McWilliams gives Deely opportunity to shine in Cardiff
Daire Walsh
While she already has two international caps under her belt, Meabh Deely will nevertheless find herself in new territory when she takes the field for Ireland in their Women’s Six Nations opener against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park this afternoon (kick-off 2.15pm).
After a brace of appearances on last year’s summer tour of Japan – scoring a try on her debut in the first test – Deely will make her Championship bow at full-back for Greg McWilliams’ charges later today. In doing so, she will become the third player from Ballinasloe to feature in the tournament in recent years.
Beibhinn Parsons and Aoibheann Reilly also hail from the Galway town and while both of them are currently part of the Ireland Women’s 7s set-up, she is excited at the prospect of following in their footsteps.
“I think everyone is expecting someone from Ballinasloe to be in the squad! I would love to be able to play with Beibhinn and Aoibheann, but they have their own things going on at the moment, with their own campaign. It is exciting, I can’t wait. It is different to anything I have ever experienced before,” Deely said.
Owing in part to the complete absence of 7s players from the 2023 squad, the Irish starting line-up for today’s game is markedly different from the one that faced Wales at the RDS on the opening weekend of last year’s Six Nations.
Incredibly, Limerick native Nicole Cronin is the only returning star amongst the back line, albeit Aoife Doyle, Enya Breen and Molly Scuffil-McCabe had forced their way into the side by the end of the 2023 Championship. There is a more familiar look to the forward pack, however, with teenage debutant Sadhbh McGrath and Tipperary’s Maeve Óg O’Leary the only ones not to feature from the start 12 months ago.
Equally, Wales have undergone considerable change of their own since defeating Ireland 27-19 on their own turf in 2022 as just eight of the starting team are included for the beginning of a new campaign. Whereas Ireland were forced to watch on from afar, their Celtic counterparts made it to the quarter-final stage of last year’s delayed World Cup finals in New Zealand.
In addition to avenging that aforementioned reversal in RDS, Ireland will also be looking for a win to bolster their main target of a top-three finish for 2023. This would help them to secure a spot in the top-tier of WXV – a new global tournament that is set to get underway this autumn.
While Munster have five representatives from the side that claimed the Women’s Interprovincial Championship earlier this year in the first 15, Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird also makes a welcome return to an Irish match day squad on the bench.
A former 7s player, Nic a Bhaird is no stranger to the 15-a-side code, having picked up four caps in the 2019 Six Nations. Although she is a potential option at both hooker and No 8, this is a world apart from where her rugby career first began.
“I’ve had a very strange, kind of roundabout journey to this point.
“My first involvement with the IRFU was as a winger in the prep for the 2017 World Cup. Things have changed relatively dramatically,” Nic a Bhaird remarked.
“I think I’ve always wanted to be here in whatever capacity I could be. I love the game, I just want to play.
Wherever I can and whenever I can. Obviously as a player you want to push to that highest level. It’s a really competitive environment at the moment.”