McNulty hails 'unbelievable year' as Cappry Rovers girls celebrate remarkable treble

Cappry Rovers celebrated a remarkable achievement on Thursday night after their Girls Under-12, Under-14 and Under-16 teams all captured the Premier Division titles this year.

It is only the second time a club has managed to win all three age-grade competitions in the same season, following in the footsteps of Lagan Harps.

The success is all the more impressive given that the Cappry girls' teams are only in their fourth year of competing, having grown tenfold in that time.

Club chairman Paddy McNulty, who is also head coach of the Under-12 and Under-16 teams, has been central to that development, while Leo Gallagher guided the Under-14 side to their title.

McNulty spoke to DonegalLive at Cappry Park on Thursday as they got all the teams together on Thursday to celebrate a successful year for the whole club at girls' level.

And the chairman believes the achievement is a testament to the work being put in by the players and coaches, as well as the growing enthusiasm for girls' football in the area.

“It’s been an unbelievable year, especially given that it’s only our fourth year now. To win all three age groups in one year is a massive achievement for the club, the coaches, and the girls, so we were delighted to be able to celebrate it.

“Four years ago we started with ten players, and now we’re up to nearly 100 girls from Under sixes up to 16s. We have two teams at 12s and 14s, and we were touching on two teams at 16s, so it has been an incredible buy-in from the area, and the girls put in the commitment and they have got their rewards for it.

“Only one other club has won all three of those titles in one year at Premier Division level, but nobody has done that within four years.”

The rapid growth has been supported by the facilities at Cappry Park, with the installation of an all-weather astro turf pitch at the beginning of the 2020s providing a major boost to the club's ability to accommodate its expanding numbers.

McNulty also alluded to the quality of players coming through the surrounding communities, with the club benefiting from a strong pool of talent in the Ballybofey and surrounding areas.

“There’s a lot of quality in the area and between Glenfin girls and MacCumhaills girls, there’s a wide selection of players and the facilities are also a big one. Six years ago, we brought in the new astro turf, and girls can come here and train and go home clean, so the astro turf has been the best thing about the club.”

The club's development has not been confined to the astro turf, with a major investment in their main playing surface at Cappry Park, providing another significant step forward, while further improvements to the surrounding facilities are continuing to take place.

“Just about a year ago we opened what is probably one of the best pitches in Donegal at the minute, so the development both on and off the pitch is ongoing all the time, and that is huge for the area.

“We only use the astro for seven-a-side, but we moved to the Finn Valley for the year we were away, but whenever we got back to our home pitch, it made a big difference.

“The pitch is state-of-the-art with a fence around it, and the FAI Clubmark gave us funding to build a walkway around it and we’ve just recently got a council grant to do up our dressing rooms so the work is happening all the time.”

Having established such a strong underage structure, the next ambition for Cappry Rovers is to provide a pathway for those players into senior football.

“That is the aim. We’ve been playing in the senior women's seven-a-side competition from January to April, and we’re hoping now to push on and get a senior team in the new year going at 11-a-side, which will be another big development in the club and ladies football.

“There’s a lot of work being done by the Donegal Women’s League, and we have a lot of players playing at county level, and there were three girls from the club playing Ulster schools during the week, and we hope to have an international at girls' level coming out of this club in the coming years.”