LEAH Carey will captain the Skibbereen Community School team that will contest an All-Ireland post-primary senior A football final this Thursday (27th).
The West Cork school faces Loretto College from Cavan in Nowlan Park, Kilkenny at 2pm on Thursday afternoon. The game is also being streamed live on the LadiesFootballTV YouTube channel for those unable to attend.
‘I wasn’t really expecting it to be fair when I was told (I was captain) but it’s an honour,’ Carey told The Southern Star.
‘Everyone is weighing in and adding to this, I’m not just doing it by myself. Driving on people and giving them confidence is great. Hopefully, we can all pull together as one and come out with the result that we want.’
The town of Skibbereen is full of flags and banners right now – this is an exciting occasion for the school and all the clubs involved.
‘I think the supporters are more excited than we are, to be honest! We’re more focused on the task than the actual game. We’re enjoying the build up to it but I think we need to focus more on winning. It’s nice that the community is behind us but we can’t let it get to our heads at the same time,’ Ilen Rovers player Carey added.
‘They have made huge efforts with flags, posters, pictures and just everything. We have four bus loads going up to the game which is the biggest crowd I think we have ever brought. It’s very exciting.’
The school team has five clubs represented in O’Donovan Rossa, Ilen, Castlehaven, Tadhg MacCarthaigh and Clann na nGael. So, this final appearance is good news for not just the town but for the whole of West Cork ladies football.
‘Ladies football in West Cork has been growing for a while but I think this will be a massive milestone to put us on the map. It’s great for the smaller clubs to see key players coming through. It’s not just bigger clubs. They are adding to the team,’ the captain explained.
Skibbereen Community School had lost three All-Ireland semi-finals before recently overcoming Mercy College of Roscommon (4-11 to 0-3). An All-Ireland final may have been a long time coming but now that this group have reached one, some players in their Leaving Cert year, they are going to do everything to make sure the trophy comes west.
‘We’ve come up short in the last two years. We’ve been playing together for a while but we have gelled more this year than we have before, on and off the pitch. People have become more friends. I think that’s helping the team relationship on the field, understanding each other and the way we play,’ Carey said.
The Skibbereen Community School team includes Tara O’Regan (O’Donovan Rossa), Maeve O’Sullivan (Castlehaven), Eleanor Keating (Tadhg MacCarthaigh), Allie Tobin (O’Donovan Rossa), Saorla Carey (Ilen Rovers), Amy McCarthy (Castlehaven), Leah Carey (captain, Ilen Rovers), Aoife O’Driscoll (O’Donovan Rossa), Kathlyn McCarthy (Clann na nGael), Meabh Collins (Ilen Rovers), Becca Sheehy (Castlehaven), Ellen Connolly (Castlehaven), Eabha O’Donovan (O’Donovan Rossa), Kate Carey (Ilen Rovers), Hannah Sheehy (Castlehaven), Ellen Buckley (Castlehaven), Carla O’Regan (Ilen Rovers), Muireann O’Shea (Tadhg MacCarthaigh), Orla McCarthy (O’Donovan Rossa), Abaigh Buckley (Castlehaven), Anna McCarthy (O’Donovan Rossa), Shauna Hourihane (O’Donovan Rossa), Eve Minihane (Castlehaven), Hannah O’Driscoll (O’Donovan Rossa), Maria Connolly (Ilen Rovers), Eve O’Donovan (Tadhg MacCarthaigh), Ella O’Sullivan (Tadhg MacCarthaigh) and Niamh O’Sullivan (Castlehaven).
