Ireland battered Scotland 59 – 0 in their opening Six Nations match at Ashbourne on Friday night.

I’d suggested before the game that this might be a bit tighter, with Ireland pulling away late in the second half, but I couldn’t have been more wrong as Ireland tore into the hapless visitors from the kick off.

Sophie Spence opened the scoring after three minutes, off the front of a line out, and from then on it was one way traffic as Ireland dominated all aspects of the game. The pack destroyed their opponents in the tight and the loose, with Stacey Lea Kennedy and Claire Molloy particularly disruptive, and Jenny Murphy, The FRU Player of the Match, battered the Scottish midfield defence into submission in the opening quarter allowing Alison Miller to slice them open out wide. Impressive stuff.

The first half tries rained in from Spence and Miller before Heather O’Brien got in on the act with a storming run for her own touchdown. Miller added her second before a delightful break through the middle by full back Jackie Shiels set up Lynne Cantwell and Spence bagged her second off the back of a maul as half time approached. Nora Stapleton converted one to give Ireland a 32 – 0 lead at the break.

Spence completed her hat trick six minutes into the second half and, when Scotland back row Tess Forsberg was binned after 50 minutes, Ireland prop Ailis Egan was on hand to ground the ball off the back of another driving maul.

The impressive Kennedy crossed from close range soon after for Ireland’s ninth and Murphy converted to take the score to 49 – 0 before Ireland Coach Philip Doyle emptied the bench.

Scotland enjoyed their best, and frankly only, period of possession in the third quarter before Ireland completed the rout with Cantwell crossing for Ireland’s tenth and, fittingly, the hard working Molloy finished the night off with Ireland’s eleventh just before the final whistle to give Ireland a record breaking 59 – 0 win.

IRELAND WOMEN: Jackie Shiels, Hannah Casey, Lynne Cantwell, Jenny Murphy, Alison Miller, Nora Stapleton, Amy Davis, Fiona Coghlan, Stacey-Lea Kennedy, Ailis Egan, Sophie Spence, Marie Louise Reilly, Siobhan Fleming, Claire Molloy, Heather O’Brien. Replacements: Gill Bourke, Fiona Hayes, Kerri-Ann Craddock, Orla Fitzsimons, Paula Fitzpatrick, Larissa Muldoon, Grace Davitt, Niamh Briggs.

As one sided a performance as you could get but I’m sure Doyle would have appreciated a bit more of a challenge ahead of what should be a much closer game against a resurgent Wales next Friday at Ashbourne.

Off the Ulster girls, Stacey Lea Kennedy had a tremendous game in the tight and the loose and the Ireland scrum did appear to suffer after her departure. Amy Davis looked calm and in control at scrum half and looks to have improved her passing off both sides, giving the exciting Ireland back line plenty of confidence to run onto the ball. Larissa Muldoon and Grace Davitt came on late and will hopefully get more meaningful game time as the competition progresses.