The Irish Olympic Squad; Women’s Rugby 7s
Calendar icon Published 17 Jun 03:42

The Irish Olympic Squad; Women’s Rugby 7s

Simon Winter

This Irish Women’s Rugby 7s side are used to making history, and the trailblazers will join their male counterparts in Paris this summer as the first women’s side to represent Ireland in the sport at an Olympic Games.

Allan Temple-Jones’s green-clad pioneers earned the right to compete in Paris when they claimed an automatic qualification berth through the HSBC World Rugby SVNS Series in Toulouse last year, though they wrote another thrilling chapter to their tale shortly afterwards in Peth.

In January, the nation’s rugby 7s heroines became the first Irish team to win a World Series tournament, when they delivered the goods in fine style at the tournament in Australia.

Their success down under heightened hopes of winning an Olympic medal in Paris, and below we’ve profiled the squad members who are aiming to push for glory in France.

Vicky Wall

Vicky Wall is already a multi-sport success story despite her tender years, and having already achieved GAA All-Ireland football honours with Meath and turned out for Aussie Rules outfit North Melbourne earlier in her career, the 25-year-old reached another sporting milestone when she made her debut for the Irish Women’s Rugby 7s side in January 2024.

Lucy Mulhall

30-year-old Lucy Mulhall has worn the captain’s armband for Ireland with authority for some time, and the Tinahely native’s experience has been crucial in guiding a young Irish collective through multiple tricky obstacles. A formidable presence for the Sevens, Mulhall will be a key player for Ireland at this summer’s Olympics.

Aoibheann Reilly

Born in Ballinasloe, Aoibheann Reilly is a former underage Gaelic footballer for Roscommon and she attended the same primary school as teammate Béibhinn Parsons. Drafted into the Irish setup in 2021, Reilly plies her club trade with Blackrock College alongside a number of other Sevens regulars. Reilly’s brother Colm is a Pro14 player for Connacht.

Stacey Flood

On the Irish international scene since 2015, out-half Stacey Flood was a member of Dublin’s underage Gaelic football team before switching her allegiances to rugby. Hailing from a sporting family in the capital, Stacey’s older sister Kim also represented the Irish Women’s 7s team and Dublin’s senior football side.

Kate Farrell McCabe

Raised in Gorey, Co. Wexford, Kate Farrell McCabe was a keen show jumping enthusiast before she fell in love with rugby. Her father was a coach with her local rugby club in Gorey, and the 28-year-old was a three-time All-Ireland Rugby Sevens winner with Gorey Community School as a youngster. Farell McCabe currently plays her club rugby with Dublin-based side Suttonians.

Eve Higgins

Born in Dublin’s Lucan, but honed on the pitches of Barnhall in Kildare, centre Eve Higgins is one of the most capped internationals in Irish Women 7s history. The 24-year-old picked up her first cap shortly before her 19th birthday and she has been a mainstay in the setup since. Higgins has been attached to Sandymount club Railway Union over the past few years.

Emily Lane

Scrumhalf Emily Lane is a Cork girl and played with local sides Mallow and Ballincollig before switching up gears with Blackrock in Dublin in 2020. A regular fixture for Ireland since 2018, Lane was able to play for her country while studying biochemistry at Trinity College. Lane was also part of the Irish XV squad that competed at the 2021 Women’s Six Nations, though she didn’t see any action at the tournament.

Béibhinn Parsons

22-year-old starlet Béibhinn Parsons has been dynamite on the wing for Ireland since she became the youngest-ever senior 15s international in 2018 as a raw 16-year-old. Parsons has scored tries in three different Women’s Six Nations competitions and she has also been a prolific scorer for the 7s. Parsons will be tasked with providing thrust near the touchline for Ireland again in Paris.

Vicky Elmes Kinlan

One of the youngest members of Ireland’s Olympic squad, 20-year-old Vicky Elmes Kinlan was drafted into the senior Sevens setup after she caught the eye with her hard hits in the under-18 interprovincial series. When she was being introduced to her new teammates, captain Lucy Mulhall was lavish with her praise of Elmes Kinlan, saying: “You’re one of the best tacklers I’ve ever seen in my life. You belong here – and you’re staying here.”

Megan Burns

 

Proudly representing Tullamore, Megan Burns was introduced to the Irish senior Sevens team as a teenage debutant at 18 back in 2018. The 24-year-old developed a love for rugby as a child while playing for local side Tullamore, where her dad was a coach. Burns, who was also selected to feature for Leinster U-18s, went on to play for Blackrock College in the All-Ireland League while studying in the capital, where she continued to excel.

Lucinda Kinghan

Monaghan’s Lucinda Kinghan was a horse-riding devotee before a school visit from former Irish men’s international Davy McGregor inspired an interest in rugby for both her and her older sister, Natalie. With McGregor’s help, Monaghan Rugby Club was formed and Kinghan became one of the team’s first starlets, earning interest from Ulster in her first year. Kinghan made her Irish Sevens debut in 2018, and with injury issues firmly behind her, she should be a key player this summer.

Alanna Fitzpatrick

Alanna Fitzpatrick put herself on the Irish national team radar as an explosive 15-year-old playing interprovincial rugby. Raised in Portarlington in Co. Laois, Fitzpatrick has enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent years, and just weeks after finishing her Leaving Cert, she became one of the youngest players to represent her country when she was given the nod to feature in last year’s European Sevens Championship Series in Hamburg, Germany. Fitzpatrick also starred for Ireland in their World Series tournament victory in Australia earlier this year.

Erin King

Born in Australia to Irish parents, Erin King moved back to Ireland with her family as a teenager via the UAE and Qatar. Although she played plenty of Gaelic football in Wicklow, rugby was always her preference, having fallen for the sport during her time in the Middle East. King played for Naas RFC and Leinster and Ireland’s U18 rugby union teams before she was handed a debut for the Irish Sevens 2021 in Dubai.

Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe

29-year-old Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe has represented Irish rugby in two different disciplines (7s and 15s), and the rapid winger made her bow for the Sevens 10 years ago in 2014 when she played at the China Women’s Sevens in Guangzhou, China. Raised in the rural Tipperary countryside in Lattin, the 29-year-old always seemed destined to achieve big things. Her talents were identified by scouts in her province very early and she eventually started her journey to stardom with Munster’s Under-15s.

Murphy Crowe’s career-high moment to date came in 2019 when she finished as the leading try scorer at the World Rugby Women’s Seven Series thanks to her tally of 35 tries in the competition. She repeated that feat at the 2021/22 iteration of the tournament, scoring an unmatched 36 tries for Ireland. Murphy Crowe was nominated for the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Player of the Year in 2022.

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