The rain last Saturday afternoon in Rosetown brought cats and dogs to the forefront of the brain. I was attending a funeral in Kilcullen and didn’t get to our Ladies Cup match against Kilkenny RFC until the second half. ....... what I witnessed for the the thirty five minutes I was there brought me back to that time when our Firsts were embarking on their journey out of ‘s****ville’ to where we are now.

 

Our Ladies are not the hottest team in Ladies Rugby. We play in Division 4 of the Leinster League. What they are is a band of players who happen to be ladies who absolutely love the game of Rugby as told to me by Maria Cash, who commutes from Wexford to toil in our second row.  Only once before this season did I catch them, then as on Saturday their spirit and never ever say die attitude shone through. They train twice each week, but because some are students, and in far flung places and whatever,  numbers are not what they should be . Anyway when I entered the scene on Saturday afternoon they were pressing hard. Someone told me that Kilkenny had scored four tries in the first half but thanks be to God I didn’t see this.

 

Aishling Bonaparte Richard.E. Lee is our general, she is also our scrum half and keeps us in the field! Our Outhalf is Aoife Courtney  whose right boot knew where the touchline was;  on the day that was in it, and with Kilkenny having the quality players they had in their backline , ‘ten woman ‘ rugby didn’t seem such a bad idea to me. We have two forwards who bear an uncanny resemblance., both are called Laura, Coates is part of our original band of sisters that featured Jayne Lawlor, Joanne Cranston, Sarah Molloy, Shona Nolan, ...... this Laura struggles these days with injury but enjoys so much the battle , she hewed, she carried, she scrummaged like she really loves it which I suspect she does.

 

Our junior Laura is a Cogan from Kilcullen and to this Laura fell the glory of touching down for our so richly deserved try after twenty attritional minutes of pure slog in the face of sleet ,  and a very determined cohesive Kilkenny defence,  fortified by their coach whose exhortations and zeal behind the goals  made even me feel  a little bit afraid . Our other Cogan, Kaylee is our scalpel , on this occasion it was she  who  kicked an excellent conversion( aptly celebrated with Ashling O Hora), these two points were the margin by which we won the second half as the Kilkenny scalpel, their full back by the name of ONeill   went in for her third try of the day, ten minutes later.

 

I am reliably informed that our band of sisters took full advantage of the warmth of the hearth fire , kindly nurtured by our Clubhouse minder extraordinaire Willy Nugent. It was nice to reconnect with Fiona Behan who played tip rugby one afternoon four and a half years ago on the sands of Archechon!  Also Maeve Leahy- teen protégé with our original band of sisters back in the day.

 

PS. Brian Spollen is our treasurer , and it was he  who drove the notion that we open our doors, our fireside heath and Bar to view the Ireland  V Wales game in ‘the proper spirit. I had three pints and a strongly held view that Ireland were horsed out of it by Red Dragons who played as if they had never heard ofthe  Irish prowess in the Heineken Cup. Its a dangerous thing when a team believes it’s own propaganda!  As always there was a point of contention . Was that Ferris tackle in the last seconds of injury time not legitimate? Whether it was or wasn’t  swung the result . This and other related incidents were ferociously debated by the former and present  Chairmen of Newbridge RFC but then our lift came and we had to disengage. The ragged one then went on the lash with a famous journalist who was still traumatized by a Portarlington experience the day before. The virtuous one went to Church to pray for his soul.

 

PS Eile . In the early years after the amalgamation our Club was kept in existence by a few heads who really were magicians. One of these was for years was our Treasurer, -  Jamie Berney. It was Jamie’s Mam, Pat whose funeral I was at last Saturday. May her soul rest in peace. I never  met Pat , but by  all accounts  she was a fantastic lady, much loved by her community in Kilcullen. 

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