Larissa Muldoon (born 11 March 1991), from

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

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

, is a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player for

Railway Union The Railway Union (, RAU) is a trade union representing drivers, traffic controllers and office staff on the railways in Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the ...

Ulster rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won ...

and the

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) () 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 ground at Aviva Stadium, where a ...

. Her first sport was

ladies gaelic football Ladies' Gaelic football () is an Irish team sport for women. 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 round ball towar ...

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 Cardiff Metropolitan University () is a public university located in Cardiff, Wales. Formerly known as the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC; , ) which was established in 1996. The university offers degree courses in a variety of d ...

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 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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 ...

held in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

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 tour ...

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 Du ...

. 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) () or Dublin GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Dublin and the Dublin county teams. The teams and their fans a ...

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

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby () is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Leinster Branch, one of t ...

, 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 rugby league players in England Irish schoolteachers Rugby union players from County Donegal Ireland international women's rugby sevens players Irish rugby sevens players Irish Exiles women's rugby union players Railway Union rugby union players Irish expatriate rugby union players in England Expatriate rugby league players in England People from Ballybofey Alumni of Cardiff Metropolitan University Rugby union scrum-halves Bristol Bears Women players 21st-century Irish sportswomen