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Carn woman on Republic’s under-17
team
11.03.08
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Story: Inishowen Independent
Carn FC’s Zoe Doherty
returns from warm weather training in Portugal’s
Algarve later today ahead of next week’s UEFA Under
17, Elite Qualifying phase tournament in France.
The 17 year-old was a member of a large party of
Republic of Ireland women footballers who are
preparing for various European competitions. The
under-17 competition kicks-off next Tuesday, 18
March, in the Stade Jean Laffon in Perpignan in the
south of France with a game against Scotland. |
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The Republic will play
hosts France on Thursday and conclude their campaign
with a game against Norway. With only one place on
offer for the UEFA Championships Finals to be held
at the Colovray Stadium in Nyon in Switzerland in
May, the Irish side will have to carry through their
fine form that secured their passage from the first
qualifying phase if they are to secure
qualification.
Doherty, the Inishowen league’s top goalscorer last
season, has established herself as first choice |
centre forward and has
a couple of international goals to her credit. She
played a recent friendly international versus Poland
in Dublin.
The squad travelled to the Algarve last Thursday and
have played their under-19 counterparts in two
training games. “We’ve been training twice a day
since, which has been tough,” Zoe said. “We’re
trying to replicate the conditions we’ll have at the
tournament. After training, for example, we come
back to do some work in the pool. It’s very
professional and everything is organised down to a
tee.”
With manager Noel King expected to deploy a 4-4-1-1
formation, Zoe will play as a lone striker,
something she’s become accustomed to in her recent
international outings.
“It’s a difficult position to play sometimes,” she
admits, “but it’s the system we’re used to and the
team will be going all out to win our three games
and ensure qualification.”
Ireland lost to France late last year, but Doherty
is not putting any store by that result. “Our
manager took a head count at dinner on Sunday and we
discovered that we had ten different players from
that last France game,” she said. “It will be
completely different in Perpignan next week.”
Zoe is one of two Donegal women in the 17 strong
squad; Finn Valley’s Tanya Kennedy is the county’s
other representative.
The Republic qualified from a group including
Turkey, Moldova and Sweden last October. They will
play Scotland on Tuesday next, France on Thursday
and Norway on Sunday with the table topping team
qualifying for the European under-17 finals in
Switzerland in May. |
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