‘Fiona’s So Creative As A Coach’ – Murtagh Enjoying Old Belvedere’s Different Approach

For Éadaoin Murtagh, one of Old Belvedere’s increasingly influential forwards and a player whose own journey has ranged from provincial beginnings to international age-grade honours, these weeks carry a sense of opportunity rather than anxiety.

This is the time of year, she believes, when teams start revealing who they really are and when Old Bevedere can show they are exactly where they belong.

“I think we’re right where we want to be in terms of the table,” she told IrishRugby.ie, with ‘Belvo fourth in the table courtesy of four wins from their opening six matches.

“I think the next game is probably the most important one against Galwegians. They’re an incredible team this year. They’ve got a good few new players and stuff.

“The Blackrock game was a tough one because it was so, so close. We had such a strong team and to come away with a loss (27-7) we were gutted.

“But then going down to UL Bohs, it’s always hard going down to UL. We lost a few players for that game, so that was really tough. But I think we need to make a statement against Galwegians (next week).

“Going down to Galway is always a tough trip, but we’re excited. I think with the talent that we have now this year, we could really put a good few points on them if all things go to plan.”

The conviction in her voice suggests this is not something she says lightly. This is her fourth year in the ‘Belvo shirt, her first with new head coach Fiona Hayes, and her first since returning from a year abroad that recalibrated her relationship with rugby.

There is a maturity to the way she diagnoses Belvedere’s current standing, not complacent, not overly cautious, but aware, alert, and ready.

After a strong start to the season in defeating Railway Union 34-19, Hayes’ charges suffered losses to Blackrock and UL Bohemian. They have picked up their form again, winning their last three games impressively with eight-try centre Robyn O’Connor (pictured below) a real shining light.

Looking at their next run of fixtures, Galwegians have been resurgent, recruiting shrewdly, developing depth, and leading the table recently. ‘Belvo know they are heading to Galway and cannot afford to drop any points, with Cooke and Ennis to follow after that.

Murtagh, a final year Mathematics and English student at UCD, commented: “We’re also very aware of the Ennis game in a couple of weeks. They’re new to the league, and I think they’re very excited to be here.

“They’re coming into every game as underdogs, they’re coming to compete. So, none of those games are rest games for us.

“We are very, very aware of how competitive those teams are behind us at the moment. Even Railway (in fifth), we beat them in our first game, and that was a huge boost for us. But they’re not put away for the season.

“If anything, what Railway knows how to do it’s compete, so we’re very, very aware of what even next year, the second half of the season, that’s going to be very competitive. We can’t take the foot off the pedal.

“I don’t think we do (look at other results). I think it’s a balance of being aware of how talented they are, and also being aware of what we didn’t bring against UL and our failures as a team that day.

“We can only control what we control, and that’s putting our best foot forward. I think if you read too much into any other teams, you’re going to drive yourself mental and not focus on the things that are important, which is your own squad and the depth that you have there.

“I think we’re very focused on ourselves, at the end of the day. It’s important to be aware that if you’re not going down for an easy game, you’re going down to compete. There’s a statement to be made.”

Having someone like Hayes take charge of the squad was certainly a statement. After back-to-back league titles with UL Bohs, she arrived at Ollie Campbell Park in the summer hoping to reignite a spark in the club, as they last lifted the trophy a decade ago.

Murtagh returned from Canada ahead of this season, coming into an entirely different ‘Belvo set-up, and she still remembers the surprise many players felt when Hayes was appointed.

“It was definitely a surprise for a lot of us,” she laughs. “I wasn’t here last year. I was away on exchange for a year, so when I came back, it was a totally different set-up with Fiona.

“But no, she’s so, so creative as a coach, and she brings a lot of fun to the group. It’s definitely a mindset shift for us. I think we’re just even approaching game day differently.

“We’re having fun with that lead-up, and she never really panics. I think even if she is panicking, we don’t get to tell. She’s very level-headed. I’m really, really enjoying it.”

Enjoyment is a recurring thread in Murtagh’s rugby story, although it has not always been straightforward. Her path through the sport began almost accidentally, as the younger sibling brought along to her brother’s training sesson with her dad.

