There was great delight in the club when news filtered through that our under 16 player, Emma Hansberry, had made it into the Republic of Ireland girls U17 world cup squad for the forthcoming world cup in Trinidad and Tobago.

This will make Emma the first Sligo person to make a world cup squad at any level - a unique achievement. It is an even greater achievement when you consider that Emma was not in the squad for the recent European Championships and that she still has another year at this level.

Ireland are drawn in a world cup group with Brazil, Canada and Ghana. To qualify IReland had to win two qualifying groups and then beat Germany in the european semi-final. Ireland open the tournament with a game against Brazil on 6th September and the games are all on Eurosport.

The Under-17 side topped both of their pre-tournament qualifying groups en route to their first ever championship final appearance, winning five games and drawing one, although the team were forced to come from a goal down to beat Sweden in the Ukraine to seal their place in the semi-finals. A 1-0 victory over Germany ensued but they were eventually pipped to the title by Spain, who claimed the crown with a 4-1 penalty shoot-out win in the final with the game having finished goalless at the end of extra time.