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Lisa shortlisted for prestigious soccer award


Lisa Casserly, pictured in 2010, has been shortlisted for the U-17 international Irish Player of the Year Award. Photograph by Declan Monaghan

A BALLINDERREEN teenager has been named as one of the top soccer players in the country by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). Lisa Casserly is among three girls shortlisted for the U-17 International Irish Player of the Year Award, which will be announced next month.

 

 

Lisa Casserly, pictured in 2010, has been shortlisted for the U-17 international Irish Player of the Year Award. Photograph by Declan Monaghan

A BALLINDERREEN teenager has been named as one of the top soccer players in the country by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). Lisa Casserly is among three girls shortlisted for the U-17 International Irish Player of the Year Award, which will be announced next month.

Lisa is well known in sporting circles across South Galway. She attends school in Seamount College, Kinvara and played soccer until last year with Colga FC. She is a former inter-county camogie player and plays with her local club, Ballinderreen. She is also an accomplished hockey player.

The talented sportswoman is modest about her nomination.

“I was so shocked. It is such an honour, especially when you think of all the girls on our team,” Lisa said.
Her soccer success is not out of the blue. She was on the Connacht School Soccer team in 2009 and 2010 and captained the team to Gaynor Cup victory. She attended a Manchester United Easter Camp, where she was selected as having the best player/skill, best attitude to both players and staff and best communication on the pitch.

With Colga FC, she captained the U-12s to the league and cup double, played in the U-14 league and cup double team, won the U-16 Irish Cup and the Galway City League. Her first international cap was with the Ireland U-16s.

Last year she left nearby Colga FC and now plays for Castlebar Celtic.

“I had to move because we have to play with our national league team and Castlebar Celtic is the nearest one to us. Galway will be getting one next year,” Lisa explained.

The fifth-year pupil is passionate about sport but her weekly routine is demanding.

“I train on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays and we would usually have a match on Sunday. I train in the gym then for three nights too, as well as core work, which I try to do when I go home from school.

“I also play camogie. I was playing on the county team but I had to stop that. Now I just play with my club and school. I train with Ballinderreen on a Thursday and we have school training on a Wednesday,” she explained.

Lisa believes other girls should get involved in soccer but to excel, there is a caveat.

“It is definitely something I would encourage other girls to get into but you have to really want it because you give up so much for it,” she commented.

In her own family, the ladies have excelled.

“I started playing soccer when I was five. All my mum’s family have played for big teams like Galway United. My auntie, Bernie Keogh, played for Ireland too, so did my cousin, Melissa Casserly, so one from each side have represented Ireland,” she added.

For Lisa, the highlight of her international soccer career so far was her team’s 3-0 victory against hosts Belarus in the UEFA European Women’s U-17 Championship back in October. That win, as well as impressive victories over Georgia and Finland, meant the Irish girls topped their group and progressed to the second round of the competition. In those three matches, the South Galway midfielder scored two goals and managed an impressive assist.

The next round of the competition runs from March 25 to 29 in Austria but before then she has two big games, this time in camogie and hockey.

“We are very proud of her. She has huge support here in the school, particularly from the sports teachers, Fionán Cuddy and Lorraine Feehily. They certainly follow her closely and encourage her all the way. She is facing a Connacht camogie final and a hockey one, both representing the school. She also plays basketball for the school, so she is an all-rounder really,” outlined Maighread Mhic Dhomhnaill, principal of Seamount College.

“Academically, she is doing very well too. It is encouraging that her studies don’t suffer. I think the discipline she exercises in sport enhances her studies. In the school we see her as a great role model for younger pupils playing sport in the school as well,” she added.

Ms Mhic Dhomhnaill said the young Ballinderreen woman deserves to be recognised for her effort and expressed her admiration for Lisa’s family.

“The schedule she has, we have to commend her family, especially her mum Martina’s commitment too. It takes a whole family to support someone who is that involved in sport,” she concluded.

Lisa is up against Megan Connolly from College Corinthians in Cork and Lauren Dwyer from Wexford Youths for the title of U-17 Irish Player of the Year. The overall winner will be announced at the FAI International Awards in Dublin on Sunday, February 3.

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