McInerney Cherishes ‘Unbelievable’ Win With Her Beloved Bohs

Alana McInerney said she was ‘honoured’ to have the chance to come back from Ireland camp and play her part in UL Bohemian’s latest Energia All-Ireland League title triumph, their third in-a-row to be won at the Aviva Stadium.

Just as they did last year to deny Railway Union, UL Bohs left it late to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against Blackrock College, with Caitríona Finn’s 83rd-minute try providing a dramatic finish to what was a fiercely-contested final.

Winger McInerney had a key role in Bohs’ fightback from 24-15 down, making a big break to set up Éabha Nic Dhonnacha’s 64th-minute try. She got on the scoresheet herself barely three minutes later, cutting inside two defenders to score from outside ‘Rock’s 22.

She highlighted the team’s ‘never-say-die attitude’ and their ability to ‘just keep going and going’ when speaking afterwards, as she reflected on a famous three-in-a-row and a record 16th All-Ireland League crown for the Red Robins.

“I can’t believe it. So proud of the girls and so honoured to be given the opportunity to come back. The girls, we said we’d never die. I suppose that proved it in the last minute of the game,” she said.

“When we came this side of the posts (after a late try from Blackrock’s Jill O’Toole), I was about to bawl my eyes out, but you never lose faith in the girls and I admire them so much.

“They just bring me up. Like, I’m only out on the wing, they do all the hard work. The forwards and inside backs put in a really big shift for us, a lot of really hard work. I’m just so delighted that we won.”

This has undoubtedly been McInerney’s best season yet, from helping a dominant Munster to regain the Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship title, scoring five tries in nine appearances for the Clovers, the Celtic Challenge runners-up, and receiving her first Six Nations call-up to the Ireland squad.

She has been in camp with Scott Bemand’s national side these last few weeks, part of a talented group of back-three players that has already seen Robyn O’Connor make her debut. She has been inspired too by her Bohs team-mate Eilís Cahill’s breakthrough in the green jersey.

From a Gaelic football background, with her dad Francis a Clare captain in the early 1990s and brother Mark a current star forward for the Banner County, Alana only started playing rugby in 2017 when Ennis set up a girls underage team, which she joined alongside her friend Aoife Corey.

McInerney, Corey, Cahill, and Chisom Ugwueru lined out together in that successful Ennis Under-18 side, their silverware-winning streak continuing with the Fiona Hayes-coached Munster U-18s in 2019 before repeating the feat with both the province and UL Bohs at senior level.

Full-back Corey and prop Cahill, who won her second Ireland cap against France on Saturday, have blazed a trail in earning international honours, and wingers McInerney and Ugwueru, two of the 35 players centrally contracted to the IRFU Women’s High Performance Programme this season, are hoping to join them in due course.

“I love playing for Bohs, it’s my club for so many years. Any chance I can play for Bohs, I’ll jump for it. Thank God I got released to play this weekend, and luckily we came out with the win,” admitted Alana, who works as a product/process development technician with PBC Biomed in Shannon.

“It’s great to have a bit of game-time, and the girls I know from home, I love playing with them. They give me so much joy and I love to see them succeed, so to succeed alongside them, with them, is just an extra special thing.

“I’m just loving rugby at the moment, so any chance I get to play, I’m gung-ho and ready for it. Hopefully now I’ll get a good rest of the Six Nations and leading into the summer, so enjoying it now.”

The Ennis native was picked out as the final’s player-of-the-match, consistently getting over the gainline with her powerful and pacy runs on the left wing. Along with her try and assist, she was not found wanting in defence, enjoying a back-and-forth duel with Blackrock’s Andi Murphy.

She has not had the best of luck regarding previous All-Ireland League finals. She started the 2024 decider against Railway at inside centre, but went off injured after just nine minutes, while she missed last year’s final due to her involvement with the Ireland Sevens team at the time.

She certainly hit the ground running for the Limerick club in 2025/26, running in 11 tries in her first five games, including a hat-trick against Railway and four away to Ennis. Her 12th followed yesterday at the home of Irish Rugby, as she returned to the Bohs team for the first time since November.

Praising the squad effort on the day, the 24-year-old beamed: “From 16 to 23, the bench were amazing. When Caitríona came on and made sure the ball was going out wide. Chisom, you can always back her pace, she can always get 10, 20 metres.

“That’s not to say about the forwards, they were doing the hard work as well, making sure our rucks were easier to get quick ball for Abbie (Salter-Townshend).

“It’s incredible to do (a three-in-a-row). I suppose in the Aviva it’s actually unreal to get to play here three years in a row. I think it just shows how much the Women’s game is growing.

“Especially to back the Irish girls as well, they’re coming here on May 17th, so I hope we get a big crowd there and show what Women’s rugby is all about.”

Sarah Quin’s charges showed nerves of steel to work their way into a position to overhaul Blackrock right at the death. When the Dubliners, who were leading by two points, were penalised for sealing off, there were just nine seconds left on the clock.

Ciara O’Dwyer, the two-try prop, gave Bohs more momentum by drawing a high tackle. The penalty was just inside ‘Rock’s 10-metre line, and UL opted to tap again, the tension increasing when Finn had to tidy up a pass that had gone to ground, and an Ugwueru break took play dangerously close to the right touchline.

However, the table toppers remained composed, displaying impressive ball retention as they tried to wear down the defence. The opportunity arose after seven phases, newcomer Ava O’Malley’s incision into the 22 and perfectly-timed return pass sending Finn charging over to make it 32-29.

“I suppose we always like to keep the ball in play, like to keep going. We try to tell ourselves that if we make a mistake, it’s okay, that we got us, we’ve got each other, and the next one we’re going to make it right.

“You can’t stop until the final whistle and we proved it out there today. A weight lifted off my shoulders (when Caitríona scored), I couldn’t believe it. I think I was behind there and I saw Caitríona and I was like, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to do it’.

“Just knowing that that was it, time was up, looking at the ref as he put up his hand and said it was all okay. It was just amazing,” added McInerney.

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