'It's been unreal' - Teenager Weir on whirlwind NI debut
Weir only found out the morning of the match at Inver Park that she would be starting, something she says did not give her "too much time to think"."We were going through set plays and I was like 'oh my gosh', my name was on the starting team," she said."I was straight onto the phone to tell my dad, I was buzzing. It's a dream come true."If I had known about it last night (Monday, the night before the game) I think I would have been overthinking it a bit more."I had to get stuck in and play my game."
Now, Weir's focus is back on her A-Levels and the new season with her club Glentoran.But after Weir put in another strong showing against Bosnia-Herzegovina, there's no doubt that it won't be her last start at this level.She was unfortunate not to grab a goal on her first start, with two efforts well saved by goalkeeper Almina Hodzic and a third went wide. But the fact she was getting into positions to score shows a natural instinct, while her link-up play was impressive despite only stepping into the senior camp the previous week."I came off and I was gutted because I had a good three shots and their keeper saved a couple," she added."I'll have to put them away next time but I'm buzzing with my performance."
'I'm excited to see her journey'
In Simone Magill, who hit two late goals to give NI victory over the Bosnians, Weir has the ideal role model to look up to.Both natural number nines, Weir says Northern Ireland's captain is "an unreal player"."Her movement off the ball, she scores goals and she is absolutely amazing," said Weir."She has been helping me through the whole camp and guiding me, which has been great. I love the support from her."Magill said she had been impressed with the youngster, who is "hungry to learn and asks lots of questions"."Kascie has been excellent this week with how she has slotted in and not looked out of place," said Magill. "She was really unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. I'm really pleased for her and she'll be delighted with her performance as well."Hopefully it's something she can keep building on and I'm really excited to see where her journey is going to go."
After putting her faith in youth, Northern Ireland manager Tanya Oxtoby said Weir was "superb" on her first start and was unfortunate not to get her name on the scoresheet."I think people are learning with me now that if you're good enough, you're old enough," added Oxtoby. "She has impressed since she has been in with us and she earned her start tonight." The Australian hinted at young players following the lead of Weir and midfielder Keri Halliday and stepping into the senior team from the under-19s in the future."You'll see a few more, for sure. We're in a really good place. "There are a few who are transitioning out (of the under-19s) and probably ready to start to be integrated into the squad. "We're definitely in a really good space in terms of the squad."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
15 minutes ago
- BBC News
'Sockgate', face-offs and Gibson goals
The second set of fixtures of the new Irish Premiership season may have seen only four matches played rather than the regular six, but Saturday's action still managed to throw up its fair share of talking Rangers and Glentoran established themselves as the pacesetters at this very early stage of the 2025-26 campaign as both clubs made it six points from six by securing home wins over Glenavon and Bangor Cliftonville and Coleraine played out a goalless draw at Solitude, while Portadown defeated nine-man Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park for their first victory of the new Sport NI looks at some of the main takeaways from the weekend's quadruple-header. Defences 'box clever' after 'sockgate' Ultimately, some of the talking points around the eagerly anticipated 'match of the day' between Cliftonville and Coleraine surrounded events before the game and during the half-time interval of Saturday's heavyweight encounter in north the run-up to kick-off it emerged that Coleraine had neglected to bring their match socks to Solitude, with a representative of the Bannsiders having to be hastily dispatched to a local sports retailer to acquire the necessary footwear, in dark blue to avoid any potential clash of colours with their after a first half which saw both sides barely able to land a glove on their opponents, supporters were treated to a half-time face-off in the centre circle as boxers Matty Boreland and Ruadhan Farrell squared a Coleraine supporter, and Cliftonville fan Farrell, will meet on the undercard of the Lewis Crocker-Paddy Donovan rematch at Windsor Park on 13 the pitch, Magilton's men and Higgins' charges slugged it out after some early sparring, but neither was able to find a knockout blow and had to settle for a share of the the array of attacking talent on display, including Joel Cooper, Matthew Shevlin and Joe Gormley, defences were largely on top and goalmouth action mostly at a Curran came close to scoring for the home side while substitute Gormley believed the challenge which helped prevent him scoring in the dying moments was metaphorically 'below the belt' and should have been punished with a penalty. Cliftonville still chase their first win of the season, while Coleraine fans retain high hopes that their club's investment will continue to allow them to 'punch above their weight' in comparison with previous years and add to their solitary previous Irish League title success in 1974. Gibson among the