Lucy Doyle Farrington Story

 

Lucy's Doyle Farrington Story

 

The Arklow girl following in the footsteps of Katie Taylor.

 

Club  Lucy began her Arklow United career at U9s and in her own  words she walked up to  the club  and one of the coaches welcomed her with open arms. From her first training session at the club “she felt like she was at home and her coaches gave her belief that she could go a long way in soccer.” In her first ever match for the club a coach handed her a pair of gloves and from then on  she never looked back. Lucy was in a position with the club from the beginning that to play games at any age group she made the decision  to play with the boy’s team as it made her develop as a goalkeeper. Looking back at her career with the club to date she remembers fondly winning a league title against Ashford in 2022. In 2023 she was fortunate enough to go with the club on a trip to Blackpool, Lucy felt that “ anything was possible with her club team and whether winning or losing they did it together.”

 

 

School: In September Lucy went into first year in St Marys where she has developed her game as a goalie and even as an outfield player. With her own U15 team in school she finally experienced playing on an all-girls team in her hometown . This was a wonderful experience for her because as she explains “ football is just a sport that I enjoy no matter who is on the team with me.” In recent weeks the Arklow girl was a part of the schools U17 team that won a Leinster shield. She showed her versatility as a player playing at  attacking midfield on this winning side. .

 

 

 County: After the Covid break Lucy first experienced playing with the county while still playing on an all-boys team. When she first got the call up to play with the lads she felt, “ it was a new chapter in my career and I was going to give it the best shot that I could. Last Summer her County team won the Galway Cup.” I was pumped going into the penalty shootout and I believed that we would win it as we had such great support on the sideline.”  Lucy, who guessed right for every penalty, explains how “she was immensely proud of all the work the coaches had put in before and during the tournament and how this led them to believe that they would come home with the silverware.”

 

 

 

Kennedy Cup

 

 

 

Being one of the first females to play in the Kennedy Cup for Wicklow since the aforementioned Katie Taylor Lucy described how this is going to feel, “  It's a great thing knowing that you have someone to look up to and  hopefully follow and make it in a professional sport.”

 

 

 

 

Leinster: Once the Galway Cup had finished Lucy got called up to the Leinster U15 school team. We get her initial thoughts on this achievement.”  I felt like it was my chance to go and show that I could do it at a high level.”  The Leinster side that she was a part of were lucky enough to beat their rivals Munster to win the FAI schools U15 girls’ interprovincial  tournament.

 

 

 

 

 

Ireland. Following on from her performance at the FAI schools she got the opportunity to train with the Irish team in Athlone in February. After a number of training sessions she found out  she  had been selected for the Bob Doherty Cup that was played in Athlone during the Easter Holidays. After the call up she explained how she felt before the tournament, “ I was excited to wear the green jersey and was delighted that all my hard work had paid off. “ At the end of the tournament she was the only goalie from Ireland, Scotland , England and Northern Ireland to keep a clean sheet.

 

 

 

 

Soccer courses over the summer to teach young kids. .

In the upcoming  weeks the young girl has already decided to give back to her local community. Firstly, she is going to give two local schools a presentation on football. While bringing in her Ireland cap. The schools are  Scoil Ghormáin Naofa, Castletown.  and St Joseph's, her old primary school. She is also going to  support at the  Arklow united summer camps as this is where her journey began four years ago.