Hat-trick hero Parsons hopes Ireland return to Connacht fortress

Ireland players, from left, Béibhinn Parsons, Stacey Flood and Katie Whelan, sing along with team-mate Robyn O'Connor, not pictured, after being presented with her first international cap in the Women's Six Nations Rugby Championship match between Ireland and Italy at Dexcom Stadium in Galway. Photo by Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile

Busloads from Ballinasloe, a packed out Dexcom Stadium and a hat-trick of tries from Beibhinn Parsons. Saturday’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations debut in Galway and a big Ireland victory over Italy could not really have gone any better for the homecoming Connacht wing.

The 9,206 crowd, a record home attendance for the Ireland women were treated to a powerhouse performance as Scott Bemand’s team bounced back from an opening-round defeat to world champions England at Twickenham seven days earlier with 57-20 victory over the Italians. The try bonus point had been wrapped up in 23 minutes and Parsons’ first-half hat-trick was the centrepiece of a seven-try blitz in the opening period.

Phenomenal work-rate also played a part in the 24-year-old’s player of the match performance as she worked both flanks, dovetailing with debutant left wing Robyn O’Connor, and then finishing the slick passing move down that touchline after an offload from No.8 Aoife Wafer that led to Ireland’s seventh try of the half and a 45-10 interval lead.

The Dexcom crowd screamed her name throughout, drowned out her post-match, on-field television interview with their cheers for the local star and Parsons admitted later: “It's definitely something that dreams are made of. I couldn't write it.

“To have a home crowd like that, and how supportive and active and electric they were for the full 80 minutes, it was just a dream.” 

As for her hat-trick on her home (artificial) turf, the tries coming on 18, 29 and 40 minutes, Parsons said: “It was definitely like a dream come true, but I think some of them were left on a plate for me, so it was just a great day, and I think the team really worked well.

“The third try, I don't know how many sets of hands it went through and showed the interlinking between our backs and our forwards, and that's something that's happening in training, so it's nice to see training transfer onto the match.” 

As special as the occasion was to be in an Ireland jersey, the familiarity of the Connacht pitch, now flanked by a newly-opened 6,555-capacity New Clan Stand, brought home comforts to Parsons’ big day out.

“I actually do think it felt quite familiar and I think I actually got a bit of confidence from that and the familiarity of faces in the crowds,” she said. “And there's busloads that came up from Ballinasloe and all my family, so I think that actually, yeah, I felt like this is home turf and this is our fortress.”

It is a fortress on Galway Bay which this Ireland team should consider making a return visit in seasons to come, a concept Parsons was understandably on board with.

“Yeah, it was phenomenal and in the dressing room, I was already chatting to (IRFU Head of Women’s Performance & Pathways) Gillian McDarby and said we have to come back here and she agreed, so hopefully there'll be more fixtures in the West. We certainly hope so.”