‘It’s brilliant, especially since it's only our second year of playing schools’ rugby’

Sacred Heart Clonakilty 20 

Coláiste Muire Ennis 10 

SACRED Heart Clonakilty didn’t miss a beat as they were crowned Pinergy Munster Schools Girls Senior Cup champions on an unforgettable day for the school.

After watching the junior team claim the first leg of the double earlier in the afternoon, Sacred Heart’s seniors got the job done too, as the Clonakilty school won both cups for the first time ever.

These young trailblazers have put Sacred Heart on the rugby map with a clean sweep of the junior and senior cups.

‘It's phenomenal,’ senior coach Rob Barry told The Southern Star after the magical 20-10 win over Coláiste Muire Ennis at Virgin Media Park, and he thanked the role of Clonakilty RFC in this success story. 

‘We had so much support from the club. All this was made possible by the work done by the club teams and coaches, they had massive support in that case. They know the girls so well. 

‘Now, having coached them to such a high standard, it was easy for us to come in and just take them as a unit into the school and just work with them there. It’s a phenomenal achievement for the school. It’s brilliant, especially since it's only our second year of playing schools’ rugby.’

Sacred Heart Clonakilty’s Rachel Twomey takes this kick in the Pinergy Munster Schools Girls Senior Cup final at Virgin Media Park.
(Photo: Ken Sutton/INPHO)

Even though this is only Sacred Heart’s second year competing in schools’ rugby, Barry was confident in his side's ability going into the Munster final.

‘Some of the girls have been playing club rugby for years and years. They've reached semi-finals and finals in the clubs, so we were confident enough coming in that they'd handle the big occasion. They also train on the new astroturf in the rugby club, so that was in our favour too. We were well-prepared for this final,’ he said.

Having been quietly confident heading into the cup final, aspirations of a famous double were cast into doubt straight away. From the kick-off Coláiste Muire Ennis's fly-half and captain Lyndsay Clarke collected the ball 60 metres away from goal. With incredible speed, she went around the edge of the Clon defence to touch down and give the Clare school a dream start after just 17 seconds. The conversion was missed, but that early score put Ennis up 5-0. 

Sacred Heart Clonakilty’s Amy Giles in action against Coláiste Muire Ennis Ella Courtney.

Sacred Heart’ started to grow into the game after the shaky start and once Ennis scrumhalf Amy Butler was sent to the bin for the Clare school, the Clonakilty side made use of the numerical advantage. It didn't take them long to capitalise when a powerful run by Emer Moroney allowed her to dish off to Solène Skupiewski and she scored in the corner to even up the contest, 5-5.

The sides weren’t level for long as Ennis regained possession from the kickoff. Full back Orna Moynihan poached the ball from the ruck and her tough run brought her within a yard of the line. She popped off a pass to Sally Kelly, who went over to take back the lead for Ennis. It was 10-5 and that’s how it stayed until half time. 

‘In the first half the aim was to stay within one score of them. We said if we could stay within one score of them, we’d get the wind in the second half, and then we could just use that to pin them back and get on top of them,’ Barry explained.

This was apparent as there was a clear change in tactics from Sacred Heart from the beginning of the second period. In the first half, it was all running rugby, now it was tactical kicking that they used to their advantage. Sacred Heart fly-half Rachel Twomey was now pushing the ball down the pitch and having great success. The Clon school was very unlucky to not have a try in the 46th minute after winger Clodagh McCarthy was held up over the line. 

That pressure eventually told in the 50th minute when superb number eight Emer Moroney crashed over after taking the ball from the base of a scrum. Fly-half Rachel Twomey kicked a fantastic conversion to put the West Cork school into the lead, 12-10.

Sacred Heart Clonakilty’s Niamh Hilliard in action.

Twomey's kicking exploits didn't stop there. Clon got a penalty in the 58th minute and due to the confidence she had in her kicker, team captain Kate Nolan pointed straight to the posts. Twomey duly obliged for her team, slotting the penalty to make it 15-10 to Clon. 

With time almost up, Coláiste Muire Ennis were camped on their own line, the Clon girls putting them under incredible pressure. With no other option but to kick away from danger, Ennis fly-half Clarke’s clearance got caught in the wind and the ball bounced backward over the line, where Clon’s Sara O’Sullivan was fastest to touchdown. It helped secure a famous victory and a historic double for the West Cork school.

Sacred Heart Clonakilty: Solène Skupiewski, Clodagh McCarthy, Ella O’Sullivan, Kate Nolan, Tara Fleming, Rachel Twomey, Caoimhe McCarthy, Sara O’Sullivan, Aoife Godwin-Coombs, Amy Giles, Leona Arra, Éabha Egan, Kate Burton, Roxanne Llewellyn, Emer Moroney

Replacements: Alison McCarthy for Aoife Godwin-Coombs (18), Emily Moloney for Éabha Egan (18), Orla Whelton for Emer Moroney (65), Olivia Lawlor for Emily Moloney (65).

Coláiste Muire Ennis: Orna Moynihan, Sophie Culleton, Ellis O’Flaherty

Lucy Power, Ella Courtney, Lyndsay Clarke, Amy Butler, Fiadh O’Shea, Kiera O’Neill, Caoileann Cahill, Ciara Frawley, Jennifer Weston, Ellen Byrne, Eabha O’Driscoll, Sally Kelly.

Replacements: Anna Byrne for Ciara Frawley (20), Victoria Burns for Caoileann Cahill (43), Caoileann Cahill for Victoria Burns (reversal 56.)