Teenage Wolfhounds prop EmmaJane Wilson with USA star and social media phenomenon Ilona Maher (Pic: Colin Molloy)
By Richard Bullick
ULSTER skipper India Daley bagged a brace of tries and Player of the Match Dannah O’Brien served up a consummate master-class as Wolfhounds finished top of this season’s Celtic Challenge table courtesy of an impressive 43-20 victory over Irish rivals Clovers in Dublin.
The defending champions played wonderful front foot rugby in the opening period, running in half a dozen tries to establish a sensational 36-0 interval lead against a shell-shocked Clovers side who had arguably gone into this derby battle as marginal favourites.
But Wolfhounds hit the ground running, showing their teeth by claiming the bonus-point inside half an hour, and with captain Aoife Dalton and centre partner Eve Higgins shredding the Clovers midfield defence, they scored four tries in one 11-minute purple patch.
Neill Alcorn’s women were absolutely sublime in that first half, playing with a ferocious intensity and tempo which Clovers struggled to live with, with the supply of quick ball being complemented by the decision-making and quality of fantastic scrumhalf Aoibheann Reilly.
Reilly’s departure with a worrying ankle injury half an hour from the end will have concerned Scott Bemand as well as Alcorn, but the Ireland supremo must surely have been delighted with the imperious performance from O’Brien.
Perhaps outshone slightly by young Clovers rival Caitriona Finn at times earlier in the competition, O’Brien ran the show here with her game management and sublime left boot which gained enormous yardage, and she also attempted more breaks herself than usual.
Finn’s running game is one of the teenager’s strengths and, although her quad muscle tear may mean any developing rivalry with O’Brien being put on hold, Ireland’s incumbent No 10 is in good form ahead of the Six Nations and the versatile Enya Breen is capable cover.
Enniskillen’s Daley scored two first half tries at Belfield Bowl, where there were also touchdowns by Ealing Trailfinders flanker Grace Moore, former Armagh gaelic footballer Niamh Marley, new Ireland skipper Erin King and hot prospect Robyn O’Connor.
The champions made hay on a sunny Saturday afternoon and, although Clovers belatedly opened their account at the start of the second half with a try by Ireland winger Beibhinn Parsons, Wolfhounds responded promptly with another touchdown from King.
Having just returned after Christmas from long-term injury, King has finished the regular league phase as the competition’s top try-scorer with seven and title hat-trick chasing Wolfhounds have managed 66 in total while accumulating 410 points in their 10 matches.
A bloodied Emily Lane (left) and Enya Breen combine to stop Wolfhounds skipper Aoife Dalton (Pic: Colin Molloy)
Unlike last year, when they clinched the title the same weekend with a 102-0 rout of Edinburgh at Energia Park, topping the table isn’t enough for Wolfhounds to be crowned champions this season due to the newly-introduced play-offs format.
Table toppers Wolfhounds will now play fourth-placed Brython Thunder in the second match of Saturday’s semi-final double header at Galway’s Dexcom Stadium (3pm) after second-placed Clovers face the other Welsh side Gwalia Lightning in the opening game (12noon).
Gwalia just hung onto third despite last Sunday’s 7-0 defeat against Brython, who were already assured of a play-off place thanks to Glasgow Warriors losing 22-17 at home to Edinburgh on the Friday night in front of a record crowd of just under 2000 at Scotstoun.
Ironically, it looks like Wolfhounds have ended up with the tougher tie given that Brython are coming into the play-offs on the back of five consecutive victories compared to Gwalia’s awful run of five straight defeats, so in that sense haven’t benefited from finishing first.
They did secure the bragging rights along with top place in the standings by completing the double over Clovers this season, but that will give Fogarty’s side even more motivation should these teams meet again in the Celtic Challenge’s inaugural Grand Final.
That seems a strong possibility as the two Irish teams go into their respective semis as favourites and, if they do renew rivalries at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on March 28, Clovers will seek to take positives from the second half at UCD.
Clovers salvaged some respectability and even secured a bonus-point right at the end by grabbing two tries in the final five minutes to outscore Wolfhounds 20-7 for the second half, albeit the opposition played with 14 women for the entire final quarter.
Back row forward Regan Casey was just about to return from the sinbin when fellow replacement Maebh Clenaghan received a straight red card following an altercation with Clovers hooker Beth Buttimer that sparked a brief brawl.
Otherwise, what was a fiercely contested derby despite the relatively one-sided scoreline, was played in a generally good spirit, with the interested spectators at Belfield including USA Olympic medallist and prominent social media influencer Ilona Maher.
