On Sunday 9th March the Virginia RFC Under 14 Girls will travel to Kingspan Stadium, Belfast, to play in the inaugural Leona Harper Memorial Cup Final. This is the Ulster Provincial Cup Under 14 Girls Final against a combined Finn Valley/Inishowen Rugby team

The Cup is named after Leona Harper, a former player of Letterkenny RFC, who tragically died in the Creeslough tragedy in 2022 & Virginia RFC is honoured to be taking part. The players understand the poignancy of the game given that they are all of a similar age to Leona when she died.

The final kicks off in Belfast on Sunday at 12.00pm and, having already lost in their earlier meeting with Finn Valley/Inishowen, the Virginia girls know that they have a mountain to climb if they are to lift the cup. That said, the team has 7 players that have only started playing rugby this year and they have shown remarkable resilience & strength of character to reach the final, and will do their utmost to overcome a formidable opposition.

In preparation for the game and to give you an introduction as to who they are we asked the players a number of questions about rugby and sport in general.

Here is the squad that will be marching on Belfast on Sunday next:

Mairead Brady : Back Row Forward
Likes about Rugby : The physicality
Likes about Virginia 14s : The girls
Favourite rugby memory: messing around after training, going to matches on buses
Also unanimously voted biggest messer by nearly everyone in the team including herself.

Ceoila Brady O'Connell : Centre
Likes about Rugby : Winning
Likes about Virginia U14s : great teammates
Favourite rugby memory: scoring a try in my first game
Other sports: Gaa

Chloe Byrne : Front Row Forward
Likes about Rugby : Tackling
Likes about Virginia U14s : all get along really well
Best teammate : Evelyn
Other sports: Swimming

Alejandra Criado: Front Row Forward
Likes about Rugby : Training
Likes about Virginia U14s : the teammates
Alejandra is one of our international wildcards who never played rugby before and has been a welcome addition to the team.

Laura Marcote : Front Row Forward
Likes about Rugby : Tackling
Likes about Virginia U14s : everyone is really friendly
Laura is also one of our spanish contingent and she has also never played rugby before but you wouldn't know it with either her or Alejandra.

Kayla Curran Doughty : Centre
Pre Match ritual : cha cha slide with Abs & Lily
Like about Virginia U14s : New friends, scoring tries, having the craic
Favourite rugby memory: Athy campout 2022, great weekend
Other sports: Gaa

Evelyn Darroch: 2nd Row
Evelyn only started playing rugby this year and has slotted seamlessly into the second row. Her physicality and work without the ball is one of the major contributing factors to this team going so well in this competition.

Neveah Geraghty: Full Back
Likes about Rugby : The coaches are really nice
Likes about Virginia U14s : Girls are so nice
Favourite rugby memory: goss with the girls
Nickname : Nevlee
When the girls were asked who was the nicest/best/most fun team mate there were loads of names, however, Nevaeh was the most mentioned, you can see why by her answers

Ava Mahony: Front row, Lineout thrower
Likes about Rugby : The team
Pre Match ritual : music in the dressing room
Likes about Virginia U14s : players are treated fairly, coaches explain everything properly
Favourite rugby memory: making a run from one end of the pitch to another and scoring a try
Other sports: Gaa, Badminton, Basketball

Hannah Matthews: Second Row
Favourite thing about Rugby : Smashing people
Likes about Virginia U14s : the craic at training
Favourite rugby memory: Narrowly winning the quarter final this year
Other sports: Gaa

Orlaith Monaghan: Wing
Favourite thing about Rugby : Tackling
Likes about Virginia U14s : people, friends I made and games
Pre match ritual: eat rice Krispies
Favourite rugby memory: Food after games
Other sports: Gaa

Lily Morgan: Out-Half
Favourite thing about Rugby : Matches
Likes about Virginia U14s : people I play with, friendships
Favourite rugby memory: The songs before and after games
Other sports: Gaa

Isla Murphy : Scrum half
Favourite thing about rugby: tackling people
Likes about Virginia U14s : tackling people
Favourite rugby memory : tackling people
Other sports: GAA, Basketball

Abbiemae Quinn: 8 (Team Captain)
Favourite thing about Rugby : My new friends
Likes about Virginia U14s :Friends, supportive team, great coaches
Pre match ritual: Cha Cha Slide
Nickname : Abs
Other sports: Gaa, soccer, volleyball, tennis

Eabha Sheridan: Wing
Likes about Virginia U14s : everyones friendly
Favourite rugby memory: the treats after matches
Likes about rugby: Tackling

Shauna Smith : Back row Forward
Favourite thing about Rugby : Flattening someone in a match
Likes about Virginia U14s :the craic at training
Favourite rugby memory: love playing against Enniskillen
Other sports: Gaa

Zoe weir : Wing
Favourite thing about Rugby : tackling and food after the games
Likes about Virginia U14s :all the new people, friends ive made and training and games
Pre match ritual : think about the game
Favourite rugby memory: Food after the games and socialising with the girls
Other sports: Gaa & Basketball

As you can see by their responses, the team loves to have fun at training, make new friends, have the craic, tackle people, score tries and after the games, socialise and have food.

Win or lose next week this group of girls will do just that and this is what Rugby is all about.