Connacht powered by plenty of Mayo talent

Perfect rugby weather in Ballinrobe with a perfect outcome from a Mayo perspective. A dozen players on the general panel and the rugby talent from this county brought their quality to shine in a comprehensive and dominant 27-5 win over EIRA (US-American development team). 

Especially Ballinrobe homegrown Faith Durkin impressed in her role as captain, as Connacht U-18 head coach Craig Hansberry testified:

"She's been brilliant. She was part of the seven squad that won the Inter-Provincials back in April. She has really pushed on now. She is really stepping into a leadership role there at the team."

Durkin led by example today: "She gets in a lot of poaches. She does a lot of attacking. She does a lot of the hard work for other girls, for the likes of Aoife and Emily and all of them to be able to do what they do out wide and finish off the try.

It was the Mayo connection that carried the day for Connacht in Ballinrobe: Durkin putting in a shift and the ever-dangerous back-line including Emily Duffy (Ballina RFC), Aoife Heaney (Claremorris RFC) and Aine O'Connor (Castlebar RFC) showed off their running skills with ball in hand, breaking the line, offloading and finishing for the try in impressive fashion.

For head coach Hansberry a return to his former 'workplace', as up until last season he was a player/coach for Ballinrobe RFC. A successful return, but Hansberry also saw the room of improvement, as every coach would: "We need to work a little bit harder on the ground. But, no, in general, we're really, really happy."

But this test was just a warm-up. The first PwC Women’s U18 Interprovincial Championship match on Saturday, August 17 in Newforge, kick-off at 3.30pm.

No doubt there will be a strong Mayo contingent taking part in Connacht's attempt to retain the Inter-Provincial U-18 title in the coming weeks

READ: A dozen Mayo players in Connacht rugby squad