ON SUNDAY, SAM Monaghan will lace up her boots to play in the first standalone Ireland Women’s international to be held at Aviva Stadium.

The last time the second row attended a match at the ground was the men’s Six Nations meeting with France in 2025, a memory the Meath native has been revisiting this week as she prepares for her own chance to showcase her talents on the Lansdowne turf.

“The anthems were truly something special and the energy I felt in the crowd, I can still feel that now,” Monaghan says.

“It’s like nothing else existed outside the walls of this stadium. If anyone’s been lucky enough to experience it, it’s such an amazing atmosphere and you can see over the past couple of weeks the energy in the crowds.

“We get it slightly different. There was a group of girls behind us in the dugouts on Saturday (in Belfast), I can’t remember where they were from, they were all wearing pink hoodies, but the noise they were making was insane.

Ireland lock Sam Monaghan. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO

“I think one of the stewards had to come over because they were banging on the (roof of the dugout), but Ruth Campbell was also egging them on. It’s just amazing, the noise they were making was insane and you can really feel that on the pitch as a player, the support you get and the energy it drives into your performance as well is amazing.”

Occasions like this would have felt a world away when Monaghan broke into the team, her first caps coming as Ireland experienced the bitter low of the World Cup playoffs in 2021.

“My first cap was in Parma that time, none of my family were there, there wasn’t a big crowd because a lot of people weren’t allowed to travel (due to Covid restrictions).

“Then the Novembers after that campaign, we played Japan and USA, two really good fixtures, but the crowd was capped at 2,000 because of Covid, so again… I love playing at the RDS, but there was only one stand and it was hard to get tickets as well because there was only 2,000 available.

“It’s funny, after that game against Japan, me and my mom came here the next day to watch Ireland play the All Blacks, which again, it’s another memory I have of the anthems and how a big game-changing moment, how you can just feel the crowd really come with the players.

So yeah, I’ve had some special days here and hopefully coming up to Sunday, hopefully get up to 30,000 would be amazing, if not more than that.”

Tickets passed the 28,000 mark earlier in the week, and the players are keen to make the most of what will be a special occasion for them on a personal level, but also to capture the opportunity to create a memorable day for those in the stands.

“I was speaking to (former Ireland player) Jackie Shiels, she’s over in Navan Ladies Rugby and I think there’s 190 of them going and she’s organised buses, and so just the work she’s done to be able to get them, like kids transported here as well. That’s what makes it too, like how those kids get here and the experience they’ll have and memories they’ll have for a lifetime.

“Like I remember I was growing up, I came from a Gaelic football background but I still remember those games and how excited you were, you just wanted school to finish on a Friday so you could get your jersey ready and get going on the weekend and just be inspired by what’s happening and the performance the girls are putting out here each week is really amazing.”

Monaghan in action at last year's World Cup. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO

Ireland feel they finish their campaign on a high, having impressed at stages across the campaign but also been frustrated with elements of their performances. Even Saturday’s bonus-point win over Wales left a sense Bemand’s team could have delivered a more accurate, cohesive display. 

Yet when Ireland have been at their best they’ve delivered slick, incisive rugby. The nine-try win over Italy showcased some wonderful attacking rugby, while last weekend the dynamic back row mix of Erin King, Brittany Hogan and Aoife Wafer stood out in a hard-working outing.

Ireland have the punchy ball-carriers needed at this level, but also the offloading game and speed out wide to make the most of that hard work from the pack.

“Definitely, and the girls are so good at doing that in training, trying new things because if you don’t do it in training you’re never going to do it out here. So we always encourage each other and because how hard we train we bring out how competitive it is, we’re always eager to get better.

“Training is the most physical it’s been as well, which I think across the board, the calibre of players we have now and the experience we’ve gained through a massive tournament like the World Cup has really benefited us, playing in front of huge crowds like in Twickenham and like the crowd we had down in Brighton against New Zealand as well, it’s really becoming how we come about our process coming into these games and how we feed off the energy in the crowd.

“We don’t block it off, like you can feel it. I can still remember in the World Cup when Eve (Higgins) made that break against Japan, the roar of the crowd and how that really fills you as a player and you want to get on top of them and you want to keep going and you know you want to do your best, so everyone’s really excited.

“I don’t think we’re very good at controlling the emotion in the group, so we know we’ve a big task at hand on Sunday but we take each day as it comes. We’ll get our learning done this week and then we’ll train hard, we’ll recover and then we’ll get going, captains run here on Saturday and then be very focused for Sunday.”