
Life

Share
25th October 2014
05:00pm BST

"With the holiday already booked I had to make a decision. It was difficult as I was looking forward to the holiday for so long, but I saw it as an opportunity to try to play for my country which does not come around too often so the decision was made for me. I could go on many more holidays in the future but playing for Ireland .....well! What I did instead was when I returned from Denmark I went to Spain the following morning and joined my family there for the remaining four days.
"This wasn't my first time in an Irish jersey. I've been lucky enough to be capped at under 15, 16 and 17 levels too. The trials for the under 19 though were really, really tough," she continued, adding that five of her other clubmates had also got called to Denmark. “To be honest, I was putting those trials down to experience, and when it came to announce the squad that would travel to Denmark, I genuinely didn’t think I’d be anywhere near it. When they announced that I was in, I couldn’t even speak. I was in complete and utter shock!” she laughed.
“We were told to bring our passports to the trials, so we literally headed off the next day to Denmark, it was absolutely unreal. We played Denmark on Tuesday and Thursday, and I got to play half an hour of the second game at right wing back so I was really pleased. To get an under 19 cap is just unbelievable,” she grinned.
With the Leaving Cert looming on the horizon, Lauren maintains that she’s going to keep playing soccer throughout the year as she hopes to win a sports scholarship to Maynooth University to study a science-based course such as Bio-Med.
Lauren also helps out on the coaching side of things and is involved with the Peamount Academy and has worked with the MGL Under 14 team. A prefect in St Wolstan’s College in Celbridge, Lauren added that her school has been a massive support throughout her playing career to date.
“The school have been fantastic, whenever I’ve had to miss school for trips or that they have emailed me everything, from work I’ve missed to corrections. They’ve been fantastic. My family are a massive support too and all the people in the club are fantastic.
“I’m playing senior football now, and have been picked on the Women's National League Peamount squad too which is brilliant. It's been very exciting and that and the under 19 cap has been a huge boost for my confidence. Denmark was a very valuable experience, and I found it very different from the under 16 and 17 squads, as it helped me to understand what is required to play at the higher levels which I can now work on in my home club."Explore more on these topics: