Larissa Muldoon (born 11 March 1991), from

Ballybofey Ballybofey ( , ; ) is a town located on the south bank of the River Finn, County Donegal, Ireland. Together with the smaller town of Stranorlar on the north side of the River Finn, the towns form the Twin Towns of Ballybofey-Stranorlar. Ba ...

, Co Donegal, is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player for

Railway Union The Railway Union ( fi, Rautatiealan Unioni, RAU) is a trade union representing drivers, traffic controllers and office staff on the railways in Finland. The union was founded on 16 November 2018, when the Union of Locomotive Drivers merged with ...

Ulster rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Ulster Branch, which is one of ...

and the

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

. Her first sport was

ladies gaelic football Ladies' Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach na mBan) is a women's team sport. It is the women's equivalent of Gaelic football. Ladies' football is organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a ...

which she played for Donegal at Under-14 and Under-16 level. She made her debut for the Ireland women's rugby union team at the age of 19, just two years after taking up the sport. She played for Ulster's U18s and seniors first and her selection for Ireland was prompted by the

Cardiff Metropolitan University , image_name = Shield of Cardiff Metropolitan University.svg , image_size = 150px , motto = cy, Gorau Meddiant Gwybodaeth , mottoeng = The most valuable possession is knowledge , established = 2011 – Car ...

who sent a video of her in action to the

. Muldoon was a member of the Ireland team that won its first ever Six Nations and Grand Slam in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and also a member when they won the 2015 Women's Six Nations. She also represented at the

2014 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup was the seventh edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup, and the sixth held in Europe. The World Cup Final took place on 17 August. All of the pool games for the World Cup took place at the Centre National du R ...

held in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

where they had a historic victory over New Zealand's

Black Ferns The New Zealand women's rugby union team, called the Black Ferns, represents New Zealand in women's international rugby union, which is regarded as the country's national sport. The team has won six out of nine Women's Rugby World Cup tournamen ...

and finished fourth. She played for Ireland at the

2017 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup was the eighth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was held in Ireland in August 2017. New Zealand became the 2017 champions by beating England 41–32 in the final on 26 August. Matches were held in Dubl ...

. In 2021 she was selected at scrum-half in the Irish women's Team of the Decade by the Front Row Union websit

She has amassed 48 caps for the Ireland women's rugby union team but was unavailable for selection in 2021 due to injury. Muldoon obtained a Masters in Sports Management and Leadership from Cardiff Metropolitan University. She is a qualified teacher and coach. She worked as a Gaelic Games Development Officer for

Dublin GAA The Dublin County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ( ga, Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Contae Átha Cliath) or Dublin GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in the Dublin Regi ...

in 2017 but, since late 2018, has worked fulltime as a Development Officer for

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby ...

, specialising in promoting the game for girls and women.

References

External links

Irish Rugby Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muldoon, Larissa 1991 births Living people Irish female rugby union players Ireland women's international rugby union players Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Irish schoolteachers Rugby union players from County Donegal Ireland international women's rugby sevens players Irish Exiles women's rugby union players Railway Union rugby union players