Quin Relishing New Challenges As UL Bohs Head Coach

A stalwart of UL Bohemian, Sarah Quin has wasted no time in making her mark as head coach of the Red Robins. Following last week’s winning start, she is determined to keep that momentum going when they host arch rivals Railway Union at Annacotty.

Saturday’s repeat of last season’s final tops the bill in the second round of the Energia All-Ireland League Women’s Division. The much-anticipated clash will kick off at 4pm and will be streamed live on irishrugby+.

For the Quin with one ‘n’, the past couple of years have been nothing short of a whirlwind. A serious ankle injury, sustained in a 3rd-4th place play-off against Old Belvedere, in 2022, abruptly ended her playing career. Her role in the game she loves quickly changed.

It was former Ireland internationals Niamh Briggs and Fiona Hayes who spotted her qualities beyond the pitch. Both were instrumental in coaxing her towards coaching, ensuring that the leadership she once brought in the back row was not lost to UL Bohs or Munster.

Now, scarcely two years later, Quin stands on the touchline not as a player, or coach, but as head coach of her beloved Bohs. She is clearly loving the new direction.

“It’s good, but it’s different,” the Limerick native admits with a smile, speaking to IrishRugby.ie ahead of the defending champions’ early-season showdown with Railway Union.

“There’s a bit of learning, so I suppose I’ve been involved in the coaching, this my third season with Bohs. I’ve been with Hayes for the last two, my eyes are a lot open now. Enjoying it.

“It’s a lot more work. It feels like a full-time job on top of a full-time job at times, but that’s the nature of it. And what you put into it, hopefully you see the benefits throughout the season and hopefully get back into another day in the Aviva (Stadium) at the end.”

Quin’s rugby roots run deep. She started playing at Young Munster, her father’s club, though the household loyalties were split. Her mother’s side of the family are Thomond through and through.

Rising through the ranks, she went on to represent UL Bohemian and Munster with distinction, famously captaining the province to Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship glory in 2021.

But sport can be cruel. Just months after that high, she suffered a broken ankle that just never came right in the end. “I tried everything to get back,” she reflects.

“I broke my ankle, and I tried like every player, you try your best to get back into it. But the leg and the body just didn’t agree with playing that level again. I gave everything for both red jerseys, and that was the level I was playing at – that’s the level my mind was at.”

“It kind of all happened quickly. 2021 captained Munster in the Interpros, and that was August, September. And the following February, I broke my ankle playing Old Belvedere in Energia Park. I’ll never forget the day. Then it was trying to get back.

“I did actively try to get back. After I came back from injury, I played the first season trying to get back into AIL standards. And I actually tried to get into Munster, but it wasn’t to be.”

The loss of such a leader was felt keenly by Bohs and Munster, but Hayes and Briggs were quick to ensure Quin’s influence was not lost altogether. While working hard to get back playing did not yield a return to onfield action, she was drawn into the coaching set-up, a move that ultimately proved natural.

“I was very lucky with Hayes and ‘Briggsy’ in particular being there and identifying, they don’t want to lose me as a leader. So I kind of transitioned quickly.

“I think it helped me mentally. Obviously, you want to keep being a player, your mind wants to play all the time but you have to listen to your body. But I found it a bit easy because of how I went in, and then that transitioned then into AIL.

“Fiona, I shouldn’t call her ‘Hayes’, but Fiona, I call her Hayes, she’s Hayes to me! She obviously saw something there and really wanted me in as a coach as well, so she helped me develop.

“I didn’t have too much time to dwell that I wasn’t a player anymore because my mind naturally switched, and I suppose in my day-to-day I’m in a managerial role, a coaching role, and I try to bring both aspects to each other.”

UL Bohs kicked off the new Energia All-Ireland League season with a well-judged 21-12 win away to Blackrock College. Now the focus shifts to two more heavyweight encounters – the visit of Railway Union, last year’s table toppers, before a trip to face Old Belvedere the following week.

The narratives practically write themselves. Against Railway, it’s the renewal of a rivalry that has seen the clubs meet in successive league finals in 2024 and 2025. The round 2 fixture will also see Quin go up against another well respected Munster coach in Sana Govender.

Meanwhile, Old Belvedere look to be a team on the rise, and added to the mix is a fascinating coaching duel with Quin’s mentor Hayes, who is now at the helm of ‘Belvo. The 2025/26 campaign will present many challenges for Quin, but the new Bohs boss is relishing it all.

“I’m delighted that there’s three Munster people involved in the top four teams from last year. How it pans out this year is yet to be seen, but (I’m) delighted with that. I’m really looking forward to the challenges ahead.

“There’s definitely challenges, as we know. We have rivalries every year. Ourselves and Railway have been fighting it out for the last few years at the top level, and I hope that continues.

“Set the standard and beat the standard, and that’s the way I’m looking at it. I obviously want my team to win and we will prepare to do that. We’ll take it each game as it comes, we’ll take it for what it is.

“We’ll be looking at ourselves more so improving each game. First game out we got the win, it’s always tough in Blackrock. It is always a great game, it’s always very close, and it’s never really decided until the final whistle goes.

“That first game, there’s things to improve on definitely and that’s what we’re looking at to improve (coming) into the weekend. And again, we’ll be doing the same the following week against Hayes.”

She added: “Obviously I wish her well and want to see her progress. But for me and my team, I want us to win. I want us to get back into the Aviva (for this season’s final). And every game, you need to be winning the majority of games to get there. So that’s the way I’m looking.

“It will of course be weird because for the last two or three years we’ve been in the same dugout. But look, we’re friends off of the pitch and we’ll keep being friends off of the pitch, but when that whistle goes or when we arrive it’s ‘game on’ and we won’t be friends for those 80 minutes.

“I’ll be looking at my team the same way she’ll be looking at hers, and we’ll both want to get one over each other. But yeah, we’ll just be rivals during the game but when that final whistle goes we’ll be back being friends and hopefully Bohs have the win.”

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