Visiting Newcastle footballer holds training session at Mayo club

THE Ballinrobe Town Under 10 and Under 12 girls’ teams enjoyed a cherished and memorable occasion as Newcastle United and Republic of Ireland women’s international Aoife Mannion paid a visit to The Green.

Mannion has strong family ties to the west of Ireland. Her father is from Galway and her mum is from Mayo, while her uncle is former Mayo footballer Pat Kelly.

Aoife, who was in Mayo on a holiday, held a training session for the young Ballinrobe Town players on the astroturf pitch at The Green, and the girls listened intently to and grasped every ounce of information and guidance that the Ireland star had to offer.

Afterwards, Aoife signed autographs and jerseys for the children and was presented with a bouquet of flowers by Ballinrobe Town AFC.

Aoife explained to this reporter how the training session at Ballinrobe Town transpired.

“A couple of my cousins play football with the Under 10 girls’ team, Siún and Ava Kelly. I am in Mayo for a few days to see my family, as we have been given a week off from our pre-season training. I thought I’d come down here and do a training session for Siún and Ava’s team.

“My mum is from Knocknageeha, which is just down the road from Kilmaine, and I have cousins and aunts who live in around the area.”

Aoife also has a strong connection with Ballinrobe Community School.

Manchester United’s 2024 Women’s FA Cup final success against Tottenham Hotspur saw a large number of supporters from Ballinrobe and members of the school's girls’ teams make the trip to Wembley Stadium, where there was an attendance of 76,000. There was a large banner from Ballinrobe Community School inside the famous stadium and Aoife Mannion spotted it in the section where the south Mayo contingent were seated. It was indeed a memorable day for the students as they witnessed Aoife Mannion and Manchester United record a convincing 4-0 victory.

She explained the background to that connection. “Edel Mullin is a teacher in Ballinrobe Community School and she went to school with an aunt of mine, Martha Kelly, and that is how there is a connection there. We keep in touch, and it is a small world in some way.”

Aoife enjoys visiting south Mayo whenever she gets the chance.

“My mum is from Mayo and my dad is from Athenry, Galway, so I split the time between seeing the two families. My parents live in England, and I always try and come over to Mayo a few times a year.”

As for the training session at The Green, the Newcastle United defender was impressed with the group and said they were all very enthusiastic.

“The girls were brilliant and apparently some of them have only started playing football a few weeks ago. They were a really lovely group and were very enthusiastic. I think it is great that there are so many opportunities for girls now with playing and training, and there is so much they can do.”

The Ireland player had some advice for the Under 10 and Under 12 girls’ teams. “I gave them a few tips on things such as technique, and I told them to enjoy football and to make friends and to be competitive. However, the main thing is for the girls just to enjoy their football at that age.”

CHALLENGE

Having recently joined Newcastle United from Manchester United, Mannion is busy preparing for pe-season and is looking forward to the new challenge.

The Irish international is aiming to help Newcastle gain promotion from Super League 2 to the top flight.

“I am not long at Newcastle – roughly about two weeks – and we played a pre-season friendly against Bayern Munich last week.

It has been a bit of a whirlwind, and I have not been there that long, but the girls and team are lovely. We are really going to push for promotion this year to the WSL (Women’s Super League).

“The club are really backing the women’s team now and hopefully I can be part of the side that gets promoted.”

On the international front, the Republic of Ireland women’s team face two tough fixtures against Belgium in October in the Nations League promotion/relegation playoff, and Mannion is looking forward to the fixtures.

“We have two massive games against Belgium and one of those games will be in the Aviva.

“The hope is to be able to perform well and win, and get to the Nations League A.

“In order to do that we need to be a really good team, so we will come into camp in a couple of months' time and get to know our tactics and strategy.

“The focus will be to put in a performance that will allow us the best chance to get promotion to League A.”

Finally, Mannion explained that England’s back-to-back UEFA Women’s European Championships success will be a massive boost to the women’s game in England, and also believes that the sport is continuing to grow.

“It is a massive achievement for England to win back-to-back Women’s European Championships, and living in England myself I see first-hand what the national team’s success has at grassroots level. In 2022, when they (England) won it, the little village that I was living in created so many teams on the back of that success, and there were girls playing football in those teams who had never played before.

“A national team’s success makes a massive difference and can be the inspiration and motivation to young girls playing football.”