Women’s Rugby - Leinster League Division 2 - Naas 61 CYM 0 - Sat 25th March

Naas women capped a great day for the club at Forenaughts on Saturday, with a thoroughly dominant display against Dublin side CYM. The women watched the men claim a solid win against UCC in the AIL, then took to the field themselves against the fifth-placed Dubliners.

Naas put on their best performance of the season and finished the game 61 nil to keep their slim chance of a promotion play-off alive. Right from the start, the Kildare women’s pack completely dominated their opposition, and flanker Abbie Cullen led the charge with some no-nonsense drives which led to the first score for the imperious Ali Miley after seven minutes.

More pressure in the scrum and a powerful break by the ever-reliable Aisling Mahon led to another score from close-range ten minutes later for Sheena Hubbard. Hubbard then backed this up with a cheeky steal on the Naas 22, and then she scampered in for another score to make the score 17 nil after 24 minutes.

Naas scrum half Ciara Mckeown then upped the pace even more, feeding flying winger Jamie Garland who combined with Cullen to put Clane woman Molly Fitzpatrick in for a trademark score up the middle.

3 minutes later, the biggest cheer of the day came when Ellen Murray made a great read in defence, and a huge hit on the CYM centre, which created the space for Mary Hulgraine to race down the pitch leaving devastation in her wake. Good field position then made the next try inevitable, with Ash Mahon crossing the line for a great team try. 27 nil at half-time.

The second half started in the same way the first had ended, with a lovely interception by Fitzpatrick, who then didn’t quite have the pace to finish. However, she then made another telling break to feed Hulgraine for the Naas women’s fifth try of the day, and Hulgraine added the conversion herself.

From the re-start, Bev Mahon staked her claim for play of the season, with an outrageous overhead catch to get the Naas women back on the attack.

CYM rallied a little, but were unable to make any headway against an utterly dominant Naas pack. With outhalf Hubbard off injured, Miley went to 10, and her kicking game pinned CYM back in their own half for the rest of the game. Naas head coach Fionn Higgins then brought on three 18-year-olds, Sofia O’Heinigh, Emma Tully and Katie Halpin, and this fresh burst of energy revived the Naas team who added more tries from Hulgraine, Rachel Naughton, Jane Fallon and a long-range effort from Miley to leave the final score 61 nil.

The Naas women now face Portdara next Sunday in what could well be the decisive game in the battle for second place in the league.

Mary Hulgraine Ali Miley Jamie Garland Jessica Weld Sheena Hubbard Ciara Mckeown Clare Finn (C), Ellen Murray Molly Fitzpatrick Beverley Mahon Abbie Cullen Jane Fallon Cleo Hubbard Aisling Mahon Emma Tully Aoibheann O’Sullivan Rachel Naughton Malgorzata Korpas Ella Morris Katie Halpin Asta Rowe Lauren Bergin