The Railway Union road show rolled into Belfast for the second successive weekend, returning to Dublin with 5 points in the bag following a comprehensive win against Cooke in the All Ireland League.

The win puts Railway back on top of the AIL on points difference thanks to UL Bohemian recording a one point win against Blackrock. However, the Park Avenue Princesses would more than likely be 6 points clear if they hadn’t missed out on two matches due to Covid cancellations.

With only two weeks left before the league is split in two a resurgent Galwegians will be rueing their slow start after beating Top 4 side Old Belvedere in the most notable result of this round which also featured wins for Malone and Suttonians.

The game at Shaws Bridge was pretty much a one way procession, Cooke had some moments, a couple of runs from Ilse van Staden and Helen McGhee, but by the time FRU Favourite Naomi McCord went off for a head injury, towards the end of the first half the game was pretty much over.

Railway rushed to a 0 – 34 lead at the break with 6 first half tries, two converted by Nikki Caughey. Amanda McQuade opened the scoring, bursting through some soft shoulders in the middle of the park to sprint clear. Tries from Molly Scuffil McCade, Aoife Doyle (2) and Dee Roberts (2) completed the scoring in the first half.

Scores from Molly Boyne, Siobhan McCarthy, Steph Carroll, Kate McCarthy and Ailsa Hughes followed in the second half, the game losing a bit of impetus with handling difficult in the cold conditions. Caughey added a second half conversion as did replacement Hazel Simmons to give a final score of Cooke 0 Railway Union 63.

Cooke: Dolores Hughes, Georgia Boyce, Lucy Thompson, Coral Lapsley, Tamzin Boyce, Amanda Morton, Teah Maguire, Ilse van Staden, Megan Simpson, Aishling O Connell, Caolinn McCormack, Sorcha MacLaimhin, Katie Hetherington, Naomi Mccord, Helen McGhee. Replacements: Fiona McCaughan, Delyth Cook, Claire Johnston, Beth Cregan,
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Railway Union: Molly Scuffil McCabe, Stephanie Carroll, Aoife Doyle, Niamh Byrne, Ava Ryder, Nicole Caughey, Ailsa Hughes, Amanda Mc Quade, Deirdre Roberts, Megan Collis, Aoife McDermott, Siobhan McCarthy, Keelin Brady, Kate McCarthy, Molly Boyne. Replacements: Aimee Clarke, Claire Byrne, Sonia McDermott, Hazel Simmons, Emer O’Mahony

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Additional images by Alan Campbell