Sibling soccer stars return to Scoil Bhride

Photos: Scoil Bhride.

Past pupils Finn and Della Cowper Gray made a return to Scoil Bhríde Kilcullen on Tuesday, February 13th to present the Kildare Primary Soccer Division 1 Winners medals to the boys school soccer team, writes Sarah Fitzgerald.

Finn and Della both played on the school soccer teams when they were pupils in Scoil Bhride and in fact Finn was part of the first (and last) Scoil Bhride boys team to have won the Division 1 trophy back in 2017/2018.

Despite having only taken up the sport at the age of 10 and 12 respectively, Finn and Della have gone from strength to strength in their respective fledgling careers and both have been capped by Irish underage international sides. Della plays for Shamrock Rovers U17 girls; she played for the girls in green in their 1-0 victory over Portugal on January 24th.

Finn has played on U15 and U16 Irish teams and was part of a home-based U18 squad in August 2022. He now plays for Bohemians (arch-rivals of Della's Shamrock Rovers club) U20s and made his debut for the Bohemians first team in the Leinster Senior Cup vs Drogheda United on January 24th, the same day that Della was doing the business for the girls in green in Portugal.

Della is participating in the first ever FAI Transition Year Football and Fitness programme for girls only and Finn is preparing for his leaving Certificate exams in CPC, Kilcullen.

Both Finn and Della showed a maturity far beyond their tender years as they described their experiences of elite level sport. They discussed the highs of representing their country as well as the lows of being left out of some squads, sometimes. They gave a real insight into life as part of an Irish training camp from strict diet, nutrition and hydration to tactical instruction and awareness and in-depth specific programmes for players to work on strengths and weaknesses. They were brilliantly interviewed by current Scoil Bhríde pupils Alan Pochlopien and Brooke Smyth.

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