Nenagh Keeping It In The Family

As if Donnacha Ryan’s rise from starting his rugby career at Nenagh Ormond at 17 to recently debuting for Ireland was not enough, we have another inspirational story from the County Tipperary club.

Lining out each week for Nenagh Ormond’s ladies team are June Whelan and two of her daughters, Sandra and Denise Williams.

All three are members of the club’s senior squad, with Sandra a Munster-capped player and a member of the current Ireland training squad.

June and her family hail from Cloughjordan, which is a few miles outside of Nenagh.

June and Sandra both started playing rugby six years ago and together with their cousin Jennifer Donovan, they set up the Nenagh ladies team. Denise started playing this year when she reached the required age.

June’s oldest son Brian also plays for the Nenagh senior men’s firsts and seconds and her younger children Sophie, Rebecca and Shane all play in the underage teams for Nenagh.

Her other son Steve is the only member of the family who does not actually play rugby but he keeps the ladies team fed by making the soup for them every week!

So if the exploits of June and her sons and daughters do not inspire you to get your battered body around that frosted pitch, nothing will!