Nine wins from ten for U-18 girls

ENNISCORTHY PORTDARA 20 5

ENNISCORTHY’S UNDER-18 girls’ rugby team made it nine wins from ten starts in this Leinster Division 1 clash against a tough and well-drilled Portdara outfit.

Three weeks earlier, Katie Foley’s charges lost their unbeaten record away to a rampant Wicklow, with back rower Anna Nolan scoring her team’s only try.

Last week they returned to winning ways with a comfortable 32-10 home win over Naas, with two-try Lucy Egan being the star.

Saturday’s game against the Portarlington/Cill Dara combination, played at a very windy Alcast Park, was a tight affair until the Slaneysiders pulled away in the final quarter.

The first score came 20 minutes in when a powerful run out of defence from Anna Nolan allowed Hollie Kelly and Ciara Boland to make ground up the left.

Good passing by Aoife Codd then put Mia

Kelly in space 40 metres out. Mia, called up to the Leinster sevens squad this week, showed great power and pace the beat several wouldbe tacklers and score wide on the right. This was the only score of a tight first-half.

With wind advantage it took the Wexford girls ten minutes to double their lead. Both Laura Doyle and Ciara O’Leary were held up over the line before ‘Scorthy’s recently capped Ireland Under-18 international pair, wing forward Aoife Wafer and scrum-half Katie Whelan,combined intelligently for the latter to score in the right corner for a 10-0 lead.

Straight from the kick-off the Kildare girls hit back with a very well-worked try to make it 10-5 with 20 minutes left.

Good work by Ciara Boland allowed her team to set up camp on the Portdara line, and great defence kept both Mia Kelly and Anna Nolan out before Laura Doyle showed fine awareness to touch to down and make it a ten-point lead.

With captain Katie Foley leading from the front, and her team now well on top, winger

Erin Cahill did well to bring play to the line and after Aoife Wafer went close, the outstanding Anna Nolan powered over for the final score.

The club are very proud of its first-ever female internationals, Aoife Wafer and Katie Whelan, who made their Ireland Under-18 debuts two weeks ago with an away victory in Scotland.

Aoife captained Ireland and Katie scored two excellent tries. Both girls also join Mia Kelly on the Leinster Under-18 rugby sevens squad, and all three are under-age again next season.

Girls’ rugby is booming in Enniscorthy and the hope is that this is only the start and that the talent coming through will lead to more representative honours in the seasons ahead.

Enniscorthy: Taragh Cooper (Jessica Wickham, 32), Faye Larkin, Mikayla O’Leary (Laura Doyle, 32), Lucy Egan (Ciara O’Leary, 32), Katie Foley (capt.), Anna Nolan, Aoife Wafer, Rachel Murphy, Katie Whelan, Aoife Codd, Hollie Kelly (Fiona Cousins, 32), Ciara Boland, Mia Kelly, Erin Cahill (Leah Doran, 32), Bonnie Kinnaird.