On a perfect autumn sunday afternoon in picturesque Rathdrum you could feelthe tension in the air as the Mullingar Heifers took to the field. It wasthe first outing of the season and the Heifers were having to play withoutfive of last years winning team.With just 10 minutes gone Mullingar were playing brilliantly just like theway they had finished off playing last April. However they failed to make this dominance count on the scoreboard. This gave Rathdrum confidence and it was plain to see the 'drumettes' werehappy to have soaked up the Mullingar pressure witout giving away a score. With 20 minutes gone Rathdrum moved the ball quickly out to one of theircentres and after a few half tackles from Mullingar she got over the line for thefirst score. 7-0.The Mullingar heads went down straight away and Rathdrum were on top allover the pitch now. With just 10 minutes left in the first half the Heifersshowed great heart defending their line with a handful of try savingtackles. Mullingar spent the remainder of the half defending.

They showed realquality and let Rathdrum know just why they are the reigning Leinster League andCup winners by holding on and preventing Rathdrum from scoring.The score at half was 7-0 to Rathdrum.With just three minutes in the 2nd half things went from bad to worse forthe Heifers when Ellen Taite (Tayto) went down injured. It was obvious straightaway that things were not good and after a five-minute stoppage and with anambulance on the way the teams change pitches in order to restart the game.She'll now be sidelined for the next six weeks.The Heifers were forced into a few positional switches now with the loss ofTaite but they do this effortlessly. 20 minutes into the second half and theHeifers are kicking away a lot of posession due to the constant pressurefrom Rathdrum are a lot more aggressive and fitter than Mullingar. The Heifers are camped in their half defending for long periods. With halfan hour gone one of the Rathdrum centres gets the ball, handoffs a Mullingarplayer and after a few more missed tackles she crosses the line to make thescore 14-0. Mullingar are trying hard but its just not working for themtoday. With eight minutes remaining Rathdrum put the final nail in thecoffin by touching down under the posts, and 24-0 was how it finished.

It was a toughday at the office for the Heifers but the outlook is bright with a fewgirls expected to return for next week's game against Old Belvedere at homeand a few hard training sessions during the week they will be hoping to put ina much better performance next week. It's also worth noting that a minute's silence was observed before kick-offas a tribute to the late Bill Gibson, dad of one of the team's greatest players. 

Team: Jenni.1 Aoife Bagnall2 Claire Farrelly3 Tracey Talbot4 Aoife Hynes5 Clare O'Brien6 kerri O'Reilly7 Clodadh Cleary8 Sarah Crosby9 Sarah Murphy (smurph)10 Niamh Kennedy (crilly)11 Nicola Roundtree12 Olive Carroll13 Sinead Holmes14 Kate Brennan15 Ellen Taite (Tayto)Subs:16 Alwyn Gibney17 Gillian Kelly18 Slyvia Rattigan