Galway WFC chasing U-17 league and cup double

By Mike Rafferty

Opportunities to reach national finals in any sport at any level are a rare treat, but this Sunday at 2pm in Eamonn Deacy Park, Galway WFC will be chasing honours when they face Peamount United in the Final of the Women’s FAI U-17 Cup.

The side have enjoyed an excellent campaign to date and last weekend defeated Shelbourne 4-0 to qualify for a home semi-final of the league, so Phil Trill’s charges are chasing honours on the double.

The club’s senior side is also in the last four of the cup, and face an away trip to Wexford in order to qualify for a cup final meeting with either Peamount or Shelbourne in the Aviva Stadium. That semi-final was originally scheduled for this weekend, but due to international games, a new date will have to be chosen.

The U-17 side is backboned by three players who have just returned from international duty with the Irish team and who qualified for the Elite stages of the UEFA tournament. Kate Slevin, Therese Kinnevey and Shauna Brennan were part of a back four who didn’t concede a goal in their three outings.

The side got a nice confidence boost when winning their final group game on Sunday as an Annie Gough goal opened their account, before Abbie Callanan scored two more before the break to put them three up at the interval.

Anna Fahey got her name on the score sheet with a neat left footed effort for the fourth, as they dismissed Shelbourne with ease in Eamonn Deacy Park

As a further boost to the club this week, four Galway WFC players were chosen for the Irish U-19 squad that will take on Ukraine, Montenegro and Holland at the beginning of October in the Netherlands.

Sisters Leah and Kayle Brady, Sinead Donovan and Kelsey Monroe will be hoping that Ireland can advance from this UEFA qualifying tournament.

FAI JUNIOR CUP

Hibernians 2

Maree-Oranmore 4

Having met the previous week in the Premier League, these sides faced one another again in Bohermore on Sunday with a place in the second round of the FAI Junior Cup the prize.

Just like on the previous occasion, it was Maree-Oranmore who came out on top, although on this occasion they did not have to come from two down, as they were generally in command of the contest throughout.

While the winners have made a positive start to their league campaign, the same cannot be said about Hibernians as they have struggled for results since the beginning of the season.

A feature of the game was the amount of young talented players on view, with the likes of Hibernians John Kennedy, Keelan Grainger, Niall Rooney, Conor Devlin, Lorcan Murray and Shane Hulgraine all having long careers ahead of them.

The same could be said of the visitors, as the likes of Alan Greene, Jack Morrisey, Danny Travis and Matthew Barrett all came through as part of the club’s schoolboy structures and made a big contribution to the game.

Maree-Oranmore also have a number of players like John Latchford, Dave Devlin, Brendan Tully and Malachy Black who bring a lot of experience and physicality to their game, something a much younger city side is lacking.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.