Alison Miller

I was only playing football.

I just got onto the Leash team.

And then I played another year with Leash and then I joined my local, wouldn't be my local team, but it was the nearest Port Leash.

I joined Port Leash RFC in...

i can't remember but it was about two years after i took it up in college and we weren't the highest division we were actually the lowest division you could play in the country so i remember playing the first match scored about seven tries and yvonne delaney said turned around to me one of the players that you found your sport you're not going anywhere else this is your sport so played one year in um port leash i went for leinster trials that didn't work out unfortunately didn't get picked for leinster

And I went the kind of the long windy route to Connacht.

And yeah, following year I was playing for Ireland.

So about a year.

It was quick, you know.

Yeah.

But as your friend, as Yvonne said, you found your sport.

Yeah.

a good athlete.

I'd won all Ireland schools medals in athletics, I could play county football, was diligent, came from a family of sporty people.

Dad was bigot, was GA.

It was kind of second nature, so I was able to apply myself.

Look, it was sink or swim stuff at Irish camp.

Every week I was just hanging on.

I was like, okay, I'll try and stay in this weekend, because you get dropped.

in the beginning yes as in the the drill the games like just let me play a game when i went to the game i was like yeah i'm fine it was i suppose the technical tactical stuff i struggled at because i wasn't playing that long so you're in the middle of drills or game based things and you probably should know certain stuff when you don't but you're just kind of hanging staying at the back looking what's going on you know just staying afloat absorbing it all absorbing it all what are they doing here i'm staying at the back you never make the mistake going to the front and uh