Trailblazer Evie nets place at Euros

Lurgan schoolgirl Evie McCafferty will make history this week when she becomes the first Clann Eireann netballer to represent Northern Ireland in an international tournament, the European Under 17 Championships in Antrim.

Two Clann Eireann gaelic footballers, senior international Dearbhla Coleman and former age group player Meabh McCambridge, have already worn the green dress in netball but both belong to Lisburn-based club Kingsway.

With these Euros taking place on home soil and such a vibrant club behind her, McCafferty is guaranteed to have strong support at Antrim Forum for the tournament, which will run over four days.

The emerging girls in green face Scotland on Thursday (7pm), the United Arab Emirates on Friday (7.15pm) and Wales on Saturday (10.45am) before finishing with their toughest game against England on Sunday (2.15pm).

As hosts, Netball NI is also permitted to field a B team in the secondary section of these European U17 Championships, which is comprised of the Republic of Ireland, Gibraltar, Isle of Man and Switzerland.

Although Clann Eireann’s first team are only in the third tier of the NNI Leagues at adult level, there is an incredible buzz in the Lurgan club which is doing outstanding work with their youth section thanks to the efforts of Sinead Toal and others.

That was powerfully manifested this past weekend when Netball NI held their first mini-blitz, featuring teams from six clubs, and all three Clann Eireann teams entered reached the semis, with two of them contesting the final!

There is also a wonderful fervour for the Warriors, with a big group of Clann Eireann youngsters giving captain Caroline O’Hanlon and her Northern Ireland team a guard of honour at the airport last August on their arrival home from the Commonwealth Games.

A massive Clann Eireann contingent turned out to cheer on O’Hanlon and her girls in green the following month when Northern Ireland played Uganda at South Lake Leisure Centre, the first ever netball international to take place in county Armagh.

There is huge excitement in the club about the prospect of watching their homegrown hero McCafferty taking to the court in a green dress in the coming days and the talented 15-year-old has already caught the eye of O’Hanlon.

The legendary Warriors skipper was present when NI Under 17s played the Republic of Ireland Under 19s a few weeks after the Commonwealth Games and McCafferty was thrilled to be picked out as Player of the Match by her hero!

The tall McCafferty is also a gifted gaelic footballer who has won multiple medals with Clann Eireann age group teams this past season and has an All Ireland Under 16 B final to look forward to with her school, St Ronan’s College Lurgan, early next month.

She is also part of this season’s Armagh Under 16 panel along with Clann Eireann clubmate Aoife McDonald, who is also in the wider NI Under 17 netball squad but was sidelined by injury for several months last autumn which hurt her chances of selection for the Euros.

Already an important role model to all the even younger girls in her club, McCafferty was given a great send-off ahead of this international tournament when she attended Clann Eireann’s mid-term camp last week.

“As a club we couldn’t be prouder of Evie, who is off to play in her first Under 17 European Championship with the NI U17 squad.  At just 15 years old, she’s out there being the little superstar we always knew she could be,” Clann Eireann posted on Facebook.

This week’s NI U17 squad also includes Anna Rice, daughter of former NI Warriors supremo Elaine Rice, who along with another leading coach Clar-Rois McGuinness had earmarked McCafferty as a top prospect from a very early age.

“Clar-Rois and Elaine spotted the talent way back when Evie was in P7 and she became one of the youngest netballers to make the NI U13 development squad.  She’s achieved so much in a short space of time and we know she’ll continue to go from strength to strength.”

Northern Ireland haven’t a great record at age group international level in recent years, though the Under 21s won European Championship silver medals in November 2021 under the captaincy of senior star Michelle Magee.

Meanwhile, Magee and new signing O’Hanlon endured double defeat with Leeds Rhinos in their British SuperLeague games over the weekend, as an understrength side lost 62-57 away to Saracens Mavericks and then 66-48 at home to table toppers Surrey Storm.

In the absence of O’Hanlon and also McCaffrey’s St Ronan’s College gaelic football coach Niamh Marley, who is currently trialling with the Irish rugby sevens set-up, Armagh made it four wins out of four in NFL Division Two at the weekend.

A hat-trick by Aimee Mackin was supplemented by two cracking goals from Aoife McCoy as Armagh romped to a sixth consecutive victory over old rivals Tyrone, winning 5-10 to 1-7 at Omagh’s Healy Park.  They will welcome Laois to the Athletic Grounds this Sunday (2pm).