'Everyone was in floods of tears' - An eight-year wait to win with Ulster

FIONA TUITE-O’SULLIVAN WINCES as she recalls the painful mistake she made for her first training session with Ulster.

Heading north and keen to impress in a new environment, the former Dublin footballer thought little of throwing on her Dublin GAA jersey before lacing up and hitting the grass.

“Really, really stupid of me. They had no idea who I was, and I have never, and I’m not joking, I have never been tackled this hard in my life.

“I’d say they were like, ‘Who is this one coming up from Dublin?’ Because not many had moved provinces, now people are moving all the time, it’s fine, but not many had moved at that stage, and genuinely my ribs hurt so bad for about two weeks afterwards. It was so bad.”

Tuite-O’Sullivan’s move north came after the Dubliner had missed Leinster trials, the dates clashing with her holidays. Old Belvedere teammate Kathryn Dane extended the invite, a proposition which made sense given her then-partner, now husband, Eric O’Sullivan, was already on the books with Ulster.

“I’ve been there ever since and live up there now, I ended up getting a job and all of that up in a hospital and yeah, life is up there now, so that’s our new home.”

Tuite and O’Sullivan married in Sligo this summer, the highlight of a memorable few months on and off the rugby pitch. 

With loosehead prop O’Sullivan part of the Ulster group that went all the way to the Challenge Cup final, Tuite-O’Sullivan was involved in a women’s side that hit some milestones of their own.

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In late August the Ulster women were hammered 75-5 by Leinster in Belfast, a week after losing 62-0 to Munster in Cork. However, Ulster signed off on a high with a 29-10 defeat of Connacht in Galway.

“That was my first ever win for Ulster,” Tuite-O’Sullivan says.

“I think I’m playing for them eight years maybe, first ever win. I didn’t get to play when did they win, two or three years ago. So my first win with them, it was incredible, genuinely, everyone was in floods of tears.

“It was class, genuinely delighted. It just gives everyone a bit of a boost and the interpros are always so competitive because obviously we play with each other week-in, week-out, and then you have to go up against each other than as well, which is its own challenge, so a few words had, a few fisticuffs, little things like that, but that was brilliant.”

At times, it’s been a tough slog with the Ulster women, who now have current Ulster centre James Hume and former backrow Ruben Crothers on the coaching team. The second-row details the challenge of keeping spirits high during the long stretches when the wins weren’t coming.

“Even in this campaign alone, we had two huge defeats to Munster and then Leinster.

“It’s really, really hard, and we’re such a young group. I think we’ve been building for a long time in Ulster, we’ve a lot of girls coming through, and then we don’t always retain everyone, and yeah, it is hard.

“The coaching group we had this year was really, really good, and some of the younger girls that are coming through are actually really good leaders. There’s a few there that will no doubt be in camp and in with Ireland now soon.

“So the more that we get (the better), and Enniskillen going up to AIL this year will help. You just have girls playing at a higher level, and it’s just a bit more achievable then.

“But it was really enjoyable. I was actually so proud on the back of those two defeats. I was like, how do we build ourselves back up here again?”

With the interpros out of the way, the focus returns to Ireland camp. Scott Bemand’s side play five Tests across September and October, starting with a Tallaght Stadium WXV Global Series clash with the US on 20 September.

Having brought big crowds to the Dexcom (9,200) and Aviva Stadiums (32,000) during the 2026 Six Nations, the aim is now to carry that momentum into a new season.

It comes during a golden period for women’s sport in Ireland, after a summer in which Kate O’Connor and Rhasidat Adeleke led the charge on the track and Katie Taylor brought an 82,000-strong crowd to Croke Park.

“Literally, inspiration is all around us now,” says Tuite-O’Sullivan.

“I guess I probably had more male heroes growing up from a sporting point of view, but yeah, there’s so many people out there now.

“Ireland are thriving in women’s sport, and it’s unbelievable to see. We’re literally the best in the world in so many aspects and so many different games.

“So hopefully we can inspire girls and young lads and even older people as well, and we can be their heroes and we can get some silverware and stuff to inspire them as well.”

The 29-year-old was among the members of the Ireland women’s squad to attend Taylor’s farewell bout on Saturday, an event which dominated the dinner discussions in camp last week.

“We were actually looking at what weight category and stuff we’d be in, and if we ended up boxing what way would it go?

“She’s a hero for so many of us. We’re not boxers, but she has paved the way for so many of us in terms of professionalism, just being out in the limelight.

“What an athlete, what a hero to all of us. She’s an Irish icon and probably one of our best sporting athletes of all time, and I don’t know if that will be beaten anytime soon.”