Women’s Plate Final Win 07.03.2016

The AIL Leinster plate final was held in Blackrock rfc, St.Marys faced Old Belvedere in what was due to be a highly contested match. The St. Marys women got off to a flying start with a try from Aoife Moore in the opening 5 minutes after a long period camped in the belvo half. The next ten minutes saw marys retaining much of the possession and and strong carries by Carol Staunton, this resulted in a well deserved try for match day captain Emma Kiernan. The last ten minutes of the first half had belvo within the marys 22, but a massive defensive effort from the whole team prevented a belvedere score. With two minutes left on the clock in the first half Donnla O’Hagan was sent to the sin bin for St. Marys.

In the second half it took both teams a few minutes to settle back into the game and within the first five minutes both teams were down to 14 players, during this time belvo scored an unconverted try. A lot of back and forth continued between the teams including some blitzing runs from our back line and strong scrums. Within the dying seconds of the game Shayne Richardson cross the whitewash to bring the final tally to St. Marys 15- Old Belvedere 5.

Well done to the marys women who have overcome massive challenges this season, it has been injury plagued but dedication and hard work resulted in the plate victory, this includes players throughout the entire campaign not just today’s match day squad. The girls have now qualified for the AIL plate semi-final as a result of today’s win, time and date tbc. Congratulations to all involved and we hope to finish off the rest of the season on a high note.

Leah Hayden