World Footy News

Thanks to Leiha Shrubsall for the bulk of this article.

Last year the first ever European women's international match took place at the Euro Cup: Ireland defeated Italy by 10 points. Now the AFL Finals are out the way, it is time again for the Euro Cup. This time Belfast is the city hosting the competition. Being the Banshees' first international home game, they want to win on home soil. The squad list is out, and the majority of the squad is made up of IC11 players and a few new players added.

‘We have just returned victorious from the biggest competition on the International stage, we know now where we sit on an International playing level and want to keep that level up. We've never met the Swiss team before so we don't know what they will throw at us but we'll be playing the Banshees’ brand of footy regardless.’
 

The Banshees’ Euro Cup Coach is Shaun Saurin aka Bouncer. Bouncer coaches the Dublin Angels and Dublin Demons ARFLI teams; he was the Banshees assistant coach at this competition last year alongside Andrew Hickey. Andrew is the assistant coach this time around, needing a rest after being named World Team coach at IC11, taking the Banshees all the way to the IC11 Grand Final and winning the International Cup.

‘It will be great to have Bouncer coach the team as he has trained with us most of the year, he didn't make it to the IC2011 as he was on his honeymoon. We know he was up all night (Irish time) the day we played Canada in the final anxiously awaiting Facebook updates of our scores, he's truly dedicated to the team!’

The Banshees are still buzzing after their IC11 win. They have played a few games together now and have learnt a lot about each other. They went toAustralia as a group of girls ready to play for Ireland and they've come back as a well worked team with a special brand of footy. Let's see if they can retain the Euro Cup title.

Squad List: 

1) Miriam Long (Cork)
2) Christine McCutheon (Dublin Angels)
3) Lesley OHara (Dublin Angels)
4) Kim McCullagh (Kilrea Kookaburras)
5) Caithlain Keenan (Kilrea Kookaburras)
6) Bronagh Lowry (Kilrea Kookaburras)
7) Aimee Louise Hazely (Dublin Angels)
8) Ashleene Groogan (Kilrea Kookaburras)
9) Emma kelly (Kilrea Kookaburras)
10) Amanda Sheils (Dublin Angels)
11) Leiha Shrubsall (Dublin Angels)
12) Kate Fitzsimons (Dublin Angels)
13) Nicola Ryan (Dublin Angels)
14) Natalie Ni Bheachain (Dublin Angels)
15) Nuala Ni HAgain (Kilrea Kookaburras)
16) Sinead Tracey (Dublin Angels)

Emergency: Ciara McGurk