Another boost for Irish rugby as Aoife hits big time

HEADY days for Irish rugby. Two teams in the weekend’s Heineken Cup quarter-finals, the World Cup can’t come soon enough, and Dublin’s Aoife McCarthy has given IRFU chiefs another reason to smile.

McCarthy will next week become the first Irish female international referee when officiating at the FIRA-AER European Women’s Tournament in Belgium.

“I’m a Physical Education teacher so I’m well used to blowing a whistle,” she laughs, but her humour doesn’t negate an impressive career at the playing coal-face.