Munster firebrand Buttimer surprisingly escaped sanction from the referee, but young Ulsterwoman Clenaghan now faces a heartbreaking ban which could rule her out of the knockout stages as Wolfhounds seek to claim the crown for the third year running.
Incidentally, it is interesting to note that, in the nine Wolfhounds wins so far this season, the only time they did better on the scoreboard in the second half compared with the first was in the opening game against Edinburgh at Donnybrook before Christmas.
Despite their incredible dominance overall, Wolfhounds have been outscored in two of those second halves – the other instance was 26-12 by Glasgow in Cork – and have edged the final 40 minutes by five points or fewer on three other occasions.
These sorts of trends offer food for thought, but rather than thinking too much about Wolfhounds fading as games go on, we must also acknowledge what fast starts they have tended to make across this campaign.
Young guns Robyn O’Connor (left) and Amy Larn after Wolfhounds secured top spot in the table (Pic: Colin Molloy)
Remarkably, last Saturday’s Irish derby was the fourth occasion on which Wolfhounds have run in half a dozen tries before the break and on two others they have crossed the whitewash five times in the opening period.
Clovers have been harder hit by absenteeism than Wolfhounds during the first phase of this campaign but were significantly closer to full strength than their rivals for the final regular league game.
Assuming first-choice outhalf Finn doesn’t make it back from her injury in time, this looked like the exact matchday 23 that Fogarty could deploy if Clovers reach the Grand Final whereas Wolfhounds were missing a number of frontliners.
Those absent from Alcorn’s Belfield line-up included Ireland stars Stacey Flood and Fiona Tuite, along with their fellow international Katie Corrigan, who had sustained a head injury against Gwalia the previous Saturday on an afternoon she scored a couple of tries.
Wolfhounds were also without both first-choice flankers in last season’s skipper Claire Boles and Munster’s interpro title-winning captain Maeve Og O’Leary, who had formed an all-international back row with King when Wolfhounds defeated Clovers at the start of January.
However, that pair’s absence was somewhat offset by the bonus availability of English-based Moore and the big Ireland forward, who scored Wolfhounds’ first try, really made her physical presence and experience count on both sides of the ball.
Clovers came into this domestic dust-up on the back of seven consecutive victories and with nine full internationals in their starting line-up compared to seven for Wolfhounds, who had recently been turned over by Brython when they went to Llanelli with a weakened team.
Although both teams were already assured of home semi-finals going into this derby, that surprise result meant top spot in the table was still up for grabs along with those bragging rights, and precious places in the Ireland squad for the forthcoming Six Nations at stake.
So there was plenty to play for in perfect conditions and, facilitated by Ireland boss Bemand being happy to let his leading lights go at it rather than wrapping them in cotton wool, this was far from a phony war with both teams putting their best foot forward.
Wolfhounds head coach Alcorn made five personnel changes and two positional switches to the line-up which won well away against Gwalia the previous Saturday including the entire back three of Flood, Corrigan and Irish sevens skipper Megan Burns being replaced.
Former Armagh gaelic footballer Niamh Marley runs in the third try on the left wing for Wolfhounds (Pic: Colin Molloy)
Amy Larn came in at fullback, with Marley on the left wing and Wexford fire-cracker O’Connor on the right, making a welcome first appearance since bagging a brace of tries against Brython in Belfast back in mid-January.
Moore made her first appearance of the campaign, in place of Cliodhna Ni Chonchobhair, while openside Aoife Corcoran came in for hooker Clenaghan with King going back to No 8 and Daley reverting from the middle of the back row to the middle of the front.
Clovers gaffer Fogarty, who had rested a number of players for the away win over Edinburgh the week before, made seven changes for the Wolfhounds showdown in addition to utility forward Faith Oviawe swapping flanks.
Ireland props Siobhan McCarthy and Ulsterwoman Sadhbh McGrath returned to the front row in place of Ella Burns and Eilis Cahill, with the capped Ailish Quinn taking over from Rosie Searle in the loose forward unit.
Having made her seasonal debut as a half-time replacement in Edinburgh, Kate Flannery came in at outhalf for teenager Siofra Hession and international McGann was on the right wing instead of Chisom Ugwueru.
Last week’s Player of the Match Lucia Linn, who didn’t make the matchday 23 at Belfield and actually lined out for All Ireland League leaders UL Bohs instead, gave way to her experienced clubmate Alana McInerney at outside centre.
Stacked Clovers had the desire to avenge the home defeat to Wolfhounds earlier in the campaign and were desperate to finish first having been denied a fair shot last season when their away game against Glasgow, which fell foul of the weather, couldn’t be rearranged.
