Donegal Girls Make history with Ulster Rugby!

There was another first for rugby in the county next weekend when two Donegal girls lined out for the Ulster U18’s girls rugby team in an interprovincial game against the might of Munster. The fixture was discussed at length by George Hook on his radio show where he gave a spirited defence of girls rugby and spoke to the Munster captain.
Treise O’Callaghan, Kilraine, Glenties, and Laura Feeley, Ballybofey, were both selected after being part of the County Donegal Development Squad.
Treise is following in the footsteps of her brother Conal who also represented Ulster U18s. She started tag rugby at school and was part of the St Columba’s Comprehensive team that won the girls Ulster Cup at Ravenhill before a crowd of 8,000. When Donegal rugby’s Jonathan Llewhellin started a girls county team along with coaches Clodagh McCool and Teresa Dunn, Treise got her first chance to play 15 a side contact rugby.
“My coaches made it possible for girls from Donegal to play full contact rugby and that gave us our chance at Ulster. We had a fantastic tour of Wales at Easter: training, playing and bonding as a team. After a season of training on Sundays once a month with contact games towards the end, it was a great experience to go to a real rugby heartland and play against the girls there. I’ve was able to train at Donegal Town with the boys early in the season and everyone at the club has been fantastic towards me. Getting a chance to wear the Ulster jersey is a dream come true for me and I hope I can repay everyones confidence in me over the years.” Treise said.
The girls have been traveling to Ulster U17 training all season and to be among the final squad chosen rom 80 girls was very exciting.
Munster won Sunday’s match by four tries - despite a fantastic display by Ulster. The Munster girls had gained valuable match experience from playing the English champions Worcester, while for the Ulster girls this was their first match.
John O’Sullivan, the coach of the Irish Womens senior rugby team, watched the game and spoke at the after-match dinner. He was delighted with the standard of rugby and was certain that he had seen several future international players.
Ulster’s captain Triona Johnstone, Enniskillen RFC, also spoke. She is the daughter of Donegal Town RFC stalwart Trevor ‘The Rucker’ Johnstone and was  the outstanding Ulster player on the day.
Treise O’Callaghan was delighted with the occasion and has been asked to join the senior Ulster squad when she turns 18 in the summer. Women’s rugby in Donegal is going from strength to strength.

Treise O’ Callaghan

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Copany take the U14 Shield Final

Captain Michael O’Hanlahan is presented with the shield by Michael McLoughlin on behalf of the league. Copany beat Donegal 3-2 in the U14 final, which was held on Saturday 19th May

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Abbey Voc. School Junior Girls achieve an historic victory
The Abbey Voc School’s Junior Under 15 Girls team achieved an historic team victory when the Ulster Schools Track and Field finals took place at the Antrim Forum last weekend. Scoring 46 points, two more than last year’s champions and pre-event favourites, Belfast Royal Academy, the quartet of Aoife O’Connor, Kitty O’Kennedy, Amie Brogan and Louise Harvey put together a number of excellent performances during the day-long competition. The highlight of the team’s points total was an impressive win in the 4x100m relay final. In the last event of the day, slick baton changing, aggressive sprinting, and a time of 51.8secs. secured maximum points for the Donegal Town girls. In addition, individual event points came from Aoife O’Connor 2nd in the 100m and Long Jump, Kitty O’Kennedy 2nd 80m Hurdles and Louise Harvey, 4th 80m Hurdles and 5th Triple Jump.
Dawn Hughes, a former Irish Schools Under 17 International, had a most satisfying championships winning the Senior Girls Shot on Saturday and finishing third in the Hammer on Friday evening. In the Under 17 age group, Jarlath Ruane, another 4th year student in the Abbey V.S. had a rewarding weekend clearing 3 metres for bronze in the Pole Vault on Friday evening and on Saturday, in the most demanding of events, 400m Hurdles, finished 2nd. Christopher Britton, suffering from a slight foot injury finished 3rd in the Senior 400m Hurdles. The schools two finals qualifiers, Andrew Wilson and Derek Walker, competed very well in the Under 17 Hammer and finished outside the medals. The All Ireland Schools finals take place in Tullamore on Sat 2nd June.