Brilliant Becky gets call-up to Ireland U-16 squad

A 15-year old student from Killina Secondary School donned the green jersey and represented her country at the highest level in women's football, after being called up to play with the Ireland U16 soccer squad in Belgium last weekend.

Having captained the Killina girls team to an All-Ireland title in the Junior 'B' national final just weeks ago, Watkins is once again celebrating success on the soccer pitch with a coveted call-up to international duty.
Becky, from Ross Road in Screggan, is the youngest of Noel and Helen Watkins' family of five, and has been playing soccer since she was just six years of age, when she joined her local club, Mucklagh schoolboys/girls FC, where her mentor and trainer was Brendan Galvin.
An all-rounder at sport, the Junior Certificate student is also a member of the Offaly U16 ladies football panel who are competing in the Leinster U16 championship, and she also reached an All-Ireland basketball final when representing her school.
Becky's mother, Helen, was one of three coaches, along with Marcus Martin and Peter Redmond, who guided the Mucklagh girls team to four All-Ireland Community Games soccer titles. And the young soccer starlet continued to play with Mucklagh until her talent was spotted at the Gaynor Cup competition in the University of Limerick and invited to attend trials for Dublin-based club, Peamount United. 
Incidentally, Peamount is the club where Olympic gold medallist and now professional boxer, Katie Taylor, played soccer before she decided to concentrate on boxing.
Watkins was one of three young players from Mucklagh, including Ava Dolan and Ciara Glackin, who went forward for trials with Peamount, and all three successfully made the panel of the prestigious Dublin club, and went on to play on teams which won both League and Cup titles at U15 level.
The three players, who are all students in Killina secondary school, have been involved in the National Women's League, and Becky was one of nine Peamount players to be called up for trials with the Ireland national team last year, which led to her being invited back to participate in regular training camps with the Ireland squad.
Becky heard about her call-up for Ireland when her mother dropped her lunch out to Killina school, and there was great jubilation when she learned that she would be heading off to Belgium last weekend for four days to play two friendly games against Belgian opposition.
With her Junior Certificate exams just weeks away, and a gruelling schedule of training and playing with both the Ireland team and Peamount ahead of her, there certainly won't be much idle time for young Becky for the foreseeable future!