Portlaoise girls win Leinster League

Portlaoise RFC girls U-16 team emerged as champions of the Leinster League at Naas RFC.

They were drawn in their first round group against Naas and Gorey. This was a tightly contested round robin with the three teams gaining three points and Portlaoise topping the group by virtue of their superior four tries tally.

This set the stage for the championship round against Cill Dara, Kilkenny and Tullow. Portlaoise were undefeated and became champions with an unassailable points tally of seven.

This was a much improved performance from last season and Leinster organisers hinted that it caught the established girls’ teams by surprise.

Mary Louise O’Reilly commended the Portlaoise players and coaches. She noted that remarks by the coaches from the sideline motivating the players were very similar to those from her international coaches.

She said that this combined with the skill set on display and the speed and strength of some of the players augured well for the future of girl’s and women’s rugby. Scorers for Portlaoise on the day were Eimear Corri (three tries), Anna O’Neill (one try and three conversions), Liddy Nolan (try) and Faye Nolan (try).