Railway and ‘Rock ready to roll in AIL decider
Blackrock College captain Michelle Claffey is expecting defending champions Railway Union to pose challenges from all angles when the two south Dublin clubs face off in the Women’s All-Ireland League final at Energia Park on Friday evening (kick-off 7.45pm).
After losing out to the Sandymount-based outfit in last season’s decider – which took place in February of this year – ‘Rock will be looking to go a step further at the end of a shortened campaign. Claffey and her team-mates had the measure of Railway at Park Avenue a little under four weeks ago and the former Ireland international believes the Stradbrook club have it within themselves to get the job done.
“They’ve got internationals across the pitch. Their breakdown is quite good, it’s quite fast. You have to try and manage that. They’ve Aoife McDermott there [at second row], she’s incredibly tall. It’s about negating their strengths, but also realising that we’ve got strengths as well that will negate theirs,” Claffey remarked in advance of tonight’s game.
While numerous players from the Blackrock and Railway squads are in Cape Town today for the latest leg of the Sevens World Series, there will still be plenty of quality on display in Donnybrook for Ireland head coach Greg McWilliams to cast his eye on.
Niamh Byrne was one of several players to make her debut for Ireland during this spring’s Six Nations Championship and – like Claffey – she will be captaining Railway from the pivotal position of outside centre.
Given the significant changes that are due to take place in women’s rugby on these shores, it was decided that the latest edition of the Women’s AIL would be run off in a three-month period.
This means that tomorrow’s encounter will be just the 10th for both sides over the course of the campaign. This has led to a hectic schedule for Byrne and her colleagues, who recorded a 34-19 semi-final triumph against Old Belvedere as recently as last Saturday.
“It’s been wild, I feel like every weekend is a big rugby weekend. It’s been crazy, but at this point we have all eyes on Friday night. We’re just going to get on with it and hopefully put in a good performance,” Byrne said.
“We’ve had a few girls go to Premiership teams, a few girls lost to injuries. It’s probably a younger side, but the younger girls have stepped up big time and we’ve found our groove.”