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Corey Continues On Upward Curve With UL Bohs And Clovers

Corey Continues On Upward Curve With UL Bohs And Clovers

Aoife Corey is pictured in action against Kayla Waldron during last season's Energia All-Ireland League Women's Division final between UL Bohemian and Railway Union ©INPHO/Nick Elliott

Having had one the best years of her rugby career in 2024, Aoife Corey is hoping that the next few months can bring more of the same as she helps both UL Bohemian and the Clovers to challenge for title success.

Life at the minute for Corey is quite busy. Along with being part of the Clovers squad in the Celtic Challenge, coming off the back of her club commitments with UL Bohs, she recently started a ten-week placement as part of her Professional Master of Education postgraduate degree for Primary Teaching in Mary Immaculate College.

2024 was a big year for the 23-year-old, who was an Energia All-Ireland League Women’s Division winner with UL and vice-captain for Munster’s Interprovincial campaign, along with getting capped for the Ireland Sevens team and playing for the Clovers.

She first started playing rugby with Ennis RFC back in 2017 and has not looked back since. Representing her province at Under-18 level for two seasons, she was an Interpro champion with them in 2019, the same year that she moved to UL Bohs.

2025 will be the Ennis native’s sixth year with the Red Robins, and she admittedly still feels like one of the youngest members of the squad given that the seasons have flown by.

“Last year was probably my top year rugby wise. I had a really busy year of it in 2024. The Clovers at the start of the year, which then kind of led into the AIL final, which was probably one of the best days of my life,” she told IrishRugby.ie.

“Then I went into a bit of Sevens during the summer, and then the vice-captaincy at Munster, which was another huge shock but a huge honour as well. So it’s been really busy, and then we went straight back into the Bohs season and back into Clovers again.

“It’s been all go, but it was a great year. I feel like I’ve been playing with Bohs my whole life as well, but then Ennis were some of the best days of my life as well.

“I’m so grateful for Ennis as well. I wouldn’t be where I am today if Ennis had never set up the girls team. The years, they’ve all jumbled into one almost, and even with Covid, I don’t even remember Covid and not playing rugby.

“I feel like it’s always been go, go, go. There’s always been training. I was thinking about rugby, and it’s always been on my mind.

“I still feel like I am the baby, and the girls are like, ‘you’re not the baby anymore!’ There’s more babies in there, and I’m like, ‘No, I’m still a baby!’ It’s mad, like Alana (McInerney) is the same, because the two of us kind of came in together.

I still feel like we’re the young ones, but we’re not like, we’ve been in the squad now for jeez, it’s been five years now. Just flown by.

“I love playing with Bohs, the girls are great, such a nice team to play with. I’ve missed it a bit now, especially because I haven’t had much game-time with the Clovers, so it’s nice to get some good game-time and play with the girls I know well.

“There’s a great bunch of us and a good bunch of us involved with Bohs are involved with the Clovers and Munster and stuff, so there’s a good contingent there.”

Lining out at full-back, Corey was one of the best players on the pitch when the Clovers beat Edinburgh 40-19 in their most recent Celtic Challenge outing. She continued that impressive form with a fantastic five-try performance for UL away at Suttonians last Saturday.

However, her first experience with Bohs, mixing with established players such as Eimear Considine, Fiona Reidy, and her future head coaches Niamh Briggs and Fiona Hayes, was full of nerves and saw her make a first impression that she quickly wanted to forget.

“Oh my god. I will never forget the day that I went in for the first time. I went in by myself. Alana hadn’t come in with me yet, but I went in the first day, and I was so nervous.

“I remember going in, and Eimear Considine was playing inside me, and then (current captain) Chloe (Pearse) was there as well and Nicole (Cronin), and they were all there.

“I remember that I dropped every single ball that was passed to me, and any ball I went to pass, I threw to the ground! I remember I was all over the place. It was so daunting, and then Briggs was head coach, and Hayes was there as well.

“So there were some big names around when I started which is great, but it was so daunting at the time.”

Despite those early nerves and errors, Corey gradually managed to establish herself as a key member of the UL Bohs squad, and she showcased that with her impactful display during last April’s unforgettable All-Ireland League final against Railway Union.

Corey finished last season with seven tries in the AIL, and it was her final two that proved to be the most important. She collected a cross-field kick from Kate Flannery to touch down before half-time against Railway, handing her side a hard-earned 22-21 lead.

Her second score arrived just minutes before the final whistle, and all but assured Hayes’ charges of their first league crown since 2018.

Corey also won a much-cherised individual award that day, having been chosen as the Red Robins’ player-of-the-match. She took home one of the last mugs in memory of the late John Keane.

Looking back on last year’s hugely entertaining 14-try decider and her own try-scoring input, she admitted: “It was electric. I remember the first try that I scored. I think I kicked the ball back to them, and then they had run it back in, just a few minutes before.

“So I remember being like, ‘I need to do something here to make up for it’. Kate had a brilliant cross-field kick, and it somehow landed into my hands.

“I don’t go for the cross-field kick sometimes. Normally just in case it doesn’t work out, I’ll drop back just to cover the back-field.

“I remember at that moment being like, ‘Do I go for it or do I not go for it?’, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I have to go for it!’ I went for it and I’m happy I did now.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget that feeling, and even going into the dressing room, putting a score up on them right before half-time was something that we needed to push on from there.”

She added: “That day was such a battle. We would score and then Railway would score and then we’d score and then they’d score. It was tit-for-tat.

“So when I got the last try then in the last few minutes, I knew then there wasn’t enough time for them to come back. My calves were cramping, I think not even two minutes before.

“We had a midfield scrum and it was kind of off that we scored, but I remember going down cramping like, ‘I can’t do this anymore!’, and then I remember Rachel Allen looking at me. She’s like ‘You have to, you have to keep pushing!’

“I was like, ‘Okay!’, and then I got the try two minutes after that. That was probably one of the toughest games mentally that I’ve played, but worth it in the end.”

The defending champions have continued to deliver some top quality performances this season, but a 19-18 home defeat to Railway Union in October was a frustrating setback so early on in the campaign.

Since then Hayes’ side have put together a 10-match winning run, their latest results seeing them put over 100 points on newcomers Tullow before Christmas, and then start the New Year with bonus point victories over both Galwegians (50-17) and Suttonians (57-7).

UL are currently two points behind unbeaten Railway at the top of the table, with both well on course to secure home semi-finals. Their rematch in the penultimate round in mid-March comes six weeks before the final which will be held again at the Aviva Stadium.

Corey and her team-mates will not be getting too far ahead of themselves, as she says: “That October game against Railway, there’s was huge disappointment after it. We did quite well in the first half, but in the second half we let ourselves down in defence.

“The weather conditions were awful that day, but that’s no excuse either for the way we performed. It wasn’t our best day, and it wasn’t how we want to play or how we usually play. So we reviewed it, we looked back on it, and we knew what we needed to fix.

I think going on and playing more games, I think we’ve shown what we can do. We’re looking forward to getting Railway again and seeing what we can do then.

“When we played Railway (earlier on) it was our second game of the year, so it was the early days coming back as a team. A lot of us had been playing with Munster, been away for the summer, so we hadn’t had too much game-time together.

“So I think now ever since that game, we’ve come together, we’ve realised what we needed to do, what we needed to work on, and we’ve worked on it. I think we’ve played some really good rugby since then.”

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