“I started quite young. I think I was about seven, and my dad used to coach my brother’s team and he would just kind of bring me along because there was no one (at home) to mind me.

“So, I’d be brought along to rugby training, and then there was an Under-10 team or whatever, the lads team. That’s where I kind of came in.

I played with the lads for a few years, and then I think we had an U-12 team at Cill Dara. It wasn’t until I was about U-16 then the PortDara amalgamation came together, and that changed my relationship with rugby altogether.

“Playing with that many girls just definitely injected a sort of passion for the game that I hadn’t really had before. I was very concentrated on football and gymnastics and athletics and that sort of thing.

“But once you get to play, if you’re coming down to training with 30 girls from, I didn’t care if they were from Kildare or Cork as long as they were there to play rugby for my team and to put a competitive side out against other teams.

“I had no idea until I went to that Under-18 Leinster trial that there was even that many girls playing rugby. I couldn’t get over the numbers.

“When I went into the Leinster U-18 set-up in 2021, that was an invaluable experience to be aware of that much talent at your age group. That just kind of opened a whole new world for me and definitely led me to where I am today.”

Where she is today is not only lining out for Old Belvedere in the Energia All-Ireland League, but what it also includes is an international chapter she still cannot quite believe happened.

When she got a taste of playing cross-border rugby in the Celtic Challenge with the Wolfhounds during the 2023/24 season, she felt a bit out of her depth, but it soon shaped her for what came next.

“I had no idea that call for the Wolfhounds was coming. I was so surprised and so honoured,” she admitted. “I was definitely a bit out of my depth, I felt, when I went in originally.

“I’d never been involved in that kind of senior high-performance set-up. It was very unsettling at the start. I was playing with girls that I’d looked up to, and girls that I’d seen on the television playing rugby, and now I was kitting out against them.

“So, that was pretty surreal, but I kind of grew into the competition then a bit. I had a great time, and even the travelling element of that, and travelling with girls that maybe you’d never talked to before.

“Girls from Belfast, I’d never really connected with girls from the north before, just from a geographical perspective. I definitely felt more prepared for the Ireland Under-20s after that.”

But she found her feet, grew into the environment, and gained the kind of confidence that later made her a leader within the Ireland Under-20 squad in the summer of 2024. Italy, her family in the stands, the green jersey, she speaks about it all with a mix of disbelief and gratitude.

“I still can’t believe it happened sometimes. It was a dream come true at the time, and my family flew over for the (Six Nations Summer Series) games in Parma, and my uncle flew over. They’re so, so supportive.

“Even for the whole time my dad, I wasn’t driving at the time. I didn’t have my car, so my dad would drive me to Belfast or drive me to Blanchardstown, wait for the four hours to be up and drive me back to my flat in Dublin and then drive home back to Kildare.

“I’m so lucky with the support system that I have, and I think that’s half the struggle sometimes with girls coming into this sort of high-performance situation is that they might not even have the support system.

“The fact that I have that support from both of my parents, my mum was the same. She would come down after work, drive me to HPC (the IRFU High Performance Centre), sit around, drive me back to my flat in Dublin, drive back home, they’re the best.

“So, to be able to go out in Italy last year and be in that (Ireland) Under-20 team in front of my family, that’s the stuff of dreams.”

Last season brought a change, after years of non-stop rugby, Murtagh took a small bit of a break. She was heading to Montreal on exchange, yet she found herself drawn back to the game, albeit for a shorter season than what she was used to.

“I kind of had a decision to make last year, will I give rugby a rest? Because I’ve been kind of non-stop since I was 17. So, I was going to Montreal in Canada, and I decided I was going by myself. I didn’t know anybody out there.

“I think something that rugby offers is that sense of community anywhere you go in the world. I know Canadian rugby is just on a trajectory at the moment, so I knew their rugby set-up would be extremely competitive.

“I joined the Concordia rugby squad, and like, open arms, they immediately welcomed me in. Canadians are so, so friendly. I played rugby there, but their season is actually quite short. It only lasts between September and October because of weather conditions.

