In her latest update on the Women’s game Sarah Lennon tells us of an Irish international’s all too brief return to action
We're past the half way point of this season's All Ireland League 1 and the early themes have been maintained with a familiar look at the summit of the table. A distinct three-horse race has emerged between UL Bohemian, Old Belvedere and Highfield. UL Bohemian sit top and will fancy their chances with the two other teams yet to play each other.
It had been Highfield who had set all the early pace but it was a significantly different challenge that awaited them in Cork with the visit of UL Bohs. Following on from her star turn against Belvo in Round 3, it was Niamh Briggs who created the first score for Bohs providing winger Aisling Hutchings with an assist for the games opening try. Chasing a five point lead isn't always the biggest of challenges but before the half hour mark, Hutchings doubled her try tally and with Briggs adding a conversion and the visitors had a 12 point lead 30 minutes. Briggs continued her involvement with a penalty which saw the Robins go into half time with a 15-0 lead. Considering that Bohs had conceded 17 points all season they would have had every reason to be confident. Highfield managed to claw back three points to trouble the scoreboard and Bohs lost two players to the sinbin and Briggs succumbed to a broken hand on only her 2nd appearance after half a year out. Bohs showed all of their tenacity and experience and withstood the Highfield pressure, adding a third try themselves through Niamh Kavanagh. Neither team could score any further points meaning that Bohs failed to secure a fourth try for a bonus point, and Highfield too left empty handed for all of their endeavour.
Old Belvedere who had gone into the weekend in third place, knew that there was no room for eror after the previous week's agonizing defeat to Bohs as they took on Dublin rivals Blackrock. Rock have been seriously struggling in recent weeks having lost players and coaches in the summer recess. They started the match poorly and were behind within 5 minutes following a barnstorming run by tighthead Ailis Egan who sent in fullback Emer McElhinney for the opening try. With the try unconverted, Blackrock struck back quickly with a penalty to take the score back to a two point margin. This was as good as it got for the Stradbrook outfit however, with Belvo turning on the style through tries from Egan herself, Emer O'Malley and Nora Stapleton all before halftime with centre Elaine Cohalan converting the tries. Belvo took a 26-3 lead and the all important bonus point into half time. Blackrock, to their credit refused to lie down and the pack in particular put in a good effort bossing the scrums in particular. Belvo were soon adding to their points difference however through tries from McElhinney with her second try, Janice Daly, Elain Cohalan, Fionnuala Gleeson and Egan with her second try. With 9 tries in all and 5 conversions, Belvo secured an emphatic 55-3 victory.
Highfield were leapfrogged by Old belvedere into second place following the weekends fixtures and trail UL Bohs by 2 points. With Belvo and Highfield still to lock horns though, Bohs will fancy their chance of finishing top of the pile yet again. The top two take on the bottom two next week, with Cooke hosting Belvo and Bohs at home to Blackrock. It's looking like a straight shootout between Rock and Cooke for relegation this season. In round 4 Cooke were on the receiving end of a 45-3 defeat to St Mary's who are sitting fourth and will be happy with their progress after a difficult season last time out. Blackrock have no points and Cooke have 2 so the round 6 clash between the two looks like settling the relegation question this season. Rounding up the results for this week, Galwegians bounced back from two disappointing defeats to beat Tralee in Kerry by the score of 19-8 and are putting pressure on St Mary's in fourth.
A rest week next weekend for the AIL1 and the league resumes on November 4th with round 5 and the aforementioned top versus bottom clashes and Highfield waiting to capitalise on any slipups when they host Tralee.
The AIL Second divisions are in full flow and this weekend saw three home wins in division 2N as Enniskillen, Garda and Queens all secured home wins. The Queens win was crucial as they played Belfast Harlequins who had been top and sees Queens situated nicely in 2nd place with a game in hand. In division 2S, Nenagh secured a narrow 10-5 win over Postlaoise and New Ross suffered a big defeat at home losing 25-0 to Ballincollig. Portlaoise stay top for now but crucially, Nenagh are now only 2 points behind with a game in hand.
The Leinster leagues continue apace too and in Division 1, Edenderry squeaked a win against the improving Rathdrum. Cill Dara missed an opportunity to keep pace when their game against Portarlington was postponed and unfortunately Longford conceded against Wexford. In Division 2 all three fixtures were postponed for varying reasons and it remains to be seen if they can be pencilled into the calendar at a later stage. In Division 3, Railway Union continue to demonstrate that they won't be in this division for much longer with another emphatic victory, beating Arklow 50-0, 4 bonus point wins in a row so far and surely promotion for next season. Clondalkin seem to have turned a corner and beat an experienced Mullingar side by the odd try 15-10 with UCD and Wicklow moving their game to tonight, whoever wins that one will come off the foot of the table. In the Development league CYM/Terenure continue at a good pace with their third bonus point win and they lead Newbridge whose game with Railway J1s was also postponed, with the worrying trend of unfulfilled matches continuing across the Leinster divisions.
Sarah Lennon (@sarahlennon08) is passionate about all things rugby. A Leinster Season Ticket holder since the Donnybrook days, a supporter of the Irish teams home and abroad and can regularly be seen cheering on Junior Rugby at Stillorgan RFC (a labour of love). As well as spectating, she dabbles in playing a bit and is a member of Old Belvedere RFC and fully paid up member of the front row union.
