Ballinasloe laid out the red carpet for local Olympian Beibhinn Parsons on her return to her home town following her exploits with the Irish Women’s Rugby 7s team in the Paris Games.

Coral Leisure hosted the homecoming for their Brand Ambassador, who is also an Irish Rugby 15s international at Gullane’s Hotel in Ballinasloe.

She was welcomed to the venue by a guard of honour, including both girls and boys from her home club Ballinasloe RFC.

Beibhinn entertained the large crowd with tales of her journey from underage rugby to the Six Nations, World Rugby 7’s circuit and most recently the Olympics.

One of her early coaches at Ballinasloe RFC, Declan Murphy, told how she was special from the start, with the team always guaranteed between two and six tries per game from Beibhinn.

President of Ballinasloe RFC, Gerry Kelly, expressed his pride in the fact that such a small local club now had three professional female players in the Irish Women’s high performance set up.

Brian Hogan from Coral Leisure explained how, as their Brand Ambassador, Beibhinn represented everything they wished to have from their ambassador, including being an exceptional role model for all young girls to look up to and to hope to emulate, as well as being grounded in her local community.

Councilor Evelyn Parsons, Beibhinn’s mum, spoke on behalf of the family, expressing their pride in not just the sporting achievements of their daughter, but pride in the young woman she had become and spoke of the drive, determination, and grit she had shown to become one of the stars of Irish rugby.

Pictured: Beibhinn Parsons is welcomed to Gullane’s Hotel by a guard of honour including both girls Photo: Gerry Stronge.