Brogan set to live her Euro dream
Fernhill teen to fly the flag for Scotland
Fernhill footballer Brogan Hay says representing her country at the European Championships was a feeling like no other.
The 18-year-old Glasgow City star was part of the Scotland Women’s under-19 team who qualified for the European finals in August, following a successful second phase last month.
Brogan, a former St Mark’s Primary and Trinity High School pupil, made appearances for the Scots in the group games against Finland and Ukraine, while she cheered on the girls against hosts Ireland from the sidelines.
Three wins from three, including 2-1 victories over the Irish and Finland, along with a 5-0 thumping of the Ukrainians, was enough for the team to guarantee a spot in the finals.
And Brogan admits possibly facing the best young females in the world in August is hard to get her head around.
She said: “Playing in the European Championships and qualifying for the finals was a feeling like no other.
“Playing for my country is such an honour. I’m privileged to say I’ve played throughout youth, from my first game for Scotland at under 15 level in 2013 where I travelled to Germany, to my most recent trip to Ireland.
“The feeling of qualifying for the finals can’t be put into words. It’s still not actually sunk in yet that we go to the Euro finals in August to compete with the best.”
Brogan, who studies HND in fitness health and exercise at Glasgow College, started playing football after following in the footsteps of her older sister Kodie.
And since playing for Glasgow City since she was 12, Brogan has gone on to appear for each of their age groups and is now playing for the first team.
Although she admits juggling her college work and training has been a challenge, she believes the training at the club has helped her development within the women’s game.
She said: “Playing alongside some of the best players in the country is a great learning experience and it makes me a better player myself.
“It’s a different environment and atmosphere stepping up [to the first team] as everything is more real and there’s no time for messing about. Currently, I feel like I’ve settled in a lot better than last season and with only being a few games in, I hope to play a bigger part in the team this season and progress.”
City, who have won the SWPL ten times in a row, are eight games into their season but Brogan has already got her campaign off to a flyer by scoring as a substitute against Hamilton.