/Ben Brady)
The eagerly-awaited return of Parsons now gives Ireland an exceptionally potent pair of starting wingers, albeit converted centre Anna McGann did a good job in the No 14 jersey during this year’s Six Nations including scoring a hat-trick against Italy in Parma.
With Dalton, Higgins and Breen each having huge credit in the bank, if McGillivray is to be accommodated in Ireland’s World Cup squad, her inclusion would seem most likely to come at the expense of a third specialist winger.
That would be bad news for Vicky Elmes-Kinlan, who started against Scotland in Edinburgh last time out, but Bemand may feel he has enough firepower out wide in the shape of Costigan, Parsons and McGann with Higgins capable of filling in on the wing if required.
Katie Corrigan would have appeared well-placed to make the World Cup squad when she scored tries in all three home matches of the 2024 Six Nations while aged just 18, but her hopes have waned since, including dropping below Elmes-Kinlan in the pecking order.
This weekend will mark a welcome return to the green jersey for lock combination Monaghan and Corri after both sustained injuries in finals last summer and thus being sidelined for Ireland’s autumn campaign followed by the Six Nations.
Monaghan tore her cruciate playing for Gloucester Hartpury in the English Premiership showpiece, while Corri ruptured her achilles early in the second half of Leinster’s victory over Munster in the interpro final at Ravenhill two months later.
Ironically, hospital doctor Corri’s chances of making the World Cup squad have been boosted by Exeter Chiefs forward Wall sustaining the same injury in Ireland’s ill-fated fixture against the Scots at Hive Stadium this spring.
In the absence of Monaghan and Corri, whose most recent outing for Ireland was as a replacement against Italy on Easter Sunday last year, Ulster forward Fiona Tuite and rising star Ruth Campbell have both got a lot of game-time in Ireland’s engineroom.
At this stage that pair would be tipped to make the World Cup squad alongside Monaghan, so Corri’s chances of selection could partly depend upon whether Ireland opt to bring four specialist second rows to the tournament.
Ireland are set to take 18 forwards to England 2025 and, although extra space has been created by the apparent decision to bring only five props, Wafer’s situation is a complicating factor for Bemand and his colleagues.
The 2025 Six Nations Player of the Championship is such a taliswoman for Ireland that she will rightly have a place in the squad if there is a realistic prospect of her being fit for a return to action as the World Cup progresses.
However, if she isn’t likely to be available for the first couple of group games, that may influence Ireland not to take a specialist third hooker in the shape of young Sarah Delaney, or lean more towards another hybrid back five forward than a fourth recognised lock.
Dynamic Munsterwoman Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird can cover hooker but has been named as a back row forward replacement in this Saturday’s matchday squad, with Grace Moore and Kiripati packing down either side of Killinchy native Hogan.
Moore is one of those who can play both back and second row but she will start at blindside this weekend when Tuite is the specialist lock cover for Monaghan and Corri, neither of whom may be expected to play the full 80 minutes in their first game back.
Balbriggan’s giant teenage lock Alma Atagamen was named in Ireland’s initial World Cup preparation panel while her Ireland Under 20s captain Jane Neill has trained some with the senior squad and Faith Oviawe was called up for the second training camp this month.
Both Oviawe and Neill are versatile back five forwards, but assuming neither is really in the mix for a World Cup squad spot at this stage, the realistic contenders who won’t be togging out at Musgrave Park are McMahon, Campbell, Jane Clohessy and Shannon Ikahihifo.
Clohessy won her first cap off the bench against Scotland at the end of April while New Zealand-born Ikahihifo, a clubmate of Moore at English Premiership outfit Ealing Trailfinders, first featured with Ireland in the 2024 Six Nations.
Exeter centre Nancy McGillivray will win her first cap after switching her allegiance to Ireland
Wolfhounds skipper Claire Boles from Fermanagh, who also came on as a replacement in that final fixture of this spring’s Six Nations, was a surprise omission from Ireland’s World Cup preparation panel but was seen shortly afterwards sporting a knee brace.
The Ulster flanker, another of Ireland’s Olympians from last summer, has been back training with Ireland this month though it is unclear whether to what extent she is in the World Cup mix as there has been no official call-up to the extended squad.
With just two warm-up matches scheduled, Bemand must find a balance between using the game-time available to assess contenders for the final few squad spots, try out particular combinations ahead of the tournament and get his frontliners match sharp.
The order of fixtures in Ireland’s World Cup group – they face Japan and Spain before the showdown with New Zealand – may give Bemand’s side more of an opportunity to build into the tournament than if the clash with the Black Ferns came first.
In that case, the Ireland supremo might have been considered likely to go with his strongest side against Canada next weekend as a dress rehearsal but, the way things stand, he may have a bit more wriggle-room.
However, momentum is also important ahead of the World Cup, so Ireland’s line-up for the Canadian clash in Belfast might be a bit closer to full-strength than this Saturday’s selection appears to be.
Doctor Eimear Corri makes her comeback with Ireland this weekend after a ruptured achilles
Ireland Team & Replacements (v Scotland, Saturday, August 2, Virgin Media Park, 2.00pm)
15. Méabh Deely (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht)(13)
14. Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht)(26)
13. Nancy McGillivray (Exeter Chiefs)*
12. Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC/Leinster)(26)
11. Amee-Leigh Costigan (Railway Union RFC/Munster)(18) Vice-Captain
10. Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster)(24)
9. Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Manawatū RFC/Leinster)(21)
1. Siobhán McCarthy (Railway Union RFC/Munster)(8)
2. Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald (Exeter Chiefs)(43)
3. Sadhbh McGrath (Cooke RFC/Ulster)(14)
4. Eimear Corri-Fallon (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster)(4)
5. Sam Monaghan (Gloucester Hartpury/IQ Rugby)(21) Captain
6. Grace Moore (Trailfinders Women/IQ Rugby)(20)
7. Ivana Kiripati (Creggs RFC/Connacht)*
8. Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster)(32)
Replacements
16. Neve Jones (Gloucester Hartpury)(35)
17. Niamh O’Dowd (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster)(15)
18. Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster)(46)
19. Fiona Tuite (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster)(15)
20. Deirbhile Nic a Bháird (Old Belvedere RFC/Munster)(11)
21. Ailish Quinn (Galwegians RFC/Connacht)*
22. Emily Lane (Blackrock College RFC)(15)
23. Enya Breen (Blackrock College RFC/Munster)(29)
