U14s reach Gaynor Cup final
THE Sligo Leitrim U14 girls squad made history at the weekend by reaching the final of the Gaynor Cup for the first time in the competition’s history.
The lost narrowly to Galway in the final in the University of Limerick but it was a sensational tournament for the Sligo/ Leitrim girls.
The Muireann Devaney- captained side, led by Head Coach Alan Henry and Northern Ireland’s Catherine Hyndman went into the history books and what they have achieved is only beginning to sink in says Hyndman.
She told the Sligo Champion: “We only dropped the girls off last night and to be honest, it hasn’t sunk in yet at all.
“It has been absolutely fantastic from start to finish for the girls and for football in Sligo/ Leitrim,” a delighted Hyndman revealed.
“This was the highest the squad ever went in the competition, to the best of my knowledge the Gaynor Cup has been in existence for more than 20 years.”
She was full of praise for the depth of quality in the squad.
“Our captain is Muireann Devaney, she’s well known in the football world as she’s the Leitrim girl on the Republic of Ireland U15s schools team.
“We have 16 on the squad altogether, including two goalies and everyone put in a brilliant performance for the team.
“We played Cork on the first day and we won that comprehensively 4- 0 and then went on to play the Midlands on the same day.
“That was a 1- 1 draw so that meant the next day we had to wait on results and it ended up that we topped the group just with a plus one goal difference so it was very narrow!
“We got through though, that was the main thing. We had said that the Cup competition was where we wanted to be and we ended up there.
“We were up against Inishowen, we had already played them twice this year.
“We had a pretty impressive 3- 0 win over them before going on to meet Galway in the final, another Northwest team. “We always knew it was going to be a tough game and those watching at home through the live stream could tell as well that there was only going to be one goal in it.
“Unfortunately it was theirs. I am so proud of the girls, it was a huge occasion for them and they never seemed nervous at all.
“They were quietly confident and performed excellently.
“We can see with the U16s also in the Gaynor Cup and the U12s in the All- Ireland semi- finals how much that means for football in Sligo/ Leitrim.
“It shows the quality coming through and the work being done by the coaches,” Hyndman said.
“We only came home on Sunday evening and the support has been incredible, people messaging the page was really positive to see and the girls really appreciated it.”