‘Preparation And Mindset Don’t Change’ – Beacom On Enniskillen’s Push For Energia Junior Cup Glory

History rarely announces itself loudly. It tends to arrive quietly, shaped by routine, repetition, and the steady accumulation of belief.

Long before finals days and silverware conversations, it begins on dark winter evenings. Floodlights cutting through mist, boots sinking into heavy ground, and players showing up because they always have.

This Sunday against defending champions MU Barnhall at Dundalk RFC (kick-off 2pm), Enniskillen will step into their first Energia All-Ireland Women’s Junior Cup final, carrying not just a season’s work but years of persistence behind them.

For Rebecca Beacom and her team-mates, it is a moment forged slowly, deliberately, and together, as they stand 80 minutes away from success on the national stage for such a proud and historic club.

“I know it’s our first year making it to this stage in the competition. We’ve got into it a few years now but this is the first time we’ve made it to a final,” she told IrishRugby.ie.

“Definitely would be history-making for the club, and you know people play all their lives and not get a chance to win something like this. Definitely would be good to win this.”

That sense of perspective runs through everything Beacom says. There is excitement, of course, but it is grounded, informed by what Enniskillen have come through to get here. This is not a flash-in-the-pan run or a team suddenly discovering itself.

It is the product of lessons learned the hard way, including a sobering 46-0 semi-final defeat to this very MU Barnhall side in the inaugural season back in 2023, and a quarter-final exit last season that left them with unfinished business.

“We take every match as it comes and every season as it comes, maybe there is revenge from not getting promoted (to the Energia All-Ireland League) last season and stuff last year.

“I know it was disappointing for us not getting to the next stages and stuff, and getting put out early last season, and I know we’ve faced Barnhall a few times.

“But I think maybe it’s just taking those experiences and using them as motivation and focusing for the next opportunity that we have now.”

That opportunity has been seized with conviction. Enniskillen’s route to this weekend’s decider has been anything but tentative.

A commanding 49-12 quarter-final victory over Balbriggan announced that this group was ready to be taken seriously, blending physicality with composure and an understanding of how to manage knockout rugby.

The semi-final away to Tuam, always a difficult proposition, demanded a different kind of performance. Skins delivered again, winning 27-14 with a maturity that spoke to how far they have come, especially when they had lost down in Tuam a season earlier at the quarter final hurdle..

“It was a nice feeling whenever the final whistle blew in the semi-final and we’d won. Obviously played Tuam down there as well last season and we knew they were a strong side as well,” explained Beacom, the Ulster lock/back rower.

“We just had prepared as usual and our game-plan worked on the day and we came away with the win. We were really happy with that and obviously then we’ve been preparing ever since, keeping it the same every week.

“It was a nice feeling, I think it kind of gives us the confidence that we’ve proven ourselves that we were capable of doing that. We were focused on that game, we don’t really look too far ahead but just preparing each week as it comes.”

There was no sense of relief tipping into celebration. Instead, there was a quiet confirmation that their process works. That mindset has defined the Fermanagh club’s season.

In an era where narratives can run ahead of reality, Rodney Balfour’s charges have resisted the urge to project too far forward, even now with a final looming.

“There’s definitely excitement, but it’s a good kind of nervousness. Preparations have been going really well. We haven’t changed much at all, fine-tuning a few details and keeping things sharp.

“Making sure to stay calm in the final moments and execute under pressure. It’s going to be a game where every second counts, and I expect it to be intense from start to finish.”

Intensity is something they understand well, particularly against Barnhall. The Kildare club arrive in Dundalk chasing a remarkable fourth consecutive Energia Junior Cup crown, carrying the experience of winning on this stage and the muscle memory of finals rugby.

Enniskillen know exactly what they are facing, and they also know they have already beaten their final opponents when it mattered.

Last March they edged out Barnhall by three points in their Energia All-Ireland League promotion play-off semi-final, a match defined by defence, discipline, and nerve, with Sophie Meeke’s lone penalty goal deciding it.

It was a result that did not make headlines nationwide but reverberated deeply within the squad, and their captain Beacom knows after a tough last encounter with Barnhall, it will be more of the same on Sunday afternoon.

That last time we played them we were defending most of the game, it was very, very tight. It could have gone either way, you kind of just have to focus on any opportunity you get, any lineout you could steal or a tackle.

“We know it’s going be a tight game but we just have to focus on what we can control in our gameplay and to execute that with precision and play with intensity.

