Rovers apply to be members of Womens U17 National League

SLIGO Rovers have applied to the FAI to be a founder member of the Women’s U17 National League which is scheduled to start later this year.

Locally a lot of work has been ongoing behind the scenes within the club and the wider footballing community to ensure that the Bit O’ Red will be taking to the field for the first time with a female side at this level.

Following on from the success of the U14 & U12 Sligo / Leitrim squads who finished in second and third place in the Gaynor Cup, a national inter league tournament held in the University of Limerick each year, four players featuring with the Connacht Under-15 side that won the Schools Inter Provincials last year, many girls participating in the regional development squads and the 400 registered underage players in the league, it was felt that the time was right to fill the gap that existed in the female player pathway in the north west of Ireland.

The Sligo / Leitrim region currently boasts a number of international players at senior, universities, underage and schools level with Emma Hansberry, Dearbhaile Beirne, Ailbhe Clancy, Muireann Devaney (Republic of Ireland) & Catherine Hyndman (Northern Ireland) all representing their countries with distinction. These players have also won national leagues and cups with their clubs spread all over the country from Castlebar to Dublin and Wexford to Strabane with the associated travel and time cost that situation requires.

An independent working group consisting of local coaches, administrators, parents and local representatives have been actively working on this project since October and with the support of the Sligo / Leitrim League, Sligo Rovers and IT Sligo the logistics of the initiative have been mostly finalised for the year ahead.

The women’s football committee includes former Mayor of Sligo, Marie Casserly as chairperson, Breifne Earley, an experienced sports administrator at national and international level as secretary, current Northern Ireland senior international Catherine Hyndman, current emerging talent programme coaches Alan Henry & Michelle Henry, former professional footballer with Glasgow Celtic and Fulham Hugh Cunningham and Adrian Massop an experienced coach with Castlebar Celtic and Longford Gaynor Cup sides.

The committee has been excellently supported by the local FAI Development Officers Damon Kearney (Leitrim) and Ryan Casey (Sligo) who spearheaded the push to get this project off the ground originally.

The team will be based in IT Sligo for both training and matches as the third level education provider have come on board as the first major partner to this project. Other partners are welcome and discussions are on going with other companies in the region about other potential partnerships.

All applicants to the inaugural Women’s Under 17 National League will discover in the coming weeks if their applications have been successful.