Captain's thoughts from Keara McDonough: "It's good to be back!"

St. Joseph's Ladies captain Keara McDonough says the club has been working hard the last few months to re-form the ladies team and is excited for the new season.

"It is so good to be back playing football after months of lockdown. Despite time away from the game, it’s been a busy few months for the club. Re-forming as St. Joseph’s Ladies has meant we have had to start from scratch. During the break, we have successfully managed to raise funds to support the ladies’ team for the upcoming season, received generous donations from family and friends who support the club, managed to obtain a match kit sponsor and a training wear sponsor and had equipment donated to us from Customkit Teamwear! The generosity and kindness of the local community and businesses has been overwhelming, and for that I want to say a huge thank you! Without the support from family, friends, Customkit Teamwear, Limitless Digital Group and Sanderson’s Butchers, there is no way this team could have been up and running for the new season. (Sponsor's Page)

I’m very excited to announce that we have a brand new match kit on order with Surridge, along with training wear for all the players and coaches. I can’t wait for the gear to arrive and to pull on the red and white stripes of St. Joseph’s for the second time in my footballing history.

St. Joseph’s F.C. was the club I joined after a 5 year break in football. I had been out of the game for a while and was apprehensive to get started again, but the minute I arrived at training, I was made to feel welcome. I have made friends for life at this club. This is what is so important about St. Joseph’s - we are more than a team, and this is exactly why I wanted to keep this group together and re-form St. Joseph’s Ladies after our previous team folded. Some of my best football memories originated at this club, such as winning the league in the 2015/2016 season.

Lockdown was a difficult time for everyone, particularly when you are a close-knit group and used to seeing each other at least twice a week. In order to keep in touch and to ensure morale stayed high, our right-back, Amy Sturge designed a fantastic interactive quiz every week, and even created a trophy for the winner!

Pre-season has been excellent. The girls’ attitude and work rate has been unbelievable, considering the majority of us hadn’t done much exercise since lockdown began! I’d also like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to Paul at Copa Performance. Paul was brought in to whip us into shape and he has definitely succeeded! We will be ready for the new season… whenever that may be. We have a few friendlies booked in for the upcoming weeks and the girls can’t wait to play competitive football again. Hopefully we can get a decent result to set us up nicely for the new season, but the main thing is we are back, safe and happier than ever".