A DOCUMENTARY chronicling Ennis Women’s Rugby’s first season in the All-Ireland League will premiere on Thursday August 27th in the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis from 7pm.
Ahead of the event, women’s head coach Gareth O’Hanlon spoke to The Clare Echo about the filming process and how the idea for “Who We Are – Ennis Rugby in the AIL”, came about.
O’Hanlon, who is entering his fifth season as head coach after taking charge when the women’s team was first established, said the idea for the documentary came from James Lynch, a member of the popular ‘Intensive Clare’ sports podcast.
“We had a lot of the footage and he just said wouldn’t it be cool to just document the first ever All-Ireland league team to play in the league”, O’Hanlon explained.
“James just started off by looking at the preseason and the gym sessions then pitch sessions after that he started interviewing players and coaches and filming the matches and talking about them as well”, the coach continued.
Winner of a Munster Schools Senior Cup with St. Munchin’s in 2006, the Limerick man played at junior and senior level for Richmond for a number of years before taking charge of the Ennis RFC women’s team in 2021.
O’Hanlon described the filming process as “seamless”, adding that with Lynch “For a lot of the time we wouldn’t even know he was there. I suppose it gave us an opportunity to kind of reflect week on week when we were sitting down with James and the players as well”.
“It just gave us an opportunity to reflect because it was such a busy year. Our first year in the All-Ireland League was extremely busy and it was all new to us. It was very enjoyable and it’s something that the players will have forever. They’ll have that documentary to look back on and it’s a big part of one, women’s rugby history and two, the history of rugby in Clare as well. So it’s a nice keepsake and a memory I’m sure a lot of them will remember forever”, he continued.
Initially, the players had “a mixed bag” of reactions to appearing on camera but O’Hanlon said that the squad ultimately came to enjoy the project.
“They were kind of worried but they enjoyed it. It was a way for them to voice how the experience was for them week on week as well. It was very enjoyable for a finish. I think the players are so excited to look back on the year because it’s hard when you’re kind of in it, it’s like a roller coaster. Now a couple of months on, I think they’re only now starting to understand how successful last season was and they’re looking forward to just watching it back and reliving a lot of the special memories they made throughout the season”, said O’Hanlon.
The film is being screened as part of a fundraiser for the team and players, coaches and the filmmakers will be there on the night. Kilrush RFC will also be in attendance, having played a significant role in the initial set up of the Ennis RFC women’s team as they initially played together in an amalgamation before being stopped from competing together as amalgamations are not allowed in the AIL.
“We’re very excited and although we’re moving on to a new chapter, moving on to season two, it’s going to be nice just to sit down and reflect and try to get our head around last season and understand how successful it was”, O’Hanlon added.
