McNamee and McAloon in Republic Women's squad

Chloe McNamee from Oldcastle and Naoisha McAloon from Ratoath have been included in the Republic of Ireland Women's u-19 squad ahead of the UEFA 2018 European Championships qualifying round.

McNamee plays for Shelbourne Ladies and McAloon for Peamount Utd and both players will be looking forward to next week's challenge.

It has been a good week for the women's game with the announcement today that Government funding of €200,000 that will be used for elite player development in Women's Football.

The grant will aid the running of the Republic of Ireland Women's Senior Team and follows a period of application and submissions from the Association to Government.

The extra funding will go towards operational running costs for the Women's Senior Team and to enable an increase in training and match programmes to maximise contact hours.

The funding, which was secured by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and announced by Minister of State Brendan Griffin, will enable further progression on the elite player pathway for Women's players.

The Irish u-19s face a trip to the Netherlands next week as they look to progress to the elite round in their quest to qualify for the European Championships in Switzerland next July. 
Ireland face Estonia, Latvia on Saturday and the Netherlands from 18th - 24th October (see schedule below).
Republic of Ireland WU19's Head Coach Dave Connell said: "I'm really looking forward to working with the group ahead of next week's qualifying round fixtures.
"It'll be a tough task for the players as we will be facing three good sides, including the Netherlands, who were last year's u-17 and u-19 semi-finalists. "You can never take anything for granted in football but I'm sure if we can play to the best of our abilities, we have every chance to progress to the elite phase," he added.

Goalkeepers: Naoisha McAloon (Peamount United), Sophie Lenihan (Wexford Youths)
Defenders: Sadhbh Doyle (Galway WFC), Chloe Singleton (Galway WFC), Tiegan Ruddy (Shelbourne Ladies), Lauren O'Callaghan (Peamount United), Lynn Craven (Shelbourne Ladies), Jade Reddy (Peamount United)
Midfielders: Niamh Farrelly (Peamount United), Orla Casey (Wexford Youths), Phoebe Warner (Aston Villa), Tara O'Gorman (Cork City WFC), Keelin McEntee (UCD Waves), Daniele Burke (Cork City WFC), Leah Reybet Degat (Team Vaud).
Attackers: Carla McManus (Peamount United), Chloe McNamee (Shelbourne Ladies), Saoirse Noonan (Cork City WFC), Kate Mooney (Shelbourne Ladies) Lauren Kelly (UCD Waves)
FIXTURES
WEDNESDAY 18th OCTOBER
Estonia v Republic of Ireland, 3pm
SATURDAY 21st OCTOBER
Republic of Ireland v Latvia, 11am

TUESDAY 24th OCTOBER 
Republic of Ireland v Netherlands, 5pm