The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council Sportswoman Award For July is Chloe Mustaki

13 Aug 2014

The Irish uncer-19 football team received due credit in April as they won their place in the European Championships for the first time.

Manager Dave Connell insisted they wouldn't be travelling to the finals "for a holiday"

And so it proved.

Game One: Ireland 1, Spain 0. And the player who got the goal, Clare Shine, broke her leg in April. The speediest of recoveries.

Game Two: Ireland 2, England 1. And they were a goal down too, McCarthy equalising 12 minutes in to the second half, before Keeva Keenan got the winner four minutes from time.

Game Three: Ireland 2, Sweden 1. Another comeback, McCarthy equalising again, this time Megan Connolly scoring the winner with 10 minutes to go.

So, Ireland topped their group and made it through to the semi-finals in their debut in the competition.

Their run ended at the hands of the eventual champions, the Netherlands winning 4-0. Connell was, rightly, a proud man. "It has been a dream come true for everybody to get this far. We are very, very proud of the girls. I think we have boxed well above our weight over the last few weeks. We beat three great nations. We would like to taste it again," he said.

As ever, with team displays of this quality, it's simply not possible to single out a player, The Irish Times - Irish Sports Council judges are going their traditional route by choosing the captain, Peamount United's Chloe Mustaki, both for her own performances and as a representative of the team, as our Sportswoman of the Month for July.

With this crew coming through, the future looks bright for Irish women's international football.