Four-Try Donnelly Fires Ennis To Third #EnergiaAIL Win

Ennis added Cooke to their list of Energia All-Ireland League scalps as Aoibhín Donnelly’s fantastic four-try haul inspired a 22-19 bonus point victory at Drumbiggle Road.

ENERGIA ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE WOMEN’S DIVISION:

Saturday, November 15 –

ENNIS 22 COOKE 19, Drumbiggle Road
Scorers: Ennis: Tries: Aoibhín Donnelly 4; Con: Patricia Coote
Cooke: Tries: Katie Gilmour, Ilse van Staden 2; Cons: Amanda Morton 2
HT: Ennis 12 Cooke 0

More known as a League of Ireland footballer, Donnelly recently returned to rugby having played at underage level, and showed she is a quick learner, crossing after 12 and 25 minutes to give Ennis a 12-0 half-time lead.

Donnelly and Katie Gilmour traded tries, either side of Ilse van Staden’s sin-binning, but the former Ireland international returned to cross twice late on and give Cooke a battling bonus point.

The visitors had the deficit down to five points at one stage, but Donnelly’s excellent 75th-minute effort – from a Lyndsay Clarke cross-field kick – earned Ennis their third win in six matches since their promotion to the All-Ireland League.

In dry but windy conditions, Gareth O’Hanlon’s charges showed their willingness to run from deep as Clodagh McMahon and powerful lock Aoibheann Hahessy combined on an early break through the middle.

A number of knock-ons kept play inside the Ennis half, and Cooke used a scrum to launch forward with props Shola Iluyemi and Sophie Barrett gaining ground up into the 22. A knock-on ruined a promising set of phases.

The sniping Georgia Boyce had the Belfast outfit pressing again soon after, only for Ennis captain Micaela Glynn to win a penalty for Iluyemi holding on. Her team duly turned the possession into a brilliant breakaway try.

Saher Hamdan split open the defence in slick fashion, linking with Patricia Coote who released Donnelly from 55 metres out. The 23-year-old winger took off to beat three defenders, using her speed and a neat sidestep to get in behind the posts.

Following Coote’s conversion for a 7-0 scoreline, Donnelly soon threatened again on the left wing. Amanda Morton came up with a crucial turnover for the visitors, and Elise McDermott soon took play past halfway with a pacy break out wide.

Cooke were scrambling back just a few minutes later, with Sally Kelly scooping up a dropped pass and gobbling up the metres before her kick found touch. Ennis held onto the field position before striking for their second score.

With 24 minutes on the clock, good work from the home pack put them in position. A tap penalty was worked out towards the left where Donnelly got over in the corner following precise passes from Hamdan and Coote.

Cooke winger McDermott displayed her breaking ability again on the half-hour mark, winning the race to her own kick to hack the ball on. Molly Boyd also had a couple of chances to stretch her legs in attack, nimbly making ground.

Having recovered from a knock, Kelly was prominent during the second half’s early stages. She turned a loose Cooke lineout into a daring break downfield, which saw Hamdan and replacement Emma Keane combine out wide to good effect.

There was some terrific interplay between backs and forwards, as Cooke were caught narrow in defence, and lovely hands from Caoilfhionn Conway Morrissey and Coote sent the fleet-footed Donnelly over in the left corner.

Brian McLaughlin’s side were stung by that score, falling 17 points in arrears, and subsequently lost veteran prop van Staden to the sin bin for some overzealous clearing out.

Nonetheless, a free-flowing attack got them off the mark. Gilmour grounded the ball out wide following Boyd’s show of pace, and some well-executed link play between Morton and Maebh Clenaghan.

Cooke’s tails were up with Barrett teeing up industrious lock Izzy Harris for a 25-metre burst. They were taking the Ennis defence through more phases now, and Ireland Under-20 prop Barrett was increasingly influential in terms of making metres.

The Barrett-Harris combination almost delivered a try following van Staden’s return to the pitch. Keane was first in at the breakdown to force a relieving penalty for Ennis, but the pressure kept coming from Cooke.

The hosts eventually gave way in the 71st minute when van Staden, following up on another strong carry from Barrett, shrugged off Emily Murphy’s attempted tackle to power her way over. Morton’s conversion made it a five-point game (17-12).

The contest’s most decisive moment came just four minutes later, as Ennis, who are now sixth in the table, conjured up a top class clinching score.

Off a scrum on the right, Clarke, having linked with Hamdan, delivered a pinpoint kick over to Donnelly who had the pace to evade two defenders from 30 metres out.

The try gave Glynn and her team-mates the cushion they needed to see out the result, albeit that Cooke mustered a last-minute response. Following a series of penalties, van Staden showed impressive strength to complete her brace, with Morton converting.

TIME LINE: 12 minutes – Ennis try: Aoibhín Donnelly – 5-0; conversion: Patricia Coote – 7-0; 25 mins – Ennis try: Aoibhín Donnelly – 12-0; conversion: missed by Patricia Coote – 12-0; Half-time – Ennis 12 Cooke 0; 45 mins – Ennis try: Aoibhín Donnelly – 17-0; conversion: missed by Patricia Coote – 17-0; 47 mins – Cooke yellow card: Ilse van Staden; 49 mins – Cooke try: Katie Gilmour – 17-5; conversion: missed by Amanda Morton – 17-5; 71 mins – Cooke try: Ilse van Staden – 17-10; conversion: Amanda Morton – 17-12; 75 mins – Ennis try: Aoibhín Donnelly – 22-12; conversion: missed by Patricia Coote – 22-12; 80+8 mins – Cooke try: Ilse van Staden – 22-17; conversion: Amanda Morton – 22-19; Full-time – Ennis 22 Cooke 19

ENNIS: Patricia Coote; Clodagh McMahon, Saskia Conway Morrissey, Saher Hamdan, Aoibhín Donnelly; Lyndsay Clarke, Emily Murphy; Annie Lynch, Aisling Heapes, Ciara Coughlan, Aoibheann Hahessy, Laura Cooney, Sally Kelly, Micaela Glynn (capt), Caoilfhionn Conway Morrissey.

Replacements: Caoilinn Cahill, Saoirse Reidy, Emily Anglim, Eileen Keane, Amy Flavin, Nell Walsh, Emma Keane.

COOKE: Molly Boyd; Elise McDermott, Paige Smyth, Teah Morton, Katie Gilmour; Amanda Morton, Georgia Boyce; Sophie Barrett, Maebh Clenaghan, Shola Iluyemi, Izzy Harris, Emilee Jalosuo, Bronach Cassidy, Laura Scott, Megan Simpson (capt).

Replacements: Ilse van Staden, Freya Craig, Emily Kingston.

Referee: Fergal Brislane (IRFU)