Kentstown Rovers player set for UEFA Women's Tournament

Meath girl and Kentstown Rovers player Lauryn Grier has been included in the Republic of Ireland Women's panel for a UEFA Women's Under-16 Development Tournament in Hungary by manager Sharon Boyle.

The squad departed on Friday after a training session at the FAI National Training Centre on Thursday.

The tournament will kick-off tomorrow (Sunday) with a game against Slovakia followed by games against Bosnia & Herzegovina and Hungary.

Grier played for the Republic of Ireland u-16 girls last month in a 2-0 win against the Wales u-17 side at Dragon Park, Newport and also in a second game.

She becomes the fifth player from the 2014 Under-14 NEC Gaynor Cup squad to play international football. Grier also plays Gaelic football for Simonstown Gaels and Meath.

Ireland will host the UEFA Women's Under-17 Championships Qualifying Round which will take place in October against Iceland, Belarus and Faroe Islands.

Boyle’s side beat Wales 2-0 and 4-0 in those two friendly internationals.

'The expectations would be to try and win all the games and hopefully the girls will develop and progress to Dave Bell's U17s next season,' said Boyle.

'Some of them have already been up there - Tiegan Ruddy, Heather Payne and Sadhbh Doyle - and it's great to have the three of them back to lead the other girls. They can show what the standard is like at under-17 level.

'I wouldn't underestimate the sides we're playing against. They're all developing well and you can see countries like Azerbaijan reaching UEFA W under-19 Finals that teams across Europe are making progress.

'All around the park we've a strong group of players to work with. We have players who can play in different positions, which is something we've been working on over the past year.

'We showed with our clean sheets in Wales last month that we're strong defensively and we've worked on shape and not conceding goals, but we are also focused on the attacking side of the game,' she concluded.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND WU16 SQUAD:

Lauryn Grier (Kentstown Rovers FC)

Erica Turner (Shelbourne Ladies FC)

Aoife Fennell (Shelbourne Ladies FC)

Sadhbh Doyle (Salthill Devon)

Heather Payne (Salthill Devon)

Emma Lawlor (Emo Celtic FC)

Tiegan Ruddy (Peamount United)

Harriet Lambe (Bristol City Academy)

Hannah O'Donoghue (Killarney Celtic)

Amy Boyle Carr (Donegal Town FC)

Bethany Fensom Carroll (Piltown AFC)

Megan MacKey (Chelsea Ladies FC)

Tyler Toland (Maiden City)

Aoife Lynagh (Salthill Devon)

Carla McManus (Bealnamulla FC)

Gillian Keenan (Emo Celtic FC)

Tara Cully (Shelbourne Ladies FC)

Rachel Baynes (Castlebar Celtic)

Keelin McEntee (Peamount United)

Sally Kelly (Tramore FC)

FIXTURES

Sunday 8th May

Republic of Ireland v Slovakia (12.30pm Irish)

Tuesday 10th May

Bosnia & Herzegovina v Republic of Ireland (12.30pm Irish)

Thursday 12th May

Hungary v Republic of Ireland, (9.00am Irish)