Tuesday 10 march was a gorgeous Spring day, with some warmth in the air and a real sense that the awful weather was behind us and that we would start feeling some heat again! Wednesday 11 March was the complete opposite. The rain was travelling sideways off the Dublin mountains, carried parallel to the ground by the coldest wind outside of Siberia. Wednesday 11 March was also the day of the inaugural Girl's South Dublin Cup. Typical.
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| Soft day! |
There has been a boy's SDC for a couple of year's now. In fact our Junior Boys won it last year, on the same day that Joe Schmidt was in visiting the girls. Ken Moore, one of the Community Officers for Leinster Rugby, thought it was only fair that there should be a girls equivalent too.
The competition was due to be run off in a blitz format on the main pitch in Tallaght Stadium and with presentations by the mayor of South County Dublin at the end. The weather had other plans though and resulted in us a), playing on a different pitch (field), b) getting finished earlier than expected and therefore not meeting the mayor. Ah well. These things happen. We were more interested in the game anyway!
We had junior and senior teams and we faced opposition from our old friends in Firhouse and from King's Hospital in Lucan. Some girls from Lucan Community College came along also to help out and to make up numbers on any teams that were short. Overall there was a great sense of community amongst all of the teams, with everybody chatting and enjoying themselves (while getting absolutely soaked) but also really throwing themselves into the games. It was a lot of fun.
We alternated between each school, so while our Juniors played Firhouse and Lucan, our seniors were playing King's Hospital and so on. We played two games against each school at each level and whoever came away with the most points would be the winners of the cup.
Our junior team had the experienced core of Aoife McGowan, Eva Keller and Abercrombie, ready and willing to make tackles - even if it was against Sophie, the amazing player from Lucan and Westmanstown club! The girls were joined by Abaigh Craul, Janice, Faith R-R, Sarah Buggie, Ciara Campbell and either Emma or Sarah Moody, we can't tell which. The games were fast and intense. Some of the girls we were playing really took the ball on and pushed against us, forcing contact and making us commit strong tackles. Our girls matched them though, with Sarah Buggie making some outstanding tackles, while Aoife, Eva and Abercrombie set up and scored some fantastic tries between them. The experience the girls had really shone through, but the newbies weren't going to be outdone. Abaigh scored a wonder try, after some amazing footwork, while Janice was able to burst through some solid defences to make her mark. Ciara and Faith weren't to be outdone though, showing great courage and resolve, carrying deep and making some great passing-decisions in some dreadful weather. Bottome line? A clean sweep by St Mac Dara's. Could the seniors match the juniors?
At first it didn't look like they could. King's Hospital had a very strong team out against our seniors and, to be fair, we were probably a bit rusty.They managed to get ahead of by two tries through clever use of the referee and so we needed something to get us into the game, to settle us.
Enter Katie. Captain Fantastic had decided to finish her geography project before making her way out to Tallaght Stadium (or rather, the field out the back of Tallaght Stadium). Katie lead from the front, making really strong and agressive tackles, pushing King's Hospital back and giving our girls something to contest. Cliona was able to use her club experience to gain possession for us and to present clean ball to her teammates. Soon we had pulled one back. Jess then put in a very cheeky restart kick, dropping it just behind the opposition, before running onto it, scooping it up and scoring. Simple. So simple that she did it again later!
That game finished in a draw, but the seniors went on to win all of their other matches. Katie and Jess continued tackling and hunting down players, but they were joined by Roisin and Sarah, who both put in a huge amount of work, as well as Rebekah and Sorcha, who were both rock-solid in defence. Saragh Deegan and Vicki Browne provided us with some very strong scrums alongside Cliona. We were always sure of retrieving the ball and even stealing a few! Poor Vicki did get a bang to the head though, but she was very mature and sensible about it, letting us know and asking to be replaced. No game is more important than a player's health.
One of the tries of the tournament was scored by Caoimhe, who placed the ball perfectly as she crossed the line, and then placed her face in the muck beside it, and then flipped over the ball! A fantastic score, and a great laugh as well. An almost clean-sweep for the seniors, but with no losses.
We were thrilled to be announced as winners, and to be presented with the inaugural Girl's South Dublin Cup by Nora Stapleton, the Irish out-half. Nora has been a great friend to us in St Mac Dara's, and a great inspiration too. We have to say a huge thank you to Ken Moore, Jennie Bagnall, Tom McKeown and all of the Community Officers from Leinster Rugby for organising the event and for giving us the opportunity to take part.
It was an incredibly happy day; a day to be proud. There was a tinge of sadness too though. It's no wonder that Katie broke into tears and couldn't finish speaking when she and Jess were presented with the trophy. For those Sixth Year girls this was one of the final steps on a journey that began in September of 2011. Four years of training together. Four years of learning to play together, of building into a team, into a group of people who were willing to keep going in the worst possible weather, on the poxiest day of the year, to help each other out, again and again ... and to win.
Well done girls. Well done, and thank you.
