Academy Report 22-23 February
First off this week, congratulations to Aibhlinn Cotter, Madison McGuane and Ciara Breslin who were called up to the Irish Women’s U17 squad for UEFA WU17 European Championship qualifiers against Lithuania and the Faroe Islands in Kaunas on March 9th and 12th respectively.
5 of our 6 Treaty United Carelon Academy teams were scheduled for EA Sports League of Ireland Academy league action this weekend. However, our MU20s and MU15s fell foul to the inclement weather leaving 3 teams in action all of whom were away to Cobh Ramblers.
WU17
First into action were our WU17s with their opening game in Group B of the WU17 league.
Our lineup for the game was as follows:
Starting 11:
Ruby Linnane, Caila Neligan, Jennifer Hogan, Kate Lee, Alex Sheehy, Annabel Mulcaire Quille (C), Ellen Goggin, Orlaith O’Connell, Rachel O’Shea, Aoife Frawley, Mioda O’Shea
Subs:
Ellen Hackett, Aoibhe O’Leary, Mylie Treacy, Mya Lee
Our WU17s got their 2025 League of Ireland season off to a flying start on Saturday when they defeated a strong & pacy Cobh side by an impressive scoreline.
Cobh started brightly and troubled a nervous Treaty side in the first 10 minutes but eventually the girls settled into their passing game and began to open up the high Cobh press. On 15 minutes they opened the scoring when an excellent run by midfielder Orlaith O’Connell saw her pick up the ball outside the box on the right and she found Aoife Frawley free from 12 yards who buried her shot in the bottom corner. Cobh continued with their high line which was always going to be risky given the pace and ability of the Treaty girls and on 38 minutes Ellen Goggin played a sublime ball through to Aoife who timed her run to perfection and her shot from outside the box has too much pace & slipped under the advancing Cobh keeper to make it 2-0 which is how it stayed until half time.
The Treaty girls sensed they now had the key to open the Cobh high line and that was the case as they started the second half with Ellen Goggin racing onto a through ball from Rachel O’Shea to calmly dispatch into the bottom right on 52. Ellen was on fire now and she turned provider when she glided past 2 or 3 Cobh defenders to cross for Orlaith O’Connell to score from close range on 53 minutes. Ellen was back 3 minutes later with the best goal of the game when she raced onto a fine headed pass from Orlaith before delightfully lobbing the Cobh keeper from 25 yards. Credit to Cobh through who never stopped fighting and tried to string some passes together but were met by a resolute Treaty defence in Jennifer Hogan & Kate Lee at centre half along with Caila Neligan & Alex Sheehy at full back. Even when Cobh conceded an own goal on 60 minutes when one of their defenders put through their own net after a great Aoife Frawley cross, they kept coming and never stopped playing. Treaty made some changes at this stage to the dismay of Cobh because on came the fresh legs of the solid Aoibhe O’Leary in centre half and Ellen Hackett at right back along with the skilful Mylie Treacy and pacy Mya Lee. On 64 minutes Ellen Hacket won the ball deep in the Treaty half and passed to Ellen Goggin who was well inside the Treaty half. Ellen saw her opportunity to use her skill and pace and ran through the Cobh high line, controlling the ball superbly and then slotting the ball past the advancing keeper for an outstanding goal and her hat-trick.
Cobh again kept coming and had 2 great efforts in the last 20 mins which were excellently saved by the ever ready Ruby Linnane in the Treaty goals. Those saves triggered more attacking play from the Treaty girls though and on 75 minutes after Rachel O’Shea was pulled down outside the Cobh box, up stepped centre half Kate Lee to bury the free kick from 20 yards. The final whistle went soon after and the girls deservedly celebrated their excellent performance with their coaches Kevin O’Dwyer, Rebecca Shinnors and Libby Costelloe. Annabel Mulcaire Quille led the team from defensive midfield position and drove the team forward on every occasion. That combined with the speed and skill of Rachel O’Shea and Mioda O’Shea on both wings gave Treaty an excellent outlet and great attacking options.
Next up for the girls is their first home league game of the season when they meet Cork City on Saturday, March 1st in the Manor Fields, Adare, where the girls will look to maintain their winning start. They are definitely worth a watch. Thanks to the injured trio of Eleanor Blake, Emma Jones and Eibhlin Butler for travelling down to support their teammates and the parents who made the trip and were very vocal on the day.
Sunday saw two of our academy teams in action.
MU14
Our MU14s kicked off their Group B league campaign against Cobh Ramblers at the Stephen Ireland Astro.
Our lineup for the game was as follows:
Starting 11:
Seamus Greene, Marco Lopez, Harry Millan, Fionn Kennedy, Jude Cullen, Yanis Mambouna, Liam McCague, Dion Hannon, Jack Bourke, Sean Kelly (C), Adam Rochford
Subs:
Emmet O’Donnell, Gibby Celebrini, Hugh Canty, Gabriel Nseka, Paddy O’Sullivan, Ciaran Irwin, Conor Browne, Jack Sheehy, Sean O’Carroll
This was our first game of season for this group of players and their first taste of the National league. The turning point in the game was a penalty decision. There were lots of learning points for the squad. Development and Performance is the name of the game at this stage of the player’s development. Sean Kelly and Jude Cullen were the players of the match in very windy conditions. Marco Lopez notched his first goal of the season from some great unit pressing.
We move on with a home fixture vs CK United next Sunday in the Manor Fields.
MU17
Our MU17s also travelled to take on Cobh Ramblers in St Coleman’s Park.
Our lineup for the game was as follows:
Starting 11:
Darragh Van Veen, Joey Nwankwo, Conor O’Mahony, Kian Dempsey, Rory McKeon, Warren O’Mahony, Mark O’Callaghan, Gavin Scanlan, Colin Healy, Alex Omoruyi, Nathanael Mthembu
Subs:
James Rochford, Sean Meere, Timmy O’Sullivan
In tough windy conditions the group showed tremendous maturity in the game. We defended collectively as a unit and we were lightening in transition. It was great to see many new players performing well and it was a great start to the season.
Players who performed well – Rory McKeon made the transition from Grassroots football from Corbally FC and played fantastic in his first LOI game. He scored a brilliant header from a corner to put us 1-0 up. He was defensively solid throughout the 90 mins and showed great maturity in his performance. Alex Omoruyi was a standout performer during the game, where he had 3 assists. His understanding on the pitch to find space was brilliant and caused the opposition a lot of problems.
After Rory had opened the scoring, Colin Healy doubled our advantage before the break. Colin grabbed his second in the 65th minute not long after Cobh had pulled a goal back. James Rochford and Nathanael Mthembu completed our scoring.
Next up for our MU17s is a home game against CK United this Sunday.
