The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) today has released the squads for the upcoming Celtic Challenge competition. Like last year, two teams will represent Ireland – the Clovers and the Wolfhounds. Players are selected from the centralised women’s programme based at the IRFU High Performance Centre, from the Women’s National Talent Squad pathway programme and also from the recent Vodafone Interprovincial Series and the Energia Women’s All Ireland League. The Clovers will train out of UL with the Wolfhounds based at the IRFU HPC and Kingspan.
The expanded format of the league will see each team play five home and five away fixtures. The opening weekend continues its promise of intense competition with a raft of home derbies with the Clovers and Wolfhounds kicking off their campaigns against each other on Sunday 22nd of December in Energia Park before the rivalry is reignited the following week on December 28th in UCD.
Speaking about the competition, the IRFU’s Head of Women’s Performance & Pathways Gillian McDarby says; “The Celtic Challenge continues to be an important tournament in the development of players in the Irish system. We are looking forward to building on the success of last year’s competition which saw valuable game time given to emerging players. In order to develop depth for our national team we need young players to be getting experience in a high performance environment and the Celtic Challenge provides us with that. It also gives us a great opportunity to develop depth within our coaching system, the addition of former internationals Larissa Muldoon, Leah Lyons and Maz O’Reilly this year to the coaching ticket is brilliant. Additional players will be added to both squads after the opening rounds of the HSBC SVNS Series, as we build towards the 2025 Guinness Women’s Six Nations and Rugby World Cup.”
Clovers Squad:
(2023/24 Celtic Challenge appearances)
Alana McInerney (7)
Aoibhe O’Flynn (0)
Aoife Corey (6)
Beth Buttimer (7)
Brianna Heylmann (7)
Caitriona Finn (0)
Chisom Ugwueru (2)
Deirbhile Nic A Bhaird (0)
Eabha Nic Dhonnacha (0)
Ella Burns (0)
Emily Gavin (0)
Enya Breen (0)
Faith Ovaiwe (6)
Grace Brown Moran (0)
Grainne Burke (4)
Grainne Moran (0)
Jane Clohessy (5)
Jane Neill (1)
Kate Flannery (7)
Lucia Linn (0)
Meabh Deely (6)
Muirne Wall (4)
Nicole Fowley (2)
Ruth Campbell (6)
Sadhbh McGrath (4)
Saoirse Crowe (0)
Shirley Bailey (0)
Siobhan McCarthy (0)
Wolfhounds Squad:
Alma Atagamen (0)
Anna Doyle (0)
Aoife Dalton (5)
Aoife Wafer (2)
Brittany Hogan (5)
Caoimhe Molloy (0)
Cara Martin (0)
Christy Haney (5)
Ciara Short (0)
Claire Boles (5)
Cliondhna Ni Chonchobhair (0)
Dannah O’Brien (3)
Ella Roberts (0)
Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton (0)
Erin McConnell (3)
Fiona Tuite (4)
Jade Gaffney (5)
Katie Hefferman (3)
Katie Whelan (6)
Leah Tarpey (6)
Linda Djougang (5)
Maebh Clenaghan (7)
Molly Boyne (5)
Niamh O’Dowd (7)
Poppy Garvey (0)
Sarah Delaney (5)
Tricia Boyle (0)
Accreditation is open for the first rounds: https://accreditation.irishrugby.ie/media