Wolfhounds crowned Celtic Challenge champions for third season in a row

Wolfhounds have been crowned Celtic Challenge champions for the third season in a row after defeating Irish rivals Clovers 50-29 in the final on Saturday after an entertaining clash at Hive Stadium.

Having claimed the title the past two seasons and won 10 out of 11 games this year to get to this stage – including 24-7 and 43-20 regular season triumphs over Clovers – Wolfhounds started as favourites.

Clovers, who had won nine out of 11 this term before this one, gave as good as they got for a large part of this one, but were overpowered in the end.

Denis Fogarty’s underdogs led 22-19 after 42 minutes, but then Wolfhounds found another gear and came out on top eight tries to five, in a match that involved many players on both sides who will now team up with Ireland during the upcoming Women’s Six Nations.

It was the Clovers who got the first points on the board after just three minutes, the move starting when scrum-half Emily Lane’s neat inside pass put full-back Aoife Corey away.

Good footwork from Corey got her near the try line and then she drew the last defender and fed centre Niamh Murphy who went over for a try under the posts. Stand-off Enya Breen converted and it was 7-0.

Wolfhounds hit back in the eighth minute when centre Eve Higgins’ dummy got her through a gap and she then passed to captain Aoife Dalton who found space and fed full-back Stacey Flood who in turn fed winger Vicky Elmes Kinlan who went over for an unconverted try in the corner for 7-5.

Captain Ruth Campbell and centre Alana McInerney then had to go off with head injuries forcing the Clovers into a bit of a reshuffle and, in the 15th minute, the Wolfhounds took the lead for the first time.

Ireland cap Higgins was at the heart of everything good that Wolfhounds were doing and, after neat hands left and right, the opposition defence were scrambling and loosehead prop Linda Djougang went over from short range for a try. Stand-off Dannah O’Brien converted and it was 12-7.

As the end of the first quarter came and went, Corey and hooker Emma Dunican went close for the Clovers as they looked for their second try. They then attacked from a tap penalty, but their passing became a bit frantic and the ball was knocked on.

The game saw Campbell return to the field, but Clovers lost key ball carrying prop Sadhbh McGrath to injury, while McInerney would not return.

In the 22nd minute Wolfhounds’ centre duo of Higgins and Dalton broke through the middle from long range and, as the covering defence were stretched, back-row Ailish Quinn was deemed to have entered the breakdown illegally by referee Jonny MacKenzie, and was yellow carded.

Two minutes later Wolfhounds took advantage, a big carry from Ireland captain Erin King making ground and then the ball was recycled to Djougang who scored her second try. O’Brien converted and it was 19-7.

With 14 players Clovers managed to battle back though and, on the half hour mark, a good lineout drive and then a break off from Dunican got them within inches of the try line. Replacement tighthead prop Eilís Cahill, the uncapped player who is in the Ireland Six Nations squad, burrowed over for an unconverted try and it was 19-12.

Soon after the Clovers were back to 15 players and they were the team who were on the front foot heading into half-time.

Four minutes before the break it was Cahill who went over for her second try of the day, Breen could not convert, but it was 19-17 to Wolfhounds at the interval and really was ‘game on’.

The Clovers took their first half momentum into the second and just 70 seconds after half-time they scored their fourth try.

It all started with a scything break by centre Murphy and she fed the ball to Quinn. She was stopped just short of the try line, but winger Béibhinn Parsons picked up and dived over, the unconverted effort making it 22-19.

The Wolfhounds have not been used to being behind in games during the campaign and that try clearly riled them.

In the 44th minute, after some strong carries up the middle, number eight King burst through from a ruck and scored under the posts. O’Brien’s conversion made it 26-22 in the end-to-end game.

11 minutes later, a loose clearance kick by the Clovers saw Flood and winger Robyn O’Connor put Elmes Kinlan away and she showed great pace and footwork to go over in the corner for an unconverted effort, taking the score 31-22 to the Wolfhounds.

Wolfhounds’ sixth try on the hour mark left Clovers with a mountain to climb. A goal line from out was collected by replacement forward Maeve Óg O Leary and she powered forward and ran through the onrushing defence to score a five-pointer. That made it 36-22 and a 14-point lead for the Wolfhounds.

The game was effectively ended as a contest with 10 minutes to go when King, who was named player of the match, bagged her second try of the game. O’Brien was again reliable off the kicking tee to convert and make the score 43-22.

An eighth try for the Wolfhounds put the icing on the cake when replacement tighthead prop Caoimhe Molloy went over, fellow sub Abby Moyles converted and the victors hit the 50-point mark.

Parsons then scored her second try at the death with Breen converting for the never-say-die Clovers, but the day belonged to the Wolfhounds.

Wolfhounds head coach Neill Alcorn said: “We knew at half-time that we were really in a game and we talked about defence, our breakdown speed and really just having a go in the second half because we always back our attack.

“Credit to Clovers who really took the game to us, but in the second half we just managed to play with a bit more pace and be a bit more clinical and that got us over the line.”