GazetteSPORT all of your blanch sports coverage from page 28-31
setanta stung: Castleknock emerge with useful draw despite going down to 14 players in AHL2 tie P31
march 24-30, 2016
Boden’s glorious day: Nelson lifts Merrigan Trophy as Castlebar swept aside P29
Niamh Farrelly and Naoisha McAloon, pictured celebrating, are among a quintet of Peamount United players shining for Ireland. Picture: Eoin Noonan/Sportsfile
Peas in a pod for Ireland Former Castleknock Celtic goalkeeper Naoisha McAloon hoping to play her part as Republic’s Under-17s one win away from Euro finals
sport@dublingazette.com
FORMER Castleknock Celtic goalkeeper Naoisha McAloon is one game away from helping the Republic of Ireland Under-17 girls to the UEFA European Championships finals. Her side got off to a winning start in France with a 2-1 win over Hungary in the elite phase qualifiers last weekend before falling to a last ditch goal to the Czech Republic 1-0. Nonetheless, a win over the hosts France would see them guaranteed a top two finish in their group and give them a great chance of claiming a trip to the finals,
McAloon starred for Castleknock as a youngster before making the move to Peamount United. She is one of five Peas’ players involved in the competition along with Niamh Farrelly, Lauren O’Callaghan, Lauren Kelly and Tiegan Ruddy Speaking about the tournament, Ruddy reckons that they have a great chance of progression due to their team cohesion. “We just seem to click on the pitch. I think our style of play suits the players that we have and everyone knows each other’s game, so it works really well for us,” explained Ruddy. “I think our closeness off the pitch definitely helps. We keep saying it, but we really are
like a family. And that goes for the staff too because they give us so much inspiration. “It’s amazing to work with the coaches, especially Dave [Bell] because of how good he is as a coach. We have a winning mentality now because of him and it’s something that we want to maintain.” Second-half goals from Saoirse Noonan and Peamount’s Kelly helped Ireland pick up the three points last Saturday, but it required a fight back after seeing Hungary take the lead. “We were frustrated going in at half-time, but Dave told us that we had 40 minutes to get ourselves back into it if we really wanted to make it to the finals,” said Ruddy.
“We have belief in ourselves, we just had to keep working hard. So we rolled our sleeves up and proved that we were the better side by getting two goals and picking up the three points.” Ruddy feels that they have simply overcome the first obstacle in the race to reach the finals and she is quick to acknowledge that there are two more still to come. “We achieved what we set out to do in our first game by winning it. “To qualify for the finals would be a dream, but we are only focusing on our next game. We have always just taken it game by game and that is what we’re going to do in this group.”