Abbie chasing perfect finale

THE Energia AIL Women's League has reached the business end of the season. With the regular season proceedings now wrapped up, all eyes will now be on the league final showdown between UL Bohemians and Railway Union on Sunday, April 28th at 1.45pm. There’ll be West Cork interest in the final as Skibbereen’s Abbie Salter Townsend will line out for UL Bohs in the match, which is live on TG4.

In the latest HER.ie podcast, two ex-Skibbereen RFC and current Munster stars were named in former Ireland rugby star, Hannah Tyrell’s AIL team of the year. Salter Townsend was selected by Tyrell as her scrum half, with Gillian Coombes chosen in the second row. Tyrell said of Salter Townsend: ‘For me, nine was very hard to choose but Abbie has been great at nine, I know she hasn’t always been available for them but she’s a great young, up in-coming player and really helped with the tempo in the team,’ she said. Speaking on Coombes, Tyrell was equally as impressed with her season’s performances. ‘Gillian’s a really consistent performer, not always in the highlights, not always doing the flashy things but always getting the job done with a team that’s not always at the top of the list or getting the right results. I wanted to acknowledge her because I think she does such great work and you can often overlook these things,’ said Tyrell. It’s a huge honour for the two former Skibbereen RFC players and a great reflection of the growth of women’s rugby in West Cork.

Meanwhile Enya Breen played the second half of Ireland’s chastening Six Nations defeat to England at Twickenham. The former Skibbereen and Bantry player, now with Blackrock College, was introduced at half-time of the 88-10 defeat to the mighty Red Rose. Defending champions England were relentless at Twickenham against Scott Bemand’s Irish side, in front of almost 49,000 fans. Ireland now face Scotland in their final match, at Ravenhill in Belfast at 2.30pm on Saturday April 27th. Ireland have won one and lost three of their games in the tournament so far but a win would see Ireland leapfrog Scotland and they could take third place.