Muireann Scally bringing fresh insights to Westmeath after taste of professional rugby in New Zealand

Westmeath Muireann Scally is bringing fresh insights to Westmeath camogie with experience working at a professional rugby academy in New Zealand. The secondary school teacher also set up an Irish speaking GAA summer camp bringing a taste of the gaelteacht to the midlands.

It's not often an inter-county player has experience in a professional sporting environment, yet Scally spent five months working as a strength and conditioning coach at Auckland Rugby Academy.

Completing her undergraduate degree in sport science in the formerly named Carlow IT, she took a position as a strength and conditioning coach with Auckland Rugby Club, working with teams and athletes across all ages.

"I went off to New Zealand for a couple of months to kind of test the waters", said Scally at the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Camogie Championship launch.

"We had a bit of a mixed level. They had the main rugby club, there was the Auckland Blues but they also had some of the Black Ferns, the female All Black rugby team, all the sevens, and they had some of the Under-20 All Black men’s team.

"It was unbelievable. The exposure and even bringing it home to my own training, to see how professional athletes trained, the commitment, dedication and work.

"They started at five o'clock in the morning. They would be in the gym for two hours, then go off to their bits and pieces, they have like classes in the middle of the day, and they'd be back on the pitch that evening."

The club is based at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand’s national stadium, where Scally was exposed to the rigorous training schedule and, since coming home, has noticed the shift in standards and level of professionalism across Gaelic games.

"I got great exposure to professional strength