SEVEN MUNSTER PLAYERS were included in Scott Bemand’s squad for Ireland’s upcoming WXV campaign.

Some names you will recognise, such as Sevens star Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, who was part of the Irish team who reached the quarter-finals at the Olympics in July.  Deirbhile Nic a Bháird has been trucking around the international scene for the last few years, but is currently out of service due to an ACL injury. And of course, Dorothy Wall is well known pillar of the Ireland pack.

One name on the list that might not be familiar to fans is Alana McInerney. A talent on the rise, and the top try-scorer in this year’s interpros competition. As she clattered into the corner to touch the ball down in the 24th minute of Munster’s five-point win over Connacht last weekend, that brought her tally of five-pointers to five. That includes a hat-trick against Ulster in the opening round of the competition.

Before the hour mark against Connacht, the 23-year-old McInerney had clocked up six tries in three weeks, gathering a pass off the shoulder of Muirne Wall before sidestepping a challenge and finishing up under the posts.

56 nóim #CONvMUM
@connachtrugby - 5@Munsterrugby - 29

Úd eile ag Alana McInerney tar éis có-imirt iontach ag na Muimhnigh

Alana McInerney gets antother try after after some good bit of teamwork from Munster@IrishRugby #IrishRugby pic.twitter.com/lDXXsIlRwp

— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) August 24, 2024

McInerney is establishing her name in rugby, and already has silverware in her locker this season after capturing the AIL title with UL Bohs. But her roots are in GAA. A native of Ennis in Clare, her father, Francis, was the captain of the Clare footballers who stunned Kerry to win the 1992 Munster final. Her twin brother Mark is part of the current Clare football panel, and came on for the closing minutes of the Banner’s Munster final defeat to Kerry in May.

He scored a crucial goal for his club Éire Óg in the 2021 Clare SFC final against Kilmurry Ibrickane to help secure a first senior championship crown since 2006. Éire Óg completed a back-to-back success after defeating Ennistymon in the 2022 final, with McInerney scoring a mark on the march to victory.

Alana naturally inherited a similar interest in GAA when she started out. But in 2017, after receiving word Ennis RFC were forming a girls team, McInerney diverted down a different road. She hoped that rugby would be way for her to fill the pre-season days between GAA campaigns, but it soon became her new passion.

“Once I started rugby it overtook the football,” she told the media recently. 

McInerney has been on the fringes of international rugby in recent seasons. She trained with the senior side in 2021 for the autumn internationals, and was part of Sevens camps in the build-up to the Olympics. McInerney has spoken about the benefits of being “exposed to top quality players” and the form she’s producing during the interpros could send her deeper into the Irish system.

“I was lucky enough to be involved with the National Talent Squad (NTS), so I’m getting good quality training, ” McInerney said recently. “The coaches there are unbelievable, Niamh Briggs, S&C Lorna Barry.

“We’re training three or four times [a week] in the gym, so probably just being disciplined and the extra work I’ve been putting in.

“At the moment I’m free if Scott wants to call me up. If it happens it happens, if it doesn’t it doesn’t.”

And call her he did. In addition to clinching a spot in the Ireland WXV squad, McInerney is also putting herself on deck at a time when the IRFU has announced 37 Central Contract for players across the women’s high performance programme in the 15s and Sevens divisions.

But before she can consider her future aspirations with Ireland, she has the interpros finale weekend to concentrate on. It was McInerney who scored a 79th-minute try to complete a bonus-point victory over Leinster when the sides met two weeks ago.

And now, as Munster sit three wins from three, they will meet Leinster again in the championship decider later this afternoon. Leinster wrangled the title from Munster last year and now they’re hungry to reclaim it.

Alana McInerney will play a key role in that mission. And as time goes on, you’ll be hearing her name a lot more.