Members of the Mayo Under 16 squad for the Gaynor Cup. (Missing from photo is Annie Gough).

Mayo girls gear up for Gaynor Cup

SET to take place in the University of Limerick from Thursday (June 21) through to Sunday (June 24), the Fota Island Resort FAI Gaynor Cup will see the best girls from around the country represent their league at Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16 levels.

Following a qualification stage, which involved 62 teams, 34 teams will compete at the tournament in the four-day competition. Mayo have qualified for the Under 14 and Under 16 categories, and just missed out on the Under 12s.

The Fota Island Resort FAI Gaynor Tournament has been hugely influential in the development of female footballers, with many of the current Republic of Ireland Women’s teams made up of past participants.

Mayo’s head of delegation is John Flanagan. The Under 16s are managed by Kevin Sheeran, with Micheal Collins, coach, and Audrey McNicholas, goalkeeper coach. This squad has been training weekly since last December and they have played a large number of high quality challenge games over that period.

Manager Kevin Sheeran has a very talented bunch at his disposal - a group who finished third in Ireland under the same management team at Under 14 level two years ago.

Kevin is hopeful of going even further this time around. However, this veteran of many years of Gaynor Cup action is only too aware how easily things can get derailed, should that be by injuries, decisions going against you or just plain bad luck.

The Under 14 squad also finished third nationally two years ago. Many of the current squad are making their debut at the Gaynor Cup this year but that isn’t deterring the Under 14 girls from aiming high.

As manager Rodger Clarke summed up the team’s ambitions: “I’m looking to compete for the highest prize.”

The Under 14s are managed by Rodger Clarke, with assistant manager Des O’Connor, coach Leah McHugh and goalkeeper coach Emma Sheeran.

Said Clarke ahead of their trip to Limerick: “For a lot of the girls in the Under 14 team this would be their first time at the Gaynor Cup. It is a fantastic experience which allows them to build friends from many different towns throughout the county of Mayo.”

The squad has been together since last December and they are ‘a well balanced and well organised team’.

Added Clarke: “The girls themselves have a great attitude towards football and we are hoping we can go down and keep up a strong tradition of Mayo teams representing at the highest level. I’m looking to compete for the highest prize.”

Commenting on the significance of the competition, Dave Connell, FAI head of women’s underage development and WU19s head coach, said: “The Gaynor Tournament is a crucial step along the elite player pathway and we’re always looking to improve that process each year. We introduced a qualification stage to help refine and progress that pathway, and we’ll have 34 teams participating in the finals tournament this year.

The change is to facilitate the elite players who we are trying to get on a pathway that starts with the Aviva Soccer Sisters camps and continues with the Castleknock Hotel Girls Centre of Excellence before the Fota Island Resort Gaynor Tournament.

This is about the players’ development and we want to make the Gaynor Cup an elite competition for their benefit. By playing against the best players, those aspiring to get selected for Republic of Ireland squads or make the Women’s National League will be in a far better position.”

There are four groups of four teams in the Under 14 tournament, with Mayo in Group 3 with Inishowen, Longford and Carlow. The Under 16 category similarly has four groups of four, and Mayo are in Group 4 alongside Cork, Longford and South Tipperary.

The Under 12 tournament has four teams – Kerry League, Metropolitan Girls League, Galway and Sligo/Leitrim (who pipped Mayo to qualify) – who go straight into semi-final games.

 

The Mayo Under 16 squad is: Abbiegayle Ronayne, Kelsey Munroe (Ballinrobe Town), Emma McNulty (Achill Rovers), Ava Keane, Louise Dowling, Roisin Kelly, Leah Conway (Castlebar Town), Alva Munnelly (Killala), Hana Ueno, Emer O’Neil, Maria Cannon (Castlebar Celtic), Kate O’Dowd, Ellen Boyle, Anna McDonnell, Olivia Flatley, (Kiltimagh/Knock), Nina McVann (Ballina Town), Saoirse Lally, Ava Lambert (Westport United), Annie Gough (Kilmurry).

The Mayo Under 14 squad is: Sarah McNamara (Achill Rovers), Farrah Giblin (Ballina Town), Amy Mahon, Natalia Fasciszewska (Castlebar Celtic), Jessica Casey (Charlestown Athletic), Molly O’Connor (Iorras Aontaithe), Alison Long (Killala), Deirbhle McHale (Killala), Anna Mae Clarke, Ella Vahey, Jillian Clarke (Manulla), Amy Dunleavy, Bria McLoughlin, Erin Murphy (Swinford), Aoife Staunton, Cliodhna Casey, Kaitlin Coughlan and Sorcha McCarney (Westport United).