'I don't know where my life would be if I didn't pick up the ball' - Sheehan

Had it not been for the fact that rugby was a religion in the family, Kate Sheehan could have been lost to the game a long time ago.

The Munster hooker is one of the veterans in a side mixed with youth and experience for this season's Interprovincial Series, which sees the defending champions host Leinster this Saturday at Musgrave Park, both sides starting the campaign with impressive bonus-point wins last week.

The 34-year old made her Munster debut way back in 2007 alongside her current head coach Niamh Briggs, while she's been playing AIL rugby with UL Bohemians since she was 16.

Unlike a lot of players in her generation, she's been playing rugby all her life, first with Young Munster as she followed the path laid by her brother Dave, who would go on to play AIL rugby with the Cookies.

But with no dedicated girls' team at the time, she spent four years out of the game before landing out in Annacotty with Bohs.

"I went out to Young Munster as a child doing the minis but when you were 12 it was like 'okay, bye'. There was nowhere to go after that for me. So I stopped playing," she says.

"I was 16 and just by chance my uncle was working with Jason Enright, he was the manager [of UL Bohemians] at the time and he said 'bring her out to training’. I remember feeling totally overwhelmed, to be honest but the girls were great, they just took you under their wing and showed you the ropes."

The Women's AIL may be dominated by Railway, Blackrock and Belvedere in recent seasons, but all have a long way to go to catch up on UL Bohs' 13 titles.

And they were at the peak of their dominance in the 2000s, with Sheehan walking into a side containing the bulk of the Ireland squad, and having not played the game for four years.

"I gave