Wicklow vs Blackrock AIL

 

Wicklow 17

Blackrock College 45

Ashtown Lane

Eoin Horkan

Blackrock should their class in Ashtown Lane on Saturday afternoon

in the opening round of the women AIL competition for 2022/2023.

The home side who were short their captain and vice-captain one was

in attendance while the other was in Canada for the game.

Wicklow who were huge underdogs for this clash didn’t take this tag

to heart as they went after the visitors from the opening kick-off.

With ten minutes gone Blackrock won a penalty and decided to take a

scrum on the halfway line. This scrum resulted in the first try of the

game as scrumhalf Maeve Liston broke down the wing before

crossing the try line for her side. The extras were put wide from a

tight angle. Wicklow kept the pressure on even after this early set

back and within ten minutes they had narrowed the gap to two points

as Beth Roberts fired over a penalty for her side. The next ten minutes

of this tie was riddled with mistakes and some excellent defence from

both sides. The home side then produced a moment of magic as Ella

Roberts at full back collected a ball in her own half before breaking

through the defence , Roberts added the extra as her side took a

deserved lead. The home side kept the pressure on and as they did

Blackrock centre Ciara Scanlan intercepted a pass before offloading

to fly half Lisa Mullen. The fly half managed to run under the posts

unopposed before adding the extras to give her side a two point lead

at the break.

The second half of this tie was a much more one sided affair as

Blackrock started to gain control with Mullen controlling the game at

fly half pushing the Wicklow defence back with some excellent

kicking. It was Mullen who was the catalyst for her sides next try as

she switched play with an excellent pass to Ali Coleman who

powered her way over the line from outside the twenty two metre line.

Mullen couldn’t convert from out wide. Wicklow’s indiscipline was

causing them trouble as they gave away a penalty on there own

twenty two. Mullen took this penalty quickly before dropping her

centre and captain Michelle Claffey into space with a switch pass that

resulted in another try under the posts with the Mullen slotting

another conversion.

With both sides emptying the bench in the final twenty minutes it was

Wicklow sub Saoirse O’ Reilly who made an immediate impact as she

collected a loose ball before weaving her way over the line as Roberts

added the extra two points to narrow the gap. The final ten minutes

the away side managed to cross the whitewash three times. The away

side put the game to bed with a penalty try from a maul which. This

meant no conversion was needed. It was then the turn of substitute

Méabh Deely to cross the line after some great work from Ella

Durkan. The final try of the game came from Anna Doyle who flew

down her wing to finish under the posts as Mullen kicked the final

score of the game.

BLACKROCK COLLEGE: Ella Durkan; Roisin Crowe, Michelle Claffey

(capt), Ciara Scanlan, Anna Doyle; Lisa Mullen, Maeve Liston; Shannon

Heapes, Emma Hooban, Casey O’Brien, Eimear Corri, Anna Potterton, Mairead

Holohan, Beth Cregan, Ali Coleman

Blackrock College: Tries: Maeve Liston, Lisa Mullen, Ali Coleman, Michelle

Claffey, Penalty try, Méabh Deely, Anna Doyle; Cons: Lisa Mullen 4, Pen try

con

Subs Used : Laura Feely for Shannon Heapes , Ann-Marie Rooney for Casey O’

Brien, Niamh Tester for Mairead Holohan , Roisin McWey for Ali Coleman,

Méabh Deely for Michelle Claffey , Natasha Behan for Maeve Liston , Hannah

Hodges for Roisin Crowe .

WICKLOW: Ella Roberts; Meagan Parkinson, Aoibhin Stone, Sarah Gleeson,

Suzanne Tyrrell; Beth Roberts, Roisin Stone; Linda Dempsey, Niamh Ni

Dhroma (capt), Caoimhe Molloy, Rachel Griffey, Caitlin Griffey, Nicola

Schmidt, Jessica Schmidt, Emma Curran.

Scorers: Wicklow: Tries: Ella Roberts, Saoirse O’Reilly; Cons: Beth Roberts 2;

Pen: Beth Roberts.

Replacements: Kathy Byrne for Caoimhe Molloy , Laura Newsome for Nicola

Schmidt , Leah Murphy for Niamh Ní Dhroma, Shauna Soady for Caitlin

Griffey, Orla Molloy for Roisin Stone , Saoirse O’Reilly for Meagan Parkinson.

Referee; Robbie O’ Flynn