THE anthem Here Come the Girls should probably be boomed around Rivervalley Park every time St Finian’s Under-12 girls footballers take to the field these days.
Why? Warren Hanley’s side beat Beann Eadair 7-11 to nil last weekend, leaving their record for the past two years at 32 games played, 30 wins.
Amazingly, one of the two defeats they have had came against Beann Eadair, which shows this promising side’s ability to put mistakes behind them and also displays a ruthless streak, leaving their opposition scoreless in what is officially non-competitive football.
But what’s the secret? A slice of luck that a bunch of extremely talented girls were born at the same time around Swords perhaps, or maybe just good coaching? “Probably a bit of both, and more,” laughed Hanley.
“Seriously though, they are an outstanding team, it’s hard to describe just how good they are for their age. There is definitely at least four or five future inter-county footballers in this squad, and to say that already just shows the level they are at.”
As mentioned already, the side do not technically play competitively at the moment, but are raring to start playing for silverware, and the manager insisted they are ready for the step-up. “We’ll go competitive next year,” he said.
“To be honest, I think it should be competitive now, there was a vote at the start of the year for all the managers to possibly bring it in but 60 per cent voted against and the majority ruled.”
The only other defeat the side has suffered in the past two years came against an Under-13 Oliver Plunkett’s side, in what was a match strictly organised to give the team a bigger challenge.
Hanley himself is a St Finian’s stalwart, and having worked with this team for the past two years, he admitted he looks forward to watching this blossoming side from the dugout just as much as playing matches himself.
“It’s just a pleasure to work with this group,” he said. “I’ve a panel of 23 to work with and at every training session I’d get at least 20, they just love it.”
