In a gritty game in Shannon after a long journey for Cooke Ladies they came out on top 40-10 in the first round of the All Ireland Cup.
Cooke’s experienced number 12 Laura Nicholl had an excellent performance with 3 tries, a further two tries from outstanding fellow ex-Ireland player Grace Davitt (also penalty and conversion), while Nikita Armstrong and Sarah Wilkinson also touched down.
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The victory was well deserved on the day and a reformed Shannon put up an excellent performance, with some key players to watch out for in the future, and an excellent attitude towards the game of rugby.
Shannon got the points on the board with a penalty given away by Cooke in the first few minutes, and the young number 10 slotted 3 points over the posts. Cooke soon charged with a try being won back within the next few minutes of the first half.
It was one-way traffic for the majority of the game, but again number 10 for Shannon slotted in a try 15 minutes before the final whistle to give the home girls a point of celebration.
There were a lot of bodies put on the line by Shannon and they put up a good defence and held Cooke in their own 22 for a solid 15 minutes in the first half and each score was hard earned for the visitors.
The away team visited with 16 players and a reshuffle on the park saw a few girls out of position, with seasoned front/second row Lucy Fagan taking a debut role on the wing after returning from injury. Cooke did well with their possession and dominated line outs, and working well with the under 19 rules in the scrums.
But in the end Cooke piled on the pressure deep into Shannon territory with some fine phases of play and the visiting team’s strong territorial play was rewarded, the fast open play of the Cooke girls broke down the Shannon defence in the end with Cooke racing home to a 40-10 win.
