This weekend, the Letterkenny Blaze u18 Girls’ team will travel to Waterford to play in their National Cup quarter final against Waterford Wildcats.
The game will take place on Sunday 27th February at 12noon in Mercy Secondary School, Waterford.
The girls, under the guidance of coaches Andy McGeever, Ian McGeever and Teresa Kealy have trained consistently both individually and as a team over the past few months to reach this milestone.
A total of 22 teams were split into four different qualifying tournaments. The Blaze girls played in a qualifying tournament on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th February in Cavan from which they have reached the All Ireland quarter final.
In their first game, they had a convincing win over Tullamore. Later that day, despite tired legs and bodies, they secured a 3 point victory over the hosting team East Cavan Eagles.
The girls progressed to the semi-final of the tournament which took place on Sunday. This was another game of fine margins as the girls defeated Dublin side Killester by just 4 points.
The girls came up against the very strong side of Liffey Celtics in the final. Liffey Celtics came out as winners in the final which meant Blaze lost their home advantage for their All-Ireland quarter final.
Many of these girls joined Blaze when they were as young as 6 years of age. They are not only a great asset to the club in terms of their playing performance, but the girls also find time to coach and mentor the younger members of the club.
They are outstanding role models in the Blaze club. They manage to find time to train, to coach and to keep their school work and studies going at the same time.
Blaze u18 girls team: Tiegan Smith, Emily Irwin, Emma Gribben, Lucy McGlynn, Maria Kealy, Kayleigh
McGuinness, Adithi Vijaykumar, Gilian Reyonds, Anna McElhinney, Mia Devenney, Ella McLaughlin
Coaches: Andy McGeever, Ian McGeever and Teresa Kealy
