REWIND ALL THE way back to 2008 and Edel McMahon was in goal for Kilmihil Ladies as they won an All-Ireland intermediate football title.

McMahon was just 14 at the time and among her team-mates was a teenage Eimear Considine, now part of the same Ireland Women rugby side looking to secure World Cup qualification on Saturday by beating Scotland.

There are longstanding connections aplenty in this Ireland squad, several of them in other sports, but McMahon and Considine never could have imagined back in 2008 where their sporting careers would have taken them by 2021.

Eimear’s sister, Ailish, was part of the same Kilmihil team but her road diverged all the way to Australia where she plays AFL for Adelaide. Ailish will be among those cheering Ireland on this weekend as her sister and McMahon look to drive Ireland to the World Cup.

“We have known each other for a long time and it’s cool to think that we are back in the same team and pushing for that elite performance in whatever team we are involved in,” says McMahon of playing with Considine. “It’s a nice link-up, a nice bit of home.”

28-year-old McMahon enjoyed a four-month stint back in Clare last year during the lockdown, helping out with bits and pieces on the farm, but she’s based in London these days after a move to join Wasps in 2019.

There’s a good Irish crew at the Premier 15s club, who also have Cliodhna Moloney, Claire Molloy, Sam Monaghan, and Ciara Cooney in their squad.

The decision to move to Wasps and further her rugby development came after McMahon had been playing rugby with Galwegians and Connacht, travelling up and down from her job in Tipperary.

She hasn’t looked back since moving to the UK, where she works as a biochemist and is enjoying her rugby with Wasps.

McMahon started the win over Italy. Giuseppe Fama / INPHO Giuseppe Fama / INPHO / INPHO

“I was starting to pick up a few niggles here and there from the car journeys up and down to Galway, so it has been brilliant,” says McMahon. “I have immersed myself in rugby, immersed myself in things I needed to do to develop.

“My attacking skills probably still need to be worked on but just having the resources to be able to chat to coaches and play against those international players from England, Scotland, and Wales week in and week out.

“It was nice to link up with Cliodhna and Molloy and then this year obviously Sam and Cooney as well. It’s been nice to live and breath rugby to the extent I can while working as well and that has probably developed my playing ability.”

Right now, McMahon is engrossed in Ireland’s World Cup qualification campaign. She came off the bench during the opening defeat to Spain but started Sunday’s win over Italy and hopes to go again this Saturday versus Scotland.

McMahon, who played for the Barbarians in 2017 before her Ireland debut, has had misfortune with injuries over the years – she missed the 2017 World Cup after rupturing her Achilles tendon – but is now up to 11 Test caps and eager to make her presence felt as she continues to grow as a player.

“I may not have the caps but I have been around a long time now and I know what it means to the girls here and those that didn’t get selected to be here and how important it is for us to get the job done this weekend.

“We’ve shown we can bounce back from a setback and we can also drive on from a good performance and I back us to do that.”