Cooke Women entertained Blackrock at Shawsbridge on Sunday afternoon in the 2nd round of the Women’s All Ireland league.

Beth Cregan, Ilse van Staden and Brittany Hogan all scored for the home side with out half Vicky Irwin adding two conversions and three penalties in a 28 – 5 win. Blackrock’s points coming from a Jeamie Deacon try.

Cooke started the game well with some big carries from centres, Claire McLaughlin and Hogan taking the play into the Blackrock 22. After some good interplay between the forwards and backs the captain Cregan crossed for the first points of the game.

Blackrock played their way back into the game, putting the Cooke defence under pressure. However, the home side’s solid defence won a turnover and they made their way back up field with big carries from Lauren Maginnes and Gemma McCutcheon. International Van Staden crossed and Irwin converted to extend their lead to 12 – 0.

The visitors replied with continuous pressure for the next ten minutes. Cooke’s Teah Maguire put in a big hit to save what would have been a try, but the pressure eventually told with international Deacon scoring for the Dublin side.

Cooke responded well, and a quick tap from scrumhalf Amy Graham took Cooke back into the Blackrock 22 to win a penalty. Irwin slotted the penalty over for Cooke to take a 15 – 5 lead into the break.

Blackrock again had Cooke on the back foot at the start of the second half but big hits from Van Staden, Cregan and McCutcheon eased the pressure and the Ulster side started to turn the screw with two further penalties from Irwin.

Sustained pressure from Cooke lead to a Hogan try after McLaughlin ran a hard line before offloading to Irwin. Quick hands sent “Hulk” Hogan clear. Irwin converted and Cooke led 28 – 5.

Cooke pressed for a bonus point try but, despite a couple of yellow cards for the visitors, they were unable to find the line, the game ending without further score.

Captain Beth Cregan commented after the game: [su_quote]

It was a tough physical game, which it always is between the two teams. Our girls played well and carried strong, but a few mistakes prevented us from playing exactly how we wanted.

Fair play to Blackrock for giving it to us the full 80, but, it’s another win under our belts and the girls will be ready to bring it again next week against the defending champions UL Bohemians. [/su_quote]

In the other matches Galwegians woes continued with a 31 – 0 loss to Old Belvedere at Anglesea road on Saturday morning. Belvo pleased to get their account up and running after last week’s defeat to Cooke.

Railway Union produced the performance of the weekend with a 105 – 0 rout of Tullamore. You can read match report and pictures here.

The final match of the round was an all Munster clash as U.L Bohemians entertained Highfield with the defending champions recording their second win of the season beating their Cork neighbours 32 – 7.

The results leave the All Ireland League as follows:

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	PD	TB	LB	PTS
Railway Union	2	2	0	0	181	5	176	2	0	10
U.L. Bohemian	2	2	0	0	79	24	55	2	0	10
Cooke	2	2	0	0	63	5	58	1	0	9
Old Belvedere	2	1	0	1	31	35	-4	1	0	5
Blackrock	2	1	0	1	45	50	-5	1	0	5
Highfield	2	0	0	2	29	72	-43	1	0	1
Galwegians	2	0	0	2	5	107	-102	0	0	0
Tullamore	2	0	0	2	17	152	-135	0	0	0

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GALLERY BELOW

Thanks to Bob Given Photography for the pictures from the Cooke match.