Sunday the 11th October 2010. A glorious day and with the Ladies being the only show in town the hordes descended on Rosetown. The side lines were bursting and the crowd expectant……hold on a sec. No, mark this down as a missed opportunity for all Newbridge RFC supporters because on this day the Ladies reinvented themselves and produced a result that has been a long time coming. We were outnumbered ten fold on the sideline but held our own through the vocal talents of Bridget Doyle and the Murphy clan roaring on mammy (Ger).

 

 

Newbridge had been well beaten earlier in the season by Portarlington so we were optimistic.. Things did not start brightly and the Ladies were soon struggling with the Portarlington numbers (as were the Newbridge management!). One try quickly followed by another and a whooping looked to be on the cards. But the Newbridge defence held firm and half time thankfully intervened. New coach Stuart Armstrong had some choice words and galvanised the troops. The second half saw the Ladies reborn. Laura Coates (Laura is so old she remembers training under those old dogs Johnny Molloy and Seanie Hayes as do a couple of other players) took the bull by the horns and proceeded to scythe through the Port defence time and time again despite her creaking knees. Other players responded to her lead and soon after a sweeping back line movement captain Mary Ashe was diving (as instructed!) over for Newbridges first score.

 

 

Eureka, now we had the bit between our teeth and though we were playing up hill and against the wind it was as if Noel Heavey (the devil himself) was driving the Ladies on. Veteran hooker Louise Bowes was soon stirred to action and it was she who scored next after a period of relentless forward driving. Game on and all square 10 points each. Port seemed to get a kick in the behind from this and set off down the hill with there big forwards to the fore. Our defence was breeched with only full back Aoife Courtney standing in the way of possible defeat. Ports biggest forward was now bearing down on her. But Aoife has rugby in her blood (her father played a bit for the Curragh) and she fearlessly tackled the Port player and our lines were cleared. New comer Sinead Dixon began to get the ball more and her running provoked fear in the opposition ranks. A kick and chase had her over the line but Sinead decided not to touch the ball down! The Newbridge Ladies however were not finished. Another period of sustained pressure resulted in a super run and offload from Connie to set Kaylee free to outsprint the Port defence and thankfully

touch down to take the lead.

 

The rest is a blur as the Newbridge supporters (and dog) raised their voices once again to roar on the Ladies too defend for their lives. Newbridge had one player yellow carded (Linda, destroyer of friend and foe!) due to overzealous defending. The referee, who up to now had a good game, decided to drag out the blowing of the final whistle for comic effect, but he too eventually relented and victory was ours.

Whew.

 

Join us next Sunday for the Ladies v NUIM Barnhall at 1pm in Rosetown.