'Like us, they'll be desperate to win the trophy': Dalton on Irish Celtic Challenge showdown

Wolfhounds captain Aoife Dalton says that she and her team mates have “already forgotten” the two regular season wins against Irish rivals Clovers and insists they will have no bearing on the outcome of the Celtic Challenge final on Saturday.

Irish international centre Dalton – the 22-year-old who is nearly finished her radiography studies at University College Dublin- and her Wolfhounds charges head into the showpiece match at Hive Stadium in Edinburgh as favourites.

That is because they have been the standard bearers in the six-team Celtic Challenge event, which also involves two Welsh and Scottish teams in recent times.

Wolfhounds won the title in 2023/24 and in 2024/25 and have given themselves the chance at a third title having won nine and lost one this term in the regular season, and convincingly beat Brython Thunder 36-10 in their recent semi-final.

Two of their regular season wins, 24-7 in Galway in January and 43-20 in Dublin just a few weeks ago – came versus the Clovers, but Dalton, who will soon be heading into Women’s Six Nations camp, does not think that they will have any bearing on how this weekend goes.

“A lot has happened since the January game and since the second game, so those results will have no bearing on the final,” Dalton said.

“We have already forgotten those games because we know what sort of challenge Clovers are going to bring this weekend.

“Like us, they will be desperate to win the trophy and they have some really talented players who we know well. Anything that has gone before does not matter, right now all we are thinking about is the 80 minutes in front of us.”

Dalton carries a serious attitude heading into the weekend as captain, but admits since the season began at the end of last year, the squad has remained upbeat and on track.

“This season has been really enjoyable for us. We’ve had a big squad turnover throughout the campaign and we’ve had to bring in a lot of players, but whoever has been involved week on week, the standards have remained high all along since December.

“We’ve been really lucky with the group we have as all the players have bought into what we are trying to do and our coaches have done a fantastic job again this year, they just keep us going, keep us fresh and keep us motivated.”

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The competition has been on the go for over three months, on the opening day Wolfhounds defeated Edinburgh 34-7 at home and it has been pretty relentless since then, so what has been the key to the Wolfhounds and their consistency?

“I think just the environment we have created is great,” Dalton continued. “We have a core squad of 30 or so players, but other younger ones and such like have come in and trained with us, and because everyone sees the Wolfhounds and the Clovers as great places to be to push towards Ireland honours everyone wants to be here.

“We just try to make any new players who come into the group feel welcome and get them up to date with what we’re doing. Our coaches led by head coach Neill Alcorn set new goals for us every week and keep us on our toes and wanting more, wanting to get better.

“We won our first seven games, but then in round eight we lost to Brython 14-0 in Wales.

“I was not playing in that one, but as soon as the girls who were over there came back they were saying that the performance on the day was not what we represent. Fair play to Brython, they were well-deserved winners on the day, but after that game we drew a line under it, reset and were ready to go again and be more like ourselves.

“We went on to defeat Gwalia and Clovers in the league and then Brython in the semis after that and we feel that we have been playing well, but, as I said before, all of that is done now and we need to ‘go again’ in a one-off final and aim to be at our best in a game where anything can happen.

“It promises to be an exciting day for Irish women’s rugby on Saturday.”

Whatever does happen in the final, a number of the winners and runners-up will be heading into international camp next week to join forces for Ireland’s Six Nations campaign, with the 36-player squad announced last week.

And during the tournament, another day to mark in the calendar for Irish rugby lies just around the corner when they head to Allianz Stadium in round one on Saturday 11th April, to take on world champions England, with over 70,000 tickets sold.

“How good is that going to be, what an occasion,” Dalton concluded. “Like ever player in the Irish squad, I want to put my best foot forward and hopefully be involved in that one.”

And with that, involved as a Celtic Challenge 2025/26 winning skipper, would be the icing on the cake.