Womens Week a Great Success in Donegal

The women’s week in Donegal proved to be a positive new initiative in getting over 80 new girls and women involved in the game around the county. At mini level over 50 new players were attracted to the game through the clubs involved and are continuing to train every Saturday under the direction of their coaches, 7 of these coaches are also mums or senior women’s players of the young players and have decided to get involved in the development.

Girls-Mini-Rugby-Donegal — Girls Mini Rugby at Donegal Super Sunday

At youth level Donegal played a training game against the Ulster Regional Development Squad in Letterkenny. This had given good exposure to several of the new players at a higher level and also highlighted once again the talent available in Donegal. The squad was also boosted by the return of Larissa Muldoon who has been furthering here rugby development at University level in Cardiff to great effect.

The U15 Donegal Schools cup was also hotly contested by 7 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.

At senior level the growth continues, Letterkenny RFC gained yet more senior women’s players to take their squad numbers to over 20 and all apart from 5 are new to the game this year. Ballyshannon Women have also formed in what is looking like a positive development for the future with over 15 new players attending training on a Friday night; several of these players have also been assisting with the under-age training at mini and youth level.

The next steps now is for the club involved to be presented their free equipment which is part of the drive to increase the development of women’s rugby in Donegal. This funding was made available through the Women’s in Sport grant given by the Donegal Sports Partnership and has been instrumental in establishing girls and women’s rugby in Donegal over the last 3 years.