But Wolfhounds wanted to assert that they were worthy champions last season despite that unsatisfactory twist then and would have wanted to exorcise the ghosts of that bad beating by Clovers on this same pitch at UCD in the festive fixture just over 14 months ago.
There could well be an even bigger game between these teams in Edinburgh before the month is out, but this was almost like an old-fashioned final trial and a last chance to impress ahead of Bemand announcing his Six Nations squad.
Wolfhounds headed the table by two points from their opponents going into this eagerly-awaited encounter, and both coaches spoke in their pre-match interviews about the special edge of a derby as well as the desire to take momentum into the play-offs.
The first bit of excitement came from a break by Parsons in the opening minute but Clovers lost the ball forward and, before long, Wolfhounds were coming at them in waves before an O’Brien knock-on in the opposition 22.
From the ensuing scrum, Clovers cleared to Larn and although O’Brien’s chip to the left corner for Marley went into touch 10 metres out, Buttimer’s throw went over the tail, Daley collected and Linda Djougang got close to the line before Moore forced her way over.
O’Brien’s conversion meant Clovers were kicking off again seven down inside seven minutes, though they had a reprieve soon afterwards thanks to a rare error from O’Brien’s boot when she sent a penalty to the right corner the wrong side of the flag.
Player of the Match Dannah O’Brien’s brilliant offload to India Daley for Wolfhounds’ bonus-point try (Pic: Colin Molloy)
Wolfhounds continued to enjoy the upper hand territorially and they struck again just after the quarter-hour mark, King winning a breakdown penalty leading to a lineout in the right corner and Daley breaking away from the resulting maul to touch down.
This time, O’Brien couldn’t convert, and Wolfhounds had to withstand a period of comparative pressure helped by a penalty at the breakdown won by young Ulsterwoman Sophie Barrett and a couple of fine relieving kicks from their accomplished outhalf.
The second of those saw O’Brien’s huge clearance from her own 22 bounce into touch just short of the opposition 22 and, although Clovers won the lineout, Flannery kicked the ball back to Wolfhounds who kept it until they scored their third try.
The lively Larn straightened after an arcing run by her fellow Olympian Higgins and the fullback drew the last defender before putting Marley away with a clear run to the line from some 20 metres out.
O’Brien missed that conversion but she kept getting opportunities to kick at the posts for that proved to be the first of four tries plundered by Wolfhounds in a devastating spell of just over 10 minutes that put this game to bed very early.
Djougang carried twice in quick succession, the probing Dalton made inroads wide on the right, King gained ground on the charge and then O’Brien broke nicely before a glorious back-of-the-hand offload to Daley who rampaged home for her second try.
That fourth try secured the Wolfhounds bonus-point with just 28 minutes gone and Clovers had other troubles too with Aoibheann McGrath leaving the field injured and scrumhalf Emily Lane temporarily with a bloody nose as O’Brien added the extra two points.
Athletic lock Aoibhe O’Flynn came on alongside skipper Ruth Campbell in the second row, which probably helped offset some of Clovers’ earlier lineout struggles, while Lane was briefly replaced by Katie Whelan, who had begun this campaign with Wolfhounds.
After some kick tennis from the restart, a long pass flung into midfield by Larn was picked off by Oviawe but Higgins made a vital tackle and then teenage No 8 Jemima Adams-Verling, who has been so influential for Clovers this season, spilled a skip pass from Flannery.
From the scrum well inside the Wolfhounds half, Reilly deftly fed Dalton who slithered through an initial attempted tackle and made a big break down the middle reminiscent of her run the same direction in the last derby here which ended in a Vicky Elmes-Kinlan try.
This time Dalton offloaded to Higgins and, although the latter was well hauled down by Parsons, the ubiquitous Reilly was there to sweep the ball on to the supporting King who unsurprisingly proved unstoppable.
Dalton, who as always was getting through a lot of unglamorous work too including a plethora of ferocious clear-outs, made another clean line-break almost straight from the restart, which was claimed by Moore and the ball moved right.
The Wolfhounds skipper was hauled down by the restored Lane and the ball was eventually turned over after O’Brien opted to cut back in rather than passing to Marley on her outside, but Larn reclaimed it by being perfectly positioned to collect Lane’s low box-kick.
After a few very physical phases, O’Brien tried a cross-kick for Marley which just eluded the left winger and went into touch on the Clovers 10-metre line, but Buttimer’s throw was tapped back on the Wolfhounds side.
Good hands from King, Moore and Higgins spread play quickly and the ball was smuggled to O’Connor, who showed how strong, slippery, fast and dynamic she is by bouncing off a couple of defenders and somehow getting away to score in the right corner.