“I played until October, and then I hadn’t played a rugby match until really the Railway game (in September just past). I think when I came back from Canada, I was just fighting to get going again.

“I think that break between January and September this year just had me so motivated to go back to ‘Belvo and get back playing.”

Returning to Old Belvedere was inevitable. The club had been central to her development from the moment she first walked through the gates four years ago, drawn partly by the presence of her good friend Hannah Wilson and by ‘Belvo’s pedigree of producing provincial and international talent.

She remembers her first night vividly, training alongside a local hero and Ireland internationals she had grown up hearing about, watching on TV, or admiring from a distance.

“I grew up playing rugby with Hannah, who’s playing for ‘Belvo, and she had mentioned to me that she was going to go play for ‘Belvo, and I kind of had it in the back of my head already.

“Then ‘Belvo reached out to me and they said, ‘We’d love for you to come down and train and see if you like the group and stuff’. So I came down one evening and there was the likes of Áine Donnelly there.

“Áine is from Cill Dara and won caps for Leinster and Ireland. It was very surreal to see someone that you kind of grow up being told that’s what you could do, and she was just down at training like any of us.

“I think that was a huge factor as well, being able to play with the likes of Jenny Murphy and those girls. That was surreal for a little 18-year-old Éadaoin.

“Obviously ‘Belvo was very handily located too, just a spin down the road from UCD, so I think it was definitely a no-brainer. I really connected with the girls and the coaches as well, so absolutely by the end of the first week, I think I was locked in.”

Over four seasons she has evolved from a young winger into one of Old Belvedere’s most adaptable forwards. She has featured in the second row and the back row this season, and while other players might struggle to adapt to positional changes week on week, she has relished it.

“When I joined ‘Belvo four years ago, I was a winger. I was kind of moved around a bit, I have been in the centre, and then I settled into the back row. But listen, I’m just always happy to play for ‘Belvo, and having a full game as my goal every single week.

“I think the back row is definitely, you get a bit more freedom defensively, which I always enjoy. But the second row is obviously much more physical, I think, from a scrum perspective and from a physicality perspective.

“I feel like I’m definitely more tired after the second row games. But no, honestly, it doesn’t bother me where I’m put as long as I’m getting a good run-out. I think that’s all I care about.”

Her willingness to step into any role includes moments of unexpected responsibility, like her cameo as a place-kicker against Tullow where she landed three conversions during the second half.

Laughing about how it happened, she said: “I kind of heard a call from the distance saying, ‘Murts can kick’. I do the kicking sometimes for the UCD side, and I think I might have stuck my foot in it when I posted an Instagram story of me kicking a conversion for UCD.

“I think people got some notions there! Anything I can do on a pitch, I’ll do, and I love kicking. I love that side of it.”

Old Belvedere have some big weeks ahead, and so does Murtagh. But everything in her career suggests she will meet them the same way she has met every challenge before them – head-on, unflustered, grateful, and with that unmistakable sense that rugby’s next door is already swinging open.

The sense of belief running through the Belvedere squad is not bluster, it is built on tangible progression. Beaten semi-finalists last April, they have been striving to return to the top of the podium and end their wait for silverware.

They are not just eyeing a top four finish again this season, they are defending it, protecting it, and refusing to be the team others leapfrog during the festive squeeze.

Hayes’ side may be well-placed now, but the next few weeks are important for league position. They are even more crucial because ‘Belvo are set to lose a large chunk of their squad to the Celtic Challenge, which starts on Saturday, December 20.

“I think ourselves, we’re probably the team with the most players that we’re going to lose. I think we’re losing about 19 players to the Celtic Challenge.

“It shows the depth of our squad and the talent that we have, but it’s definitely going to be a challenge working around that.

“But again, Fiona is great. She’s very aware of that, and she’s giving people opportunities that are going to be here when those Celtic Challenge players fall away.

“Of course, it’s important to focus on Galwegians, Cooke, and that last game against Ennis is going to be huge as well. I think Fiona’s got a plan, and I think we all have great trust in her to lead us through that,” added Murtagh.

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