Aoife Dalton: Ireland have earned the right to be confident

RTÉ News​

24-04-2025

Aoife Dalton says Ireland won't be motivated by the past when they return to Edinburgh to face Scotland on Saturday.
Scott Bemand's side conclude their 2025 Guinness Women's Six Nations at the Hive this weekend, where a win will mark their best championship return in eight years.
Since finishing second in the championship in 2017, Ireland have only picked up three wins on one occasion. Victory this weekend will see them match that haul, and give them their highest points total in the last eight seasons.
Two years ago, Ireland were thumped 36-10 by Scotland in Edinburgh, the final defeat in their wooden spoon campaign.
But ahead of returning to the Hive on Saturday, Dalton says righting those wrongs has not been part of their agenda.
"We haven't really spoken about it," the centre (below) said this week.
"We've a completely new coaching team now and we've had quite a big turnaround in terms of players but definitely, there are girls there from that time.
"We could have said the same about going over to Parma or going to Wales, we lost all of those games two years ago.
"[We are] Just trying to focus on ourselves and where we are now and how we can build on performances each week."
Still a week shy of turning 22-years-old, Dalton has become an established international for Ireland since making her debut in 2022, with 21 caps to her name, and she has started all four games of this championship.
Having finished third in the table with two wins last season, they followed it up with a breakthrough win against New Zealand, and a runners-up finish at the WXV in October.
That's seen the perception of this Irish team change in a very short period, and Dalton says they are well aware that Scotland will be looking to take a scalp when they travel to the Murrayfield shadows this weekend.
"The coaches have said it; we've kind of lost that element of surprise now, we don't tend to shock teams anymore when we put out a good performance.
"We've earned the right to go over there and not be afraid to say that we want to win and we want to put big scores up against teams.
"I think we can go over there with confidence. We've had two wins out of four now and have put in some good performances.
"At the same time, two years ago we lost over there and with the nature of it being the last game, they are at home, they've one win, so they'll come out all guns blazing at the start and we have to be ready for that.
"I think we're really excited. We've targeted all the away games. Over the last five years, we've probably had a pretty bad away record so we want to try and rewrite that narrative and hopefully get a win at the weekend," Dalton said.
Saturday's game will also be the last opportunity for players to make an impression on Bemand before their World Cup pre-season camp begins in June.
And while there will be a warm-up game against Scotland in August, as well as one versus Canada, assistant coach Denis Fogarty (above) says now is the time for players to catch the eye.
"It will be massive for us, especially like I said, it's going into a World Cup block," Fogarty said.
"It's quite important for us that we keep that momentum going. It was a tough outing probably against England, but how they bounced back [against Wales] has shown that growth. That resilience within the group.
"The focus now is ensuring that we finish on a high. You see the depth within the squad is growing as well, which has helped. It even helps from a training point of view, of how competitive things are getting.
"It's massive for us. We've spoken about it all week, of making sure that we finish this on a high and going into it [World Cup block] in a good space."
Watch a URC double-header, Scarlets v Leinster and Ulster v Sharks, on Saturday from 4.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player