Munster Women’s player Clodagh O’Halloran hopes to be a role model following her recent engagement to teammate Chloe Pearse, having tried to hide her sexuality a number of years ago.
Speaking after Munster claimed a consecutive Women’s Interprovincial title, O’Hallaoran spoke about how she would hide her sexuality as it was not as openly spoken about as it was now.
These days we have campaigns such as Rainbow Laces which has fought for LGBTQ+ inclusion in sport, as more sports stars have started to come out and openly tell their stories, O’Halloran hopes to be a role model for those who like her feel the same way and help them gain confidence and block out any hate they may receive.
“Most definitely like it’s a lot more normalised these days, but going back I suppose five or six years like even myself I was trying to hide it and I’m a teacher in a secondary school but it’s only the last few years where I’ve actually realised where I’m in a position and where I can be a role model for them students in school and you know there’s no point in caring what everyone else thinks so I think yeah hopefully now that going forward people might get more confidence and kinda block out the haters I suppose because you’re always going to get them really no matter what you do!”.
Having beaten Leinster in their second tie at Musgrave Park, the post game celebrations were in full swing but we would see a moment that took the headlines, as O’Halloran would pop the question to teammate and partner Chloe Pearse on the hallowed turf on Leeside, a moment that everyone would remember who attended the game and one that went viral to showcase that love is for all.
Planning the moment was next for O’Hallaron as she had been thinking of when would be the ideal time, with Munster at home and family in attendance it would only seem natural that the proposal be around Munster Rugby, with the Lock describing it as a special moment.
“It’s a bit of a blur now to be honest and it’s been a hectic week since then but I suppose I was thinking around Christmas of when I might do it, we met through Munster Rugby actually seven years ago so I thought it be a special moment to do it on the pitch and obviously it could have went either way but luckily we got the win and I got to go down on one knee and kinda dreams came true.”
For large parts of the game last weekend it had looked like Munster would snatch victory but those final ten minutes certainly left the home support nervous, with Stephaine Carrol’s try near the end making sure Munster remained unbeaten on track for another title, however for O’Halloran she says it was the difference between proposing and leaving it for another day.
“No 100% if we lost I wouldn’t have done it on the day, but yeah at the last ten minutes Leinster were getting momentum and Jenny Murphy came back on and we got a yellow at the same time but I just knew the feeling of the group that we had another gear to go and we were going to get down that pitch again and keep Leinster from our try line.”
Flash forward a week later and speaking fresh after celebrating a title success with her teammates she spoke on how delighted both she and her teammates were on seeing out their campaign on an unbeaten note with a eight try win in the Sportsground.
“We’re absolutely delighted to get the win and to finish out our campaign from three from three as you seen today we finally put the work in and got nice passes through, yeah just delighted with the win overall.”
Plenty of preparations went in ahead of kick off and knowing that Leinster would be playing after, it was really a case of getting something from the game as just a point would be the difference, thankfully for them not only had they a try bonus point but took a full point haul taking 15 from 15 this season, no restless nights were had last night ahead of the game as O’Halloran believes any nerves were quickly forgotten about.
“We had team run again last night before the game as we usually would, look we knew Connacht would put up a big fight, we didn’t have anything won yet as such but I suppose you could say there was a few nerves there, put them to the back of the head then.”
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Diarmuid Kearney
Diarmuid Kearney is a freelance Sports Journalist based in Co Kerry. He has more than 5 years experience covering domestic and international soccer for different media organisations, while also working for local and national print and digital organisations covering GAA.