That unconverted try made it 36-0 and O’Brien was pinged for holding on after being tackled just two metres short as Wolfhounds soon threatened again, but a series of penalties took Clovers down the right touchline as the clock crept well into the red.
They laid siege to the Wolfhounds line for the first time in the game, and although Clovers came away empty-handed when McGann being bundled into touch five metres out triggered the half-time whistle, those few phases may have raised their spirits somewhat.
Elmes-Kinlan replaced O’Connor on the right wing ahead of the second half and Parsons scrambled over in that corner within four minutes of the resumption to reward a period of pressure from Clovers.
Flannery failed to convert from wide on the left and Wolfhounds hit back with a seven-pointer of their own three minutes later, O’Brien garnishing King’s second try of the match after Higgins won a breakdown penalty and several forwards carried hard following the lineout.
Ulster’s India Daley scores the first of her tries for Wolfhounds despite Faith Oviawe and Ailish Quinn (Pic: Colin Molloy)
There was evident concern for Reilly from her team-mates as she received attention before hobbling off, replaced by the tall Alex Connor, and Clovers made a change soon afterwards with Niamh Murphy coming on for Flannery and Breen switching to outhalf.
Clovers scored their second try towards the end of the third quarter, Breen spinning away from a tackle, fullback Corey straightening the line and McGann finishing wide on the right to take her team’s tally into double figures.
Having just recently come on, Casey was sinbinned for ‘falling on the wrong side’ at a ruck in her own 22 following a lovely line-break by Murphy and Wolfhounds had to hold Clovers up over the tryline midway through the half to prevent another concession.
One Armagh native came on and another went off at the start of the final quarter when Clenaghan took over from her fellow Ulsterwoman Daley in the front row at the same time Marley was replaced by Maggie Boylan on the left wing.
Clovers botched a lineout deep in the Wolfhounds 22 just after Ugwueru had come on for a bloody-nosed Parsons and there was another raft of four changes by Fogarty with a quarter of an hour remaining.
Last week’s starting props Burns and Cahill came on for Ireland duo McCarthy and Sadhbh McGrath, with Searle – a late addition to the Clovers bench in place of the originally listed Annakate Cournane – and Whelan replacing Oviawe and Lane respectively.
Those changes took place just before a scrum from which O’Brien brought Dalton through on a nice scissors move and the darting run took the Wolfhounds skipper to a few metres out but the offload to Higgins didn’t stick and shortly afterwards all hell broke loose.
The trouble began when Buttimer held onto Clenaghan’s leg at a ruck after the ball had gone and then got up and chased after the Ulsterwoman, who understandably had sought to free herself but not used excessive force.
When confronted by Buttimer, Clenaghan lashed out and, although self-defence could possibly be claimed in mitigation, a couple of punches appeared to connect and the altercation led to a lot of players from both teams becoming involved.
After things calmed down, the referee summoned captains Dalton and Campbell for an explanation before red-carding Clenaghan, though surprisingly the officials failed to take any action against Buttimer who had appeared the original instigator and then the aggressor.
Despite the provocation, it was still a costly lapse of discipline by Clenaghan and actions in the heat of the moment which the Queen’s medical student immediately regretted could result in her missing the remainder of this Wolfhounds campaign.
Clenaghan’s fate was set to be decided by a Celtic Challenge disciplinary hearing and even a short suspension on the back of this sending off was sure to result in the heartbreak of having to sit out Saturday’s semi and likely the Grand Final too if Wolfhounds beat Brython.
Born in Armagh before growing up in the north west of the province, Clenaghan was one of only two players, along with the then captain Boles, to start all 10 matches as Wolfhounds won the title last season.
Although generally benching behind Daley this season, Clenaghan has still contributed plenty – including three tries in the two Gwalia games – and Wolfhounds followers will be relieved Irish international Sarah Delaney is back from long-term injury for the play-offs.
Buttimer has avoided retrospective sanction, but her own indiscipline could have proved costly as Ireland boss Bemand was unlikely to have been impressed by what he saw and that might have swung Six Nations squad selection in favour of Daley at her expense.
The youngest member of Ireland’s squad for last autumn’s World Cup, from which she returned home uncapped, the abrasive Buttimer is a formidable forward who plays on the edge but can’t afford any repeat of the volatility shown last Saturday.
Although it was her former Ireland Under 20 hooking rival Clenaghan who received her marching orders, Buttimer, whose mother is originally from Carrickfergus, was lucky to avoid a yellow card and similar indiscipline in a green jersey wouldn’t be tolerated.
There could also have been an unfortunate knock-on effect from the Belfield fracas had any Ireland player got too drawn into the brawl and ended up facing a disciplinary charge and possible ban so close to the Six Nations.
