Ulster Women's squad named for Inter-pro Series

The Ulster Women's squad, sponsored by Deloitte, has been named for the upcoming Inter-provincial Series. The Ulster Women will kick-off their campaign against Munster in Irish Independent Park, Cork, on Saturday 17th August. A week later the Ulster Women will host Leinster in City of Armagh. In the final round, Ulster have another home fixture versus Connacht at Queen's Sport. In a new format for the Series this year, depending on ranking after the opening three rounds, each Province will play a semi-final followed by either a final or 3rd/4th place playoff. Each Inter-provincial fixture will be a double-header along with the Ulster U18 Girls team. The Ulster Women will complete their Inter-pro preparations with a challenge game against the University of British Columbia this Saturday 10th August, 5.00pm at Belfast Harlequins RFC. Looking ahead to the Series, Ulster Women's Performance Coach Derek Suffern commented: "Preparations have been going really well. We recently played a friendly game against Connacht where we used 33 players and a lot of good young talent who are putting pressure on some of the senior players from the past couple of seasons. So everyone is working really hard and we're really looking forward to the challenge of the Inter-pros this year."

Ulster Women's Inter-provincial Series Fixtures 2019:

Saturday 17th August Munster U18 Girls v Ulster U18 Girls Irish Independent Park, Cork, 1.00pm Munster Women v Ulster Women Irish Independent Park, Cork, 3.00pm Saturday 24th August Ulster U18 Girls v Leinster U18 Girls City of Armagh RFC, 3.00pm Ulster Women v Leinster Women City of Armagh RFC, 7.00pm Saturday 31st August Ulster U18 Girls v Connacht U18 Girls Queen’s Sport, Belfast, 1.00pm Ulster Women v Connacht Women Queen’s Sport, Belfast, 3.30pm Saturday 14th September Semi-Finals Day St. Mary’s RFC, Dublin Saturday 21st September Finals Day MU Barnhall RFC, County Kildare

Ulster Women's Inter-Provincial Squad 2019:

Hannah Beattie (Malone) Keelin Brady (Barnhall) Holly Brannigan (Malone) Megan Brodie (Harlequins) Shannon Buller (Queens) Beth Cregan (Cooke) Kathryn Dane (Old Belvedere) Ella Durkan (Malone) Shannon Heapes (Cooke) Katie Hetherington (Cooke) Dolores Hughes (Cooke) Vicky Irwin (Cooke) Jemma Jackson (Old Belvedere) Neve Jones (Malone) Emma Jordan (Malone) Emma Kearney (Cooke) Stacey-Lea Kennedy (City of Derry) Rebecca Lawlor (Malone) Maeve Liston (Cooke) Aishling O'Connell (Cooke) Lauren Maginnes (Malone) Peita McAlister (Malone) Kelly McCormill (Cooke) Lesley Megarity (Cooke) Chloe McIlwaine (Malone) Jenna McKeown (Malone) Lisa Mullen (Virginia) Diane Ramsay (Queens) Fiona Tuite (Old Belvedere) Ilse Van Staden (Cooke) Management Team: Performance Coach: Derek Suffern Head Coach: Neill Alcorn Assistant Coaches: John Creighton & Peter Weir S&C: Paul Heasley Physio: Cat Sloan Manager: Neal Johnston