Blackrock College have been crowned Energia AIL Division Champions, after a strong second half performance saw them overcome last years winners Railway Union.

A fantastic display in that second half with Rock crossing for four tries ensured they would be crowned champions, Railway Union battled well but could not answer the attack exploits of Blackrock in the second half.

Maeve Liston with a brace of tries showcasing her skill on the day, while Dorothy Wall, Enya Breen and Anna Doyle all crossed for tries to ensure the crown would leave Railway hands after defeating Blackrock earlier in the year in the previous final back in February.

It was Railway who put the early pressure on Blackrock, forcing a lineout short of their line, Rock doing well to turnover possession and would utilise that to march up the other end and hit the opening score in the fifth minute, Anna Doyle raced through but was hauled down, Tatum Bird at the back of the maul passed out toward Enya Breen she offloaded wide for Maeve Liston to cross the whitewash for a 5-0 lead as the conversion was missed.

Minutes later Union had a chance to cut the deficit as the referee awarded them a penalty centrally outside the Rock 22, Nicole Caughey stepped up but her effort missed the mark, as Blakcorck could breathe a sigh of relief not to have been punished.

The unbeaten league leaders kept on top and looked to have added a second try in the 14th minute but captain Michelle Claffey was smothered by Union players and unable to ground for the try, fantastic build up play all coming from their lineout and a huge shove off their driving maul.

Railway were not going to relinquish their title without a fight and held firm in defence to keep Blackrock at bay despite the earlier try, an error from a lineout awarded Union a knock on scrum, it allowed their attack to showcase what they can do and resulted in their opening try. 

A fast move out at the back led to a couple of phases pushing Blackrock back closer to their line, before an offload to Molly Scuffil McCabe out wide allowed her to exploit space left by the defence and she raced clear to touch down, Caughey not missing the conversion to put Union 7-5 ahead after 26 minutes.

Both had chances to add points to the board for the remainder of the half but errors started to creep in for both teams allowing the other to turnover possession and clear the danger, it looked like Union would have a last chance in added time as Blackrock again knocked the ball forward, but the kick by Caughey failed to hit touch, this allowed Rock the chance to get a late score but as they went down the left channel with speed, the ball was again knocked forward and out of play, with Railway Union ahead 7-5 at the interval.

It was Blackrock who started the better in the second half, they put pressure on Railway from the off and attacked with intent to try and get back into the lead, they went down the left before crossing off where they were held shy of the line, they opted to offload wide once more toward the left flank where Dorothy Wall gathered possession and powered over for the second try after 46 minutes, the conversion was wide but Rock moved 10-7 ahead regardless.

Momentum was with Blackrock in the opening ten minutes of the half, they again put pressure on Railway Union and great work off another maul saw Enya Breen evade the challenge of two Union defenders for the third try, the conversion found the mark despite getting a block on the way as they really laid the mark down early in the second half.

Just on the hour mark Railway looked to claw back the deficit as Caughey had a close range penalty to leave seven between them, again her kick dragged wide as Blackrock could once again breathe knowing they were not punished for another error.

They punished Railway for not closing the gap minutes later, despite knocking the ball on close to the line, they got a second chance with Caughney going to the bin for offside, they used the space out wide like they had done so many times with Anna Doyle crossing for their fourth try, to put them 22-7 clear.

Blackrock put the game beyond doubt as Liston notched her second try after 72 minutes, using that extra player advantage they worked it wide for the explosive winger to get in for try number five, a classy performance by the unbeaten league leaders and now champions.