Milton enjoys fruitful week with Ireland

AT just 16 years old, Ciara Milton is one of the hottest young properties in Irish women’s football. She’s clearly enjoying her football this season as she captains Shamrock Rovers U/17’s and has been banging in the goals all season, leading the WNL U/17’s Golden Boot race with 23 goals in ten games.

Just last week the young girl from Killeshin took part in the UEFA U/16 Development Tournament in Finland where she scored four goals in three games as Ireland won the tournament. That brought Milton’s U/16’s international tally up to eight.

First was a 4-0 win over Romania followed by a 3-0 win over Iceland with a 3-1 win over Finland rounding things off.

Milton’s mother Sinead explained to the Laois Nationalist that it was a brilliant experience for the teenager.

“She was there last year as well when they lost two and drew one. This year they won all three. They're a very gelled group. There's a lot of 2010s, which is a group that have been playing up at 17s. There's about eight of them who are under 16s and they play up at the 17s. So they've played an awful lot together, so they're really united.

“And you could really see that. It was a really enjoyable tournament. She really enjoyed it. She scored in every game and scored two in the final and got to captain the last game. It’s a privilege every time you get to pull on that green jersey.”.

Sinead acknowledged that Ciara is enjoying her football at the moment, even making her senior Rovers debut in the All-Island Cup last weekend.

“She's in good form at the minute she's in a good stage of her story. There's dips and highs and lows but she seems to be in a good place at the minute. She’s captaining, she’s scoring, it's just unbelievable. She's still a year young for that age as well. But she's still flying.

“She made her senior Rovers debut last weekend too. The result didn’t go their way but it’s another little step in her development.”