Women's Development
INTERNATIONAL UPDATE
By Alfie Wylie, National Women’s Coach
IT was a very successful year for the County Girls’ programme with the numbers taking part increasing and improving the standard of players. Several mini tournaments took place and a Girls’ Festival was held in Cookstown. The better players from the county were invited to a residential at the University of Ulster, Coleraine in August. 
From the counties, two teams of U14 players (1994) played in the Tesco final in Dungannon with the winning team representing Northern Ireland at the finals in Manchester in May.
The U15s (1993) schoolgirls’ squad travelled to Galway where they played Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. This was a great experience and learning curve for all the girls and will be of great benefit to them as they continue with the development squads.
From this group a number were identified to attend future U17 training sessions. They U17s are not in any European competition this year but it is hoped that the team will play a number of friendlies. The age band for the U17s we are looking at is from 1992-1994/95, with the main focus being on the development of the younger players for the European Championships in 2009.
In September the U19s (1990–92) will take part in the European Championships in Azerbaijan playing Azerbaijan, Czech Republic and Finland.
The senior team represented Northern Ireland brilliantly against England in a European Championship game in March at Mourneview Park, Lurgan. As we saw, with over 2,200 people attending this game there is a great interest in the women’s game here. I would like everyone to feel proud of their roles within the local game and in doing so, help us to identify and develop the girls and women taking part.
The senior team played their last match in the European Championship qualifying campaign against Belarus on July 25 – - the girls put in an excellent performance and got a well deserved 1-1 draw.
