Ireland Under-15 Girls 1

Wales Under-15 Girls 3

BARRY Town United FC player Grace Corne represented Wales in Dublin at the weekend in the Bob Docherty Home Nations Cup.

The Wales Under-15 Girls squad took on tournament hosts Ireland in their opening fixture on Sunday and after an all-action first half the game remained all square at 0 - 0.

Ireland took the lead through a penalty in the second half but the young Dragons got back on level terms with a penalty of their own through Abergavenny Town player, Lucy Attwood.

With the match finishing 1 - 1, a penalty shootout was required to determine the victors and Wales came out on top 3 - 1.

Grace started the game in her usual central defensive position and put in an excellent performance along with her team mates to give Wales the perfect start to tournament in which they will now play Scotland for a place in the final.

It has been a fantastic 18 months as part of the national set-up and her achievements further emphasises the opportunities available in the female game.

Barry Town Ladies FC chairman, Luke Williams commented: “We are really proud of Grace and her achievements to date and this follows a great 12 months with a number of Barry players representing Wales also in the 2016 event.

"The club is doing a great job of developing technically gifted players that are being selected for the national and regional teams on a regular basis and I have no doubt there are more to come through the system in the coming years.

“In the 2016 event we had no less than seven players as part of Wales’ two squads which just shows the strength in depth we have in our junior set-up which will eventually feed into our senior teams.

"The club’s excellent community work in local schools over the past five years has seen hundreds of girls take up football and Grace herself started through this very means.

“We saw Grace for the first time aged 10 playing for Romilly Junior School in a Vale Girls Football Primary Festival that we delivered in June 2012 and as they say the rest is history.

"We knew she had great talent but her hard work and dedication has seen her grow into an international player which is a credit to her.”

Barry Town Ladies FC are currently the largest female football set-up in Wales with more than 220 players and 14 teams currently participating in the local South Wales Women’s and Girls League and new players are always welcome.

The club offers football from ages five through the senior ladies and to find out more please visit btuladies.co.uk, email: btuladies@gmail.com or ring 07772 022435.