Ellie Brady impresses for Maynooth ladies
Ladies football
Maynooth University ladies senior football team manager Louise Keane has praised the impact of Cavan’s Ellie Brady as her side prepares for tomorrow’s (Thursday) Curran Cup final against ATU Donegal.
Maynooth have been in fine form of late, with Ballyhaise’s Brady and Ballymachugh’s Saoirse Kiernan both members of the squad.
Keane has been particularly impressed with Brady, who captained the Cavan minors to an A grade All-Ireland title and was part of Emmet Daly’s Breffni senior squad this year.
“Ellie has come in as a first year and been super. She's a brilliant fielder of the ball, an excellent player going forward and defending, she's really been great for us in the middle of the pitch,” Kilcock native Keane said.
Maynooth have enjoyed a fine run to date.
“So far we’ve started pretty well,” the manager said.
“We’ve had three round games. Our first was away to DCU, who we played in the first round of the championship last year and lost in extra time. To go there and get a win was really positive. It’s a tough place to go for your first round.”
The strong start continued on the road.
“Our second round then we travelled down to UCC and again got a win, which was brilliant. Going down to UCC, the travel was difficult and it was an absolutely miserable night as well, so all those things make it a tough ask, but to come out of there with a win was really positive.”
They followed up by beating UL at home.
“We would have played UL a lot over the last number of years, so it was great to get three wins in the league. And then we had our semi-final last Thursday against TUD. Obviously playing an O’Connor Cup team would have been a big step up for us and a big test, so to beat them was brilliant. That one went to extra time as well.”
Keane said the character of the group stands out.
“In terms of how happy we are with the girls’ application and effort, we really can’t fault them. They’ve been excellent. I think that TUD game really showed us that the girls just never stopped, never gave up. Honestly, I just couldn’t fault their efforts.”