Wellington/Hutt Valley women's footballers win Australasian State Games
Wellington/Hutt Valley women's footballers created history in Melbourne on Saturday 1 October when they won the Australasian State Games intermediate tournament, defeating South Australia 8-9 (33) to 3-11 (20) in a cracking final.
It's an absolutely amazing achievement from a fantastic group of players. Wellington/Hutt Valley have competed at the games on and off since 1988 and this is their first piece of silverware at the tournament in those 34 years. You can read a full round-up of the tournament here.
While it took 14 stars to bring home the silverware from the tournament, the team did have a few standout performers who picked up tournament All-Star awards at Saturday's gala ball: Heather Williamson; Mairéad Bogue; Jennifer Downey; Eilís Ní Chaiside; Aisling King; Andrea O'Reilly; and Tiaré Verenitani. Well done to each of you. And a special shout-out to Andrea O'Reilly who duly won player of the tournament after some outstanding performances over the three days.
The team's success would not have been possible without the support they had before and during the tournament. Big thanks to tournament team assistants Kevin Brannigan and Sam Bircham, and to Sam for his great snaps of the games. And a big bualadh bos to the top-class coaching duo of Davey Rynne and Ronan O'Malley who trained the team in the lead-up to the tournament and who clearly had them in fine fettle and playing some brilliant football.
It's also fair to say that this success has been years in the making – so thank you to all the players and coaches who have gone before. The work and committment you each put in over the years has undoubtedly contributed to this victory.
