Lydon puts semi-final success down to strong defensive performance
Owen Lydon, Tuam/Oughterard Colts joint-manager, celebrates after the full-time whistle in Saturday's Energia Women's AIL Junior Cup final. Picture: Owen Nally Photography
When Owen Lydon founded Tuam/Oughterard RFC with his best friend in 2015, he surely couldn’t have foreseen the trajectory the club would go on.
In only their second year with a senior team, Tuam/Oughterard Colts have become the first team from the province of Connacht to make the Energia Women’s All-Ireland Junior Cup final after they beat UL Bohemians’ 2nd XV 38-12 at Tuam Rugby Club on Saturday.
Lydon and Norman Tierney founded the club as neither Tuam RFC nor Oughterard RFC had the numbers to have female teams in their clubs. This season, they added the name Colts, as an acknowledgement of all the Claremorris Colts RFC players who play for the team.
Saturday was a special day for both men as years of hard work culminated in a memorable win, especially with so many children coming through their underage system. They both had daughters playing too, with Aebha and Nia Lydon, and Karly Tierney all starting.
While it was fantastic attacking performance that seen score six tries, their defence was hugely impressive.
“I think our result was totally about the defence. We have the flair players that’ll pick up the points, but defensively they worked so hard as a unit, I’m really proud of them,” Lydon told the
Tuam/Oughterard Colts went down to 14 players midway through the second half as Holly Daly received a yellow card, but they didn’t let it get the better of them.
“That’s that group. They’re not going to give you anything soft, they’re going to fight for each other. It’s our second year as a senior team but a lot of these girls were up with us since they were five or six years old. They’re playing together that long, this is a culmination of that,” Lydon said.
They will face MU Barnhall in the All-Ireland final in the coming weeks, with no date confirmed yet, but Lydon and Tierney’s side are ready.
“You don’t know how good you are as a ladies team until you played the Leinster teams. They’re the standard bearers, so until we test ourselves against them, we will not know how good we are,” he said.
