Donegal Rugby's Women's Week Proves Big Success in Attracting Participants

The Donegal Community Project recently ran a successful women's rugby week as part of a new initiative to encourage more girls and women in the county to get involved in rugby. At mini level over 50 new players have signed up to their local clubs and are continuing to train every Saturday under the direction of their coaches. A number of these coaches are senior women or parents of the young children which is very encouraging to see.

At youth level Donegal played a training game against the Ulster Regional Development Squad in Letterkenny. This gave some of the new players a good insight into the game at a higher level. The Under 15 Donegal Schools' Cup was also hotly contested by seven schools playing the 15-a-side contact game, and for the second year running it was Magh Ene College who lifted the cup with Glenties Comp winning the plate.

Growth in the game continues at senior level. Letterkenny RFC Women's team has attracted yet more players to take their squad numbers to over twenty, and all apart from five players are new to the game this year. Ballyshannon RFC has also formed a Women's side which looks good for the future of the game, with over 15 new players attending training on a Friday night. Several of these players have also been assisting with the underage training at mini and youth level. Ballyshannon hope to acquire funding through the Donegal Sports Partnership to invest in equipment and enable the game to develop further.

Staff at the Donegal Community Rugby Project would like to thank all the volunteers at Ballyshannon, Letterkenny, Tir Chonnaill, Finn Valley and Donegal Town Rugby Clubs for supporting the women's week wish them luck for luck for the further development of girls and women's rugby at their clubs. Any girls or women who would like to get involved in playing, coaching or the administration of the sport should contact the Donegal Community Rugby Project at info@donegalcommunityrugby.com.

Events during Women's Week-

Women's Rugby Week gets underway in Ballyshannon
Donegal women's rugby week got underway on Monday night with a come and try session for girls and senior women at Colaiste Colmcille Ballyshannon. The event attracted several new players from the schools and community and highlighted the huge potential for women's rugby in Ballyshannon. This was further backed up by Magh Ene College winning the Under 15 Girls' Cup for the second year running and the Under 18 girls being crowned county champions for 2010 recently. The club is continuing its sessions every Friday night at the Lakeside centre from 7pm and all newcomers to the game are welcome.

Magh Ene and Glenties take the Honours in Donegal Schools' Cup
Magh Ene College retained the Under 15 Girls' Schools' Cup in emphatic style this week by winning every game over the two legs of the Cup competition. The school was unbeaten in both Cup competitions and came out deserved winners for the second year in a row. The success is down to the hard work and commitment the girls have been putting in all year under the watchful eye of coach John Reilly. The future bodes well for Ballyshannon RFC who started their Women's structure last week. With such talent coming through the ranks, the future is looking bright for the southern school and club.

In the Plate competition Glenties Comprehensive come out winners in a very tightly fought contest against Loreto Milford with only two tries separating them at the finish. The girls from both teams are regular players with Letterkenny RFC and Donegal Town RFC which was evident with the style and standard of rugby on show and testament to coaches Tonia Kiely and Jo Cowan.

Other schools who have taken the step towards the cup competitions this year were Rosses CS, Pobailscoil Gweedore and Finn Valley College. All schools have shown a huge improvement throughout the last few months and are sure to be in the mix next year for the Cup and Plate Competitions.

Thanks must go to all the teachers who have dedicated their time to developing girls' rugby at school level, keeping Ireland only girls schools contact competitions going from strength to strength. Thank you to Dearbhla Fox, Tonia Kiely, Sinead Gillespie, Susan Lynch, John Reilly and Jo Cowan. Thank you to Letterkenny RFC for the use of the facilities at Dave Gallagher Park; Jarryd Bennett and YDO Phillip Brady for the organisation on the day and the Donegal Schools' Committee for the administration throughout the year. Here's to next year's competition and yet more schools and girls getting involved in the fastest growing girls sport in Donegal.

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