St Finbarr's ladies football club takes another big step

WINNING a Cork LGFA county junior league title was ample reward for a St Finbarr’s team in their first year competing at adult level.

Natasha Varian is one of many St Finbarr’s camogie players that were eager to get an adult ladies football team up and running within their local club.

The Barrs set up an U14 girls football panel back in 2018 and began entering teams in the various Cork LGFA age grades over the ensuing years. Demand grew and the time was right to field at adult level at the end of last year. St Finbarr’s played their maiden junior league match in 2021, overcoming Carrigtwohill 6-12 to 2-6 to conclude a successful first competitive outing.

Since then, the Barrs have gone from strength to strength.

Captain Natasha Varian and her teammates were delighted claim a Cork LGFA league title in their first year. Defeating Kilworth, another fledgling ladies football team, St Finbarr’s got their hands on county league silverware and the future is looking bright for a dedicated group of players, coaches and managers.

“Ladies football is going from strength to strength in our club and it is great to see so many dual players involved,” Natasha Varian told the Echo.

“St Finbarr’s started out with a U14 team and just grew things from there. We looked into starting a ladies football team long before that but nothing came of it at the time. Then, the underage was going well and, last year, we were asked about putting together a junior team. 

There was a great response, a lot of interest and we started training in October.

“We were a bag of nerves playing our first league match against Carrigtwohill the first night. No one knew what to expect. Thank God, we played well. It was a relief to come away with a win from it.” Once initial fears abated, St Finbarr’s knuckled down and committed to two weekly training sessions plus a football match every weekend. All that on top of the same group of players’ camogie commitments.

“The players are sensible about their football and camogie demands,” Varian added.

“I listen to my body and sit out a training session if I feel over-tired. I think all the players have adopted the same approach and things have worked out for us. It is a big demand but if we couldn’t train, we would still turn up and watch, be some part of it. All the girls on our football panel are old enough and wise enough when it comes to managing their workload at this stage.” 

DEPTH

A panel of 30 players signed up for St Finbarr’s inaugural Cork LGFA junior league campaign culminating in an unexpected league final appearance against Kilworth. Unsurprisingly, the build-up to the Barrs’ final was tinged with nerves.

A 2-8 to 1-5 victory over Kilworth sparked wild scenes of celebration at the final whistle and who could blame the Barrs?

“We were going really well in the first few games and then we lost to Killavullen,” Natasha Varian said.

“That brought us back down to earth! We had to work even harder in training after that. Getting a few walkovers rather than leagues games was difficult and didn’t do us any good really. That’s when the club arranged challenge matches against local teams Douglas and Ballincollig.

“Those were really tough games really but stood to us. They are teams operating are a few divisions above us but nobody felt bad losing to Douglas because we gave them such a good game. Those challenge matches told us exactly where we were and what we needed to do to keep improving.

Winning a league trophy was fantastic for everyone involved but we did what we always did throughout the year and had fun. There was never any pressure from our management team. We played our own game.

“Coming back to the club with a trophy, we got such a great reception. There was huge support for us throughout the year and not just in the final.” 

This new St Finbarr’s LGFA team had come a long way since their first training session the previous October. The best is yet to come.

St Finbarr’s: 

Natasha Varian, Ellen Crowley, Rachel Finn, Eimear Hurley, Sharon Madden, Emma Lavers, Keeva McCarthy, Sofia Daly, Emma Olden, Lynda O’Connell, Ciara Keating, Jess Keating, Erin Browne Ryan, Steph Punch, Grainne Cahalane, Orlagh McCarthy, Aisling Shannon, Leona O’Hanlon, Ciara Cotter, Emma O’Donovan, Lesley Ann Wilkinson, Caoimhe Walsh, Niamh O’Connell and Lorraine Sweeney.