Young Sports Stars of the Year Award winner No. 1: Kirsty Kelly

The first spotlight in our Young Sports Stars of the Years Awards is shone on joint January 2018 winner Kirsty Kelly.

Kirsty had joined Castlebar Celtic five years earlier and went into the Under 14 team, helping the club to win the league and cup double that year and scoring plenty of goals along the way. She was part of the squad that travelled to London to train at the Arsenal Ladies Academy and also played against Tottenham Hotspur Under 14 girls.

Still underage the following year, Kirsty helped Celtic to another Under 14 league and cup double.

She moved up to the Under 16 team for the next two seasons and again scored plenty of goals as Celtic won another two league and cup doubles. She has also played in a number of high profile national cup games, including quarterfinals and semi-finals

A clever player and an excellent finisher, Kirsty came to the attention of the Deaf Ireland football team and trained in Dublin and Cork before being selected to represent Ireland at the UEFA Deaf Futsal qualifiers in Finland – a great achievement.