Girlies

You remember when you were in Primary School and you fancied one of your classmates? It is unlikely you would have taken the classy, charming approach which you would now. Instead, more often than not, you would ignore her, tease her and never pay her the compliments she deserved. Such immature behaviour surely embarrasses you nowadays. My blog has a confession to make. Whilst it has not teased, it has up to now ignored and failed to compliment the Ladies of our club. I am embarrassed and remorseful.

The journey of the Ladies Footballers has run alongside ours. They too started from scratch last year and they too became European Champions in 2008. Their playing numbers have grown this year and they have travelled to the first two tournaments with two teams also. The A team was victorious in both, meaning they are in a great position to repeat last year’s feat. In 2008, Barbara Wynee led them on their maiden voyage as she took on the role of player, trainer, captain and an assortment of other responsibilities.

This year they fall under the tutelage of Willie Cashin, footballing guru! They will be captained by Mide Ni Shuilleabhain, whose sister Caoimhe (or Cuba, as her Spanish teammate Anay has to call her due to her poor english ;-) ) also plays on the team. This is a particularly nice point. Most of us would have grown up playing on the same teams as our siblings or cousins but for them to be able to follow each other to Europe and do so, is kinda unique.

They have many personalities, too many to go into detail without offending some by omitting. But i will anyway. There is The Bomber. She is from Kerry and plays full forward. She's a spin doctor with Fianna Fail so she talks alot of sh1te. There is Anay. She is Spanish and to quote is "completely utterly illogically passionately in love with football." Emily is Cluxton's wife. A revelation after taking up the game this year. They are Irish, German, Belgian, English and all sorts of other concoctions. This contrasts greatly with our lack of foreigners (only Matti is a regular). There is the Cork connection with Sylvia and Clare. The Brits with the Whisk and Steph (?). Of course, Caragh, one of the stars and just returning after pregnancy. The list goes on....Janey, Clare A, Jess etc etc Some only took up the game last year but skills picked up in other sports like handball, soccer, rugby and basketball help them adapt quickly.

Having them involved has been the makings of the club. It makes everything better; training, tournaments and the social events. It brings another dynamic to the club. They also bring more input to the committee and are particularly good at getting money out of people. They contribute to a bit of scandal every now and then too which provides some light entertainment. It also increases the chances of the boys finding female companionship which is good because then they will share the same interests with their other half and I won't have to listen to sh1tty excuses like i currently do.