Thankfully that didn’t happen, with most of those in the thick of it actually trying to separate the two players and there were conciliatory, mutually respectful pats exchanged between young captains Campbell and Dalton both before and after the referee’s lecture.
A resilient individual of character, Clenaghan will take her medicine and learn her lesson but it was heart-warming to see her fellow Wolfhounds rally round Maebh afterwards including a long and caring embrace by her Ulster skipper Daley as she came to the touchline.
Neither of these talented, dedicated and still very young women should face lasting stigma on the back of this incident and thankfully what happened between the two hookers at Belfield didn’t decide the outcome of the Celtic Challenge derby.
Buttimer was taken off by Clovers straight after the incident, Emma Dunican coming on, while Djougang and Barrett were replaced by the Wilson sisters, Hannah and EmmaJane, in the Wolfhounds front row before play resumed with lock Cliodhna Ni Chonchobhair on too.
Teenager EmmaJane Wilson plays hooker as well as prop so she was comfortable throwing into the lineout and, with no scrums meantime, Wolfhounds didn’t need to bring Daley back on – Moore was withdrawn – for a further five minutes.
With an extra player and a desire to salvage lost pride, Clovers were relatively dominant now but were kept at bay until the final five minutes when Whelan’s blindside break from a scrum took her into the right corner, where McGann later stretched for her second try at the end.
Whelan has a strong reputation as a sniping scrumhalf and she certainly enhanced that by breaking up a big blindside for a try reminiscent of that Italian score against Ireland in last spring’s Six Nations.
To various extents, Whelan evaded Casey, Connor, Boylan and Larn on her run to the corner for an unconverted try and there was still time for Clovers to score again after O’Brien had been announced as Player of the Match, adjudicated by Fiona Hayes.
This superb break from inside her own half by captain Aoife Dalton set up the fifth try for Wolfhounds (Pic: Colin Molloy)
Even with her team so far ahead, Dalton showed typical physical courage in going down on a loose ball at the feet of Murphy as she hacked ahead out of defence but Clovers reclaimed possession when Quinn won a breakdown penalty shortly afterwards.
After Adams-Verling won the lineout, Dalton made a textbook tackle on Murphy at full pace and, although Clovers retained the ball for another few phases, it looked like their hopes of one more consolation score had been undone by a knock-on near halfway.
But the underpowered Wolfhounds were penalised at the ensuing scrum, Breen kicked to touch, Campbell won the resulting lineout on the 22 and Clovers kept pressing until a trademark McGann try as she stretched out that long right arm to ground the ball.
The final whistle went as Breen’s conversion attempt slid past the near post on an afternoon Clovers missed all four of their place-kicks, but they showed enough in the second half to whet the appetite for an all-Irish final providing both teams make it to Edinburgh.
Wolfhounds will start favourites against Brython, though the visitors will be full of confidence following those five wins on the spin so Alcorn will be glad to have Moore available again albeit being without the injured Reilly as well as Clenaghan.
On paper it should be more straightforward for settled Clovers against Gwalia in the first semi, albeit the Welsh visitors to Galway will surely be desperate to stop the recent rot, with Fogarty’s main selection issue being whether to deploy Breen at outhalf from the start.
WOLFHOUNDS: Amy Larn; Robyn O’Connor (Vicky Elmes-Kinlan, ht), Aoife Dalton (capt), Eve Higgins, Niamh Marley (Maggie Boylan, 62); Dannah O’Brien, Aoibheann Reilly (Alex Connor, 51); Linda Djougang (Hannah Wilson, 69), India Daley (Maebh Clenaghan, 62), Sophie Barrett (EmmaJane Wilson, 69), Kate Jordan, Naoise Smyth (Cliodhna Ni Chonchobhair, 69), Grace Moore (India Daley, 74), Aoife Corcoran (Regan Casey, 56), Erin King.
CLOVERS: Aoife Corey; Anna McGann, Alana McInerney, Enya Breen, Beibhinn Parsons (Chisom Ugwueru, 63); Kate Flannery (Niamh Murphy, 53), Emily Lane (Katie Whelan, temp 29-33, 66); Siobhan McCarthy (Ella Burns, 66), Beth Buttimer (Emma Dunican, 69), Sadhbh McGrath (Eilis Cahill, 66), Ruth Campbell (capt), Aoibheann McGrath (Aoibhe O’Flynn, 29), Faith Oviawe (Rosie Searle, 66), Ailish Quinn, Jemima Adams-Verling.
Wolfhounds centre Eve Higgins (left) and Clovers winger Anna McGann with some very young fans (Pic: Colin Molloy)
