Rosie Stewart (Ulster Senior) Cup Draw

This season’s Rosie Stewart Cup sees a record number or teams competing with eleven Ulster sides taking part with guests Sligo taking the total to twelve.

The draw has certainly thrown up some interesting encounters in the opening rounds with the match between AIL Division 2 pacesetters City of Derry against the experienced AIL Division One side Cooke being the pick of the bunch. It’s a match too close to call at the minute but home advantage, the return of talented out-half Rachael Fleming and the likely  inclusion of South African internationals Mandisa Williams and Fundiswa Plaatje may give City of Derry the edge. It could all rest on the call up of players to the National side with Derry’s Kennedy and Cooke’s Porter both in the running as both are hugely influential players but at the end of the day I think Cooke will have just too much experience.

The second round should pit improving sides  Belfast Harlequins against Enniskillen with Quins eager to avenge an early season league defeat and the addition of South African out half Zenay Jordaan, who should free up talented youngsters Caughey, Baxter and Templeton, I’m predicting Quins to go through to meet the winner of Derry v Cooke in the first semi final.

This leaves the bottom half of the draw wide open for one of Queens, Carrick, Cavan or Ballyshannon to make the final. On form I would expect Carrick and Cavan to make up the second semi and following their earlier league encounter, where Cavan scraped through with a try from Ulster forward Brigid Reynolds, it’s going to be another close one.

My prediction however is for a Cooke v Cavan final with Belfast Harlequins the team most likely to cause an upset.

This season’s competition highlights the continued growth in strength of the women’s game and it’s a fitting tribute to Rosie Stewart, a former member of Cooke RFC women’s team, that her legacy has helped drive the expansion of women’s rugby in Ulster. To quote Suzanne Flemming, pictured above with Rosie Stewart’s mother, “In her absence I hope the Cup is a lasting reminder to us all of the ‘Spirit of Rugby’.”

---

Match Weekend 1.

This weekend saw Round 1 and Round 2 of the Rosie Stewart Cup played following the postponements from last weekend.

So much for my predictions for teh top half of the draw as both Cooke and Enniskillen got knocked out with City of Derry and Sligo marching on.

One of the most anticipated games was the City of Derry v Cooke game which saw the top two teams in the province meet. City of Derry come out on top in what was a very close and very physical game, by all accounts, with City of Derry’s Natasha Milligan scoring their only try which was not converted with Lucy Fagan going over for a converted try for Cooke. A penalty to Rachel Lennox gave City of Derry the edge.

The other highly anticipated match was the clash of the development teams with Ballymoney at home to Belfast Harlequins 2s. Ballymoney scored a try early on to put them up 5 – 0 – a lead which they were able to maintain despite a determined effort from the Belfast Harlequins 2s who played a player down for 75 mins following an injury to their scrum half.

In other games, Belfast Harlequins 1s beat Letterkenny 66 – 5. Belfast Harlequins points came from Ashleigh Baxter (2), Zoe Templeton (4), Nikki Caughey (2), Zenay Jordaan (1) and Jolene Cloughley (3).

Sligo defeated Enniskillen in a very close match which ended 33 – 29. Enniskillen’s tries were scored by Sarah Teague, Noreen Nethercott (2), Aisling Maguire and Alana McCafferty.

Carrick defeated Queens 15 – 0 with tries to Hilary Cawood, Susie Cavan and Jenna McCammon. Queens were forced to withdraw following a number of injuries within the first 15 minutes.

Cavan were victorious over Ballyshannon 15 – 0. Hilary Quinn scored two tries for Cavan with the other try being scored by Theresa.

---

Match Weekend 2.

Carrick have proved to be the surprise package of the second weekend of Ulster Women’s Cup Rugby by sneaking their way into the final with a hard won 5 – 0 win over AIL 2N rivals Cavan. Carrick claimed the game with a solo try from winger Lauren Arthur who ran in under the posts from the half way line.

Belfast Harlequins I beat Sligo 26 – 12 at Deramore and have set up another mouth watering match against City of Derry with the North West side beating Ballymoney 62 – 0 with the winner of Quins v CoD going through to the final against Carrick.

In the plate quarter finals Enniskillen won a tense encounter with Letterkenny 17 – 7 and face Cooke in teh semi finals with AIL 1 side beating Belfast Harlequins II 56 – 0.

Ballyshannon got a walkover against Queens with the students unable to field and their semi final opponents will be decided by the winners of the match between Sligo and Ballymoney.

---

Match Weekend 3

City of Derry join Carrick in the Final of the Ulster Cup after defeating Belfast Harlequins 24 – 7. The score was not reflective of the game with both teams having a number of opportunities. Belfast Harlequins try scorer was Zenay Jordaan. City of Derry scored through Mandisa Williams (2), Di Nixon and Julie Simpson.

The Final of the Cup is between City of Derry and Carrick and will be at 2.30pm Sunday 20th February at Ballymena RFC.

Cooked defeated Enniskillen 44 – 0 to take their place in the Ulster Shield Final. Try scorers for Cooke – Nikita Armstrong, Laura Nichol, Grace Davitt, Emma Rae and Sarah Wilkinson.

Sligo defeated Ballymoney 53 – 26 in the catch up quarterfinal. Try scorers for Ballymoney – Julie Newton (2), Charlene McClafferty and Laura McCurdy.

Sligo now go on to face Ballyshannon this upcoming weekend with the winners to face Cooke at a date and venue to be arranged.

---

Rosie Stewart (Ulster Senior) Cup Draw in Full

Round 1. Sunday 23rd January 2011
Match 1	Belfast Harlequins I	65 – 5	Letterkenny
Match 2	Enniskillen	29 – 33	Sligo
Match 3	Ballymoney	5 – 0	Belfast Harlequins II
Match 4	City of Derry	8 – 7	Cooke
Round 2. Sunday 30th January 2011
Match 5	Belfast Harlequins I	26 v 12	Sligo
Match 6	Ballymoney	0 v 62	City of Derry
Match 7	Queens University	0 – 15	Carrickfergus
Match 8	Cavan	15 – 0	Ballyshannon
Cup Semi Finals. Sunday 6th February 2011
Match 9	Belfast Harlequins 1	7 v 24	City of Derry
Match 10	Carrick	5 v 0	Cavan
Plate Quarter Finals. Sunday 6th February 2011
Match 11	Letterkenny	7 v 17	Eniskillen
Match 12	Belfast Harlequins II	0 v 56	Cooke
Match 13	Sligo	53 v 26	Ballymoney
Match 14	Queen’s University (Withdrew)		Ballyshannon
Plate Semi Finals. Sunday 13th February 2011
Match 15	Enniskillen	0 v 44	Cooke
Match 16	Sligo	v	Ballyshannon
Finals Day. Sunday 20th February 2011
Cup Final	City of Derry	v	Carrick
Plate Final TBA	Cooke	v	Winner M16

More like this:

• Women’s Inter Pros: Ulster 15 Connacht 12
• Women’s Inter Pro: Team for Connacht.
• Women’s Inter Pro: Munster 18 Ulster 12
• Women’s Inter Pros: Team for Munster