Leinster Women's Div 2

Friday 9th November 2018

Shay Murtagh Park

Mullingar Heifers 10

Edenderry women 22

By Finian Coghlan

The Yeats quote “All changed, changed utterly, a terrible beauty is born” from September 1913 came to mind most on Friday night when a practically brand new Herd took to the sward under lights to fully begin their newest iteration with a brave challenge to a slightly cannier Edenderry.

Yes, there were the old stagers like skipper Farrelly and bravery Boland – who was only discharged from hospital earlier in the week after a bout of pneumonia – as well as O’Brien and Gibney on the bench, but I counted seven home debuts and they all stood proud, letting no one down and sparking at every opportunity they sniffed.

At the coal face Chloe Flood stood up to monsters, whilst behind her on the flanks Doonan and Clodagh O’Brien snarled like lionesses in a butchers shop.

Out amongst the dancers the choreography was again led by Nikki Feery who celebrated her graduation as an actuary with a massive 80m solo try, but the displays alongside her of Chester at 10 on debut, and Nolan on the wing gives your correspondent great hope for the future when they have a few more miles of biffage and savvy under their hats. Considering the rain on Friday required a late pitch inspection before the go-ahead, it was not surprising that greasiness and handling would be factors, and this was literally proved from the kick off when Mullingar won a first scrum for a knock on, only to return the favour immediately. Edenderry looked strong and were beginning to make territorial inroads into the Mullingar when Clodagh forced a spill and the fullback who was wearing a flat hat earlier in the day picked up and began her fandango within a spit of her own line. Like a shuttle in a loom she went, with nothing but despairing hands waved in her general direction on the long route to a stupendous opener. However, Edenderry hadn’t come to make numbers, and in the 15^th minute Chester and Feery had to put in the big hit after they found a huge gap. They continued knocking and were rewarded with a penalty two minutes later to shorten the lead. This they then took over just five minutes later when they put their power to maximum effect from close out. Still, the Herd had the fight, and Nikki in full gallop nearly loosed off Daniels , and then Nolan but Edenderry held fast til half time. The visitors picked up where they left off and again their strength was put to ultimate effect nine minutes into the second half when they went 15-5 up.

Mullingar were now finding territory very hard to come by, and they had to defend from deep for nearly 20 minutes before they got a great block on a Daniels clearance and pounced for their third. The ould dogs for the hard yards now came into their own as the Claires – O’Brien and Farrelly – started getting industrial and making yards. They were helped by two Edenderry yellows late on, the second of which saw Mullingar win a penalty on the Edenderry 22.

Canny Farrelly took on the responsibility of tap and bounced the first two off her before unloading to Lafferty in close support and the place went mad when she drove over for her cherry popping try. Unfortunately, the clock was the enemy now and though they had the heads of a mob that would’ve sold their mothers for another ten minutes, they will have to wait for another week to exorcise those frustrations. And the hunger in the post match huddle lent great credence to that possibility.

Team: 1. Chloe Flood, 2. Claire Farrelly ©, 3. Tash Feery, 4. Sarah Kelly, 5. Paula Lafferty, 6. Clodagh O’Brien, 7. Aoife Doonan, 8. Stacy Boland, 9. Laura McCormack, 10. Madeleine Chester, 11. Bronwyn Nolan, 12. Ruth Daniels, 13. Leanne Duncan 14. Aoibha O’Reilly, 15. Nikki Feery. Sub used: Claire O’Brien. Coach: Niall Keane.

Overall Club Try scorers (as of Nov 9): Nikki Feery (4) Eoghan Moore, Ciara Wynne, Stewie Flynn (3) Alan Brabazon, Daniels, Arthur Brabazon, Glennon, Wallace(2) Quinn, TC, Alex Midic, Fitzpatrick, Sean Rock, Darech Geraghty, James Neale, Gilleran, Cooney, Stacey Boland, Paul Smith, Paula Lafferty..