*Deirdre Shannon. Photograph: Natasha Barton
INCREASING THE AMOUNT of girls teams within Ennis town has been earmarked as one of the big ambitions of the newly elected Chairperson of the Clare Schoolboys/Schoolgirls Soccer League (CSSL).
Ennis native, Deirdre Shannon was on Monday last elected as the first ever female Chairperson of the CSSL and in her opening address set out her stall on an area she wants to see success in.
She noticed that numbers attached to the CSSL are up 70 percent this season with 33 percent more girls playing in the Clare league.
“It is still unfortunate to only have one girls team in the town of Ennis, this needs to be developed by Denis Hynes, by myself and by going to the schools. At the moment all we have is girls U10, U11, U12 and U13 teams then a drop off from U16, there is no girls team over the age of 16, I’m sure Denis will back me and we’ll get there, we need to get more girls interested,” Deirdre stated. In comparison she felt the boys set up was fantastic.
Ireland’s women’s team qualification for the World Cup is the year “to push women’s football,” Shannon maintained. “We are back on track in the CDSL with women’s football but I’m disappointed to see no mention of the women’s games in the media, there was a lot of massive games in the women’s league this weekend but all I heard on the radio was a clip about Newmarket Celtic and Avenue, the girls need to be noticed”.
Acknowledging clubs for their support, the Hermitage FC clubwoman promised, “I will try my absolute best. I work from 08:30am to 5pm so if I don’t answer your call I will ring you back”.
Recalling her entry into coaching, Deirdre admitted, “when I started I knew very little about coaching but I met Seán Cregan and I met Leonard Meaney and a lot of people who helped me along the way, I never thought I would be ETP co-ordinator”.
Clare has the talent, she affirmed while informing delegates that the FAI had been in contact to call up two girls from the county for national assessments. She praised all county teams for their efforts and expressed her hope for more trophies to be won by the CSSL next season.
