Railway Union saw off a tough challenge from Blackrock College at Stradbrook to record a bonus point win in the opening match of their delayed defence of their Women’s AIL title.

I arrived at this match towards the end of the first quarter with Blackrock leading 3 – 0 thanks to a Hannah O’Connor penalty.

The home side appeared to be enjoying the best of territory and possession but Railway’s attacking line out gave the visitors more sustained opportunities in the red zone. Sure enough, the visitors were soon on the scoreboard, following my arrival, with an attacking line out in the Rock 22 leading to a couple of cuts at the line before Railway’s Kate McCarthy barged over from close range. Veteran Nikki Caughey added the extras to take the score to 3 – 7 in Railway’s favour.

Blackrock’s scrum half Naimh Griffin worked hard to keep Rock on the front foot with quick sniping runs at every opportunity winning the home side a second penalty half way through the second quarter for O’Connor to convert.

It got better for the home side 10 minutes later, after a series of quick breaks, when back row Maeve Og O’Leary broke through the Railway defence to dive over the line for a well taken try. O’Connor missed the conversion but Rock were happy to take an 11 – 7 lead into the break.

Railway were forced into a few defensive scrambles at the start of the second half as Rock looked to extend their lead. The visitors tried to break the game up and successive infringements saw Maggie MacKinnon carded for Railway early in the second half.

However the visitors managed to weather the storm, thanks to strong set piece work, and they found the try line out wide before MacKinnon returned, with Aoife Doyle twisting over under the close attention of a couple of Blackrock defenders. No conversion from veteran Caughey, but Railway had edged back in front with the score at 11 – 12 in their favour.

Ten minutes later Caughey rolled back the years to slot over a penalty to extend the lead to 11 – 14 and it looked like Railway were starting to get decisively on top as the teams stopped for their second scheduled water-break.

Rock had their moments in the final quarter but it was Railway who were able to find the try line and the visitors crossed twice more, through Niamh Byrne and Doyle with her second.

Final score: Blackrock College 11 Railway Union 25.

BLACKROCK COLLEGE: Natasja Behan; Maeve Liston, Katie Fitzhenry, Michelle Claffey (capt), Maggie Boylan; Lisa Mullen, Niamh Griffin; Aoife Moore, Manuela McCarthy, Caoimhe Molloy, Anna Potterton, Mairead Holohan, Meadbh Scally, Maeve Og O’Leary, Hannah O’Connor. Replacements: Judy Bobbett, Geena Behan, Aoife Browne, Tess Meade, Jackie Shiels, Eimear Corri, Ciara Scanlan.

RAILWAY UNION: Aoife O’Shaughnessy; Stephanie Carroll, Maggie MacKinnon, Alex McGuinness, Niamh Byrne; Nikki Caughey, Molly Scuffil-McCabe; Grainne O’Loughlin, Lisa Callan, Megan Collis, Sonia McDermott, Siobhan McCarthy, Emma Murphy, Kate McCarthy, Deirdre Roberts. Replacements: Chloe Blackmore, Aimee Clarke, Keelin Brady, Christine Coffey, Claire Boles, Erin Coll, Aoife Doyle.

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