Women’s All-Ireland Title Success For Queen’s And Rathdrum

Prop Christina Ramos was the star of the show as her hat-trick of tries guided Queen’s University to their maiden Women’s All-Ireland Shield final victory over St. Mary’s this afternoon.

Queen’s University had finished as runners-up to Tralee in the 2014 Shield decider, but they broke the deadlock against hosts St. Mary’s College today thanks to a routine 10th minute penalty fromJemma Jackson.

This was certainly an encouraging opening for the Belfast girls but with Aoife Thompson, Sarah Duignan and Siobhan Barrett all making an impact for St. Mary’s, they knew that they could not afford any lapses in concentration.

Jackson was off-target with her second kick at the posts on 29 minutes. However, just four minutes before the interval, Christina Ramos, a Portuguese Sevens international, broke through underneath the posts for the first try of the game.

Jackson converted with relative ease, giving Queen’s a 10-0 interval advantage. It was a case of so far, so good for the visitors and thanks to Ramos’ second try two minutes after the restart, they were in pole position to secure the silverware on offer.

Ramos subsequently touched down for a third time 54 minutes in, before St. Mary’s flanker Grainne Egan finally broke the Queen’s resistance prior to the hour mark.

Although Egan’s score did provide some solace for the Templeogue side, Queen’s ultimately eased their way to a 22-5 triumph with Ulster squad members Gemma McCutcheon, Jackson and Claire McLaughlin in fine form.

Earlier on at the same venue, a superb performance by out-half Mo Dowling helped Rathdrum to secure a hard-earned 17-3 success over Old Belvedere J1 in the Women’s All-Ireland Plate final.

Dowling, who has featured for the Leinster Development squad in the past, opened the scoring with a well-struck fourth minute penalty, as the Wicklow outfit aimed to create a strong platform inside the ‘Belvo half.

However, their Ballsbridge counterparts were never going to be dismissed lightly and with 16 minutes gone, they levelled with a three-pointer of their own.

Yet, there was never any sign of panic from the Drumettes, who qualified for the decider after receiving a walkover from Shannon last Sunday. Following some relentless pressure close to the ‘Belvo posts, the influential Dowling crossed the whitewash past the half hour mark.

The reliable number 10 also added the extras and heading into the second period of play, Rathdrum had a seven-point buffer (10-3).

This was certainly not an insurmountable deficit for ‘Belvo to contend with, but when Ann-Marie Burkesecured a second converted try for Rathdrum after the resumption, they faced an uphill struggle for the remainder of the half.

As expected, ‘Belvo did keep Rathdrum on their toes with sustained periods of possession, but they were ultimately helpless in their efforts to prevent the Drumettes from sealing their first ever title at this grade.