“Then also we want to enjoy the game as well, just give everything we can out there because that’s all we can really ask of the girls to do.”

That balance, intensity without panic, ambition without fear, has been cultivated in Enniskillen over time. This is a rural club, one built on pride and community as much as competition, and Beacom is acutely aware of what this final represents beyond the white lines.

There is a weariness beneath the pride too, the honest acknowledgement of what it takes to sustain progress in a smaller rugby heartland.

“We will just play with a sense of pride of how far we’ve come. Like, we’re a rural club in Enniskillen, we just focus kind of on that sort of thing, kind of be proud of ourselves that we’ve got so many finals and semi-finals and promotions, play-offs.

“You have to be proud of the girls, and it shows all that effort and commitment and the training on the dark, cold evenings are certainly worth it in the long run.”

Those evenings are where the foundations have been laid. Not just by players, but by coaches, volunteers, and a wider club structure that has refused to let Women’s rugby be an afterthought.

“It represents the resilience and teamwork that we have, and we want to achieve that for the club as well. For the players it’s like reward for all the hard work.

“Then for coaches and volunteers, it’s the recognition of the time and effort they put in behind the scenes. Then even for the community in Enniskillen, it kind of brings everybody together.”

In a timely boost for everyone associated with the club, the Enniskillen Men’s team lifted the Ulster Junior Cup just after Christmas, an achievement that rippled through Mullaghmeen and beyond, and sharpened the Women’s squad’s own sense of possibility.

Beacom acknowledged: “Our Men’s team played there just after Christmas in the Ulster Junior Cup final, came away with the win, and that kind of gives us a motivation that we want that same feeling.

“But obviously we know Barnhall are a very good side and they’ve won it three times in a row already. They’re well organised, physical, and we just need to be at our best to come away with the win – stick to our game-plan and be disciplined.”

Discipline will be vital, particularly with uncertainty around the availability of Sophie Barrett and India Daley due to their involvement with the Wolfhounds in the ongoing Celtic Challenge competition.

The key duo bagged a brace of tries in the semi-final defeat of Tuam. Having them on board for the final would be hugely significant, but Enniskillen have embraced that uncertainty rather than letting it unsettle them.

“At the moment we’re preparing as if everyone might or might not be available. India and Sophie fully deserve their involvement in the Celtic Challenge and we’re delighted and so proud of them.

“All that hard work that they’re putting in, it’s good to see that for them and like the whole club’s so proud of them. Obviously we would love to have them on Sunday.

“We’re not too sure yet if we will have them, but we’re just planning as we normally would with or without them. If we get them then it will be a big boost.

“Our focus is on the group we have here. We’ve full confidence in the squad and the depth we have, and whoever pulls on the jersey on Sunday will be ready.

“I think we’re confident enough with our team at the minute and we’re a close set of girls. Our training, we’re all at training doing the same thing so we’re preparing that way.”

When the game gets underway in Dundalk, Enniskillen intend to strip the moment back to its simplest form. The occasion may be unprecedented for the club, but the preparation is not.

That steadiness may yet prove decisive against a Barnhall outfit steeped in finals experience. For Enniskillen, this is about far more than stopping a four-in-a-row bid.

It is about validating years of effort, about giving players, including number 8 Sarah Teague, who has given 16 years to the club, a chance to experience something they may never have thought possible.

History is waiting now, not as an abstract idea, but as a tangible possibility. Win or lose, Enniskillen have already shifted their own horizons. But they are not travelling to Dundalk to admire the view.

The Beacom-led Skins are going to compete, with pride, with discipline, and with the quiet confidence of a club that has earned its place on this stage, one cold evening at a time.

“Obviously there is a big buzz around the club. It’s our first time in this final, it would be amazing for us to win. It would be an incredible feeling and history-making for the club.

“We’ll go into our last training sessions the exact same way, do the warm-up the same. It’s still a match that we’re focused on obviously, we know what the outcome will be if we win but it’s keeping your same routines and calmness.

“Just keeping everything the same. Obviously there’s going to be a wee bit of nerves, but that’s a good thing sometimes to keep the excitement and nerves, to keep you focused on what you’re playing for.

“Once the whistle goes, it’s still just a game of rugby. You focus on your role, trust the people around you, and stick to what’s worked for us all season. The occasion is special, of course, but the preparation and mindset don’t change,” she added.