goals again The race for the Gibson Cup may be very much in its infancy but the name of the trophy which is awarded annually to the Irish League champions was well to the fore on Gibson's first-half goal at Taylors Avenue proved enough to condemn Glenavon to a second straight league defeat, the former Glentoran striker making it three goals in two games after contributing a double in the stunning opening day comeback success against Carrick frontman applied the finishing touch to Paul Heatley's delivery and has now racked up 40 goals in 90 appearances for the side. The victory secured manager Stephen Baxter's first back-to-back league wins in charge of the east Antrim club on a playing surface which he described to listeners of Radio Ulster's Sportsound as "lively and bumpy"."I'm very pleased to get off to the start we have but it's very early days. We have a new squad and it takes time to get them playing the way we want them to," said Baxter, whose team only retained their Premiership status via the end-of-season play-off in asked if he was concerned that his side's early momentum may suffer from the postponement of Tuesday's scheduled league meeting with Linfield, the former Crusaders manager explained that he was happy with the fixture being delayed as his players "needed a rest".Glenavon, meanwhile, travel to Glentoran in midweek still searching for their first point of the new campaign. Dungannon more Gibson goals Dungannon's disappointing start to the campaign continued as they went down to a comprehensive 4-1 defeat by Shamrock Reds took significant early steps towards clinching their first points of the new season by moving 2-0 ahead and, despite Sean McAllister pulling one back from the penalty spot, late second-half goals from new signing Jordan Gibson ensured the win for Niall Currie's Swifts' cause was not helped by the dismissal of skipper Gael Bigirimana for a high challenge on Eamon Fyfe late in the first half followed by substitute Leo Alves receiving a red card for two bookable offences in quick losses and seven goals conceded, with just one goal, a spot-kick, scored, does not represent the start manager Rodney McAree will have been looking for as he sets out to build on the Irish Cup success, fourth-place league finish and European qualification that his team achieved last season. '1-0 to the Glentoran...' Successive 1-0 triumphs in their opening two matches of the season is hardly enough to see Glentoran labelled with the terrace chant associated with the efficient Arsenal side who picked up the knack of winning games by the single-goal scoreline in the 1990s. However, everyone associated with the Oval outfit will take those opening 1-0 wins over Portadown and Bangor very nicely as a potential springboard towards building a Premiership title won just nine of their previous 24 home league games prior to beating the Seasiders, manager Declan Devine will hope that Saturday's victory at the Oval, courtesy of a goal from recent acquisition Ryan Cooney, will also provide a platform for improved results on their home patch in the top tier this the match, Devine told Sportsound listeners that he was "pleased with a lot of the football his side played" and "there were a lot of good individual performances".The Glens boss pronounced himself particularly happy with the displays of two of his other summer signings - Jordan Stewart and substitute Liam Burt - who made a positive impact off the bench after overcoming a long-term hip Bangor's part, they defended resolutely for much of the game, but Kyle Owens' error when misplacing an attempted back-pass proved decisive and provided a stark reminder for the Seasiders, if one were required, of how mistakes are ruthlessly punished in the top division, following their curtain-raising 3-1 win over Cliftonville last weekend.
Belfast Telegraph
16 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Why every Glentoran fan should be hoping for Linfield victory over Shelbourne in European showdown
This goes against the grain for every Glentoran fan, but they should be hoping for a Linfield victory over Shelbourne in the UEFA Conference League Play-Off because it might just benefit the east Belfast club's title challenge – and the same goes for Coleraine. The thought of the Blues winning any game of football, never mind a tie that could bring them in the guts of £3million, isn't a palatable one for the Glens, though they ought to consider the bigger picture here and remember it's a long time since 2009 when they last savoured that Champion feeling.
BBC News
18 hours ago
- BBC News
Glens, Carrick and Ports win as Reds and Coleraine draw
Glentoran made it back-to-back wins to start the Irish Premiership season as they beat Bangor 1-0 at the Rangers also picked up a second successive victory as they defeated Glenavon 1-0 at Taylors Avenue courtesy of Danny Gibson's got off and running with a thumping 4-1 win against nine-man Dungannon Swifts, who have lost their first two and Coleraine played out a drab 0-0 draw at Solitude. Glens grab second league win After a slow start, Glentoran came within a whisker of opening the scoring midway through the first Cooney latched onto Ciaran Coll's cross-field pass and delivered a low cross into the area but the in-rushing Jordan Jenkins could only fire a shot off the underside of the crossbar from close took a brilliant save by Gareth Deane to prevent the home side going in front four minutes before the interval as he dived to his right to superbly turn away Jordan Stewart's powerful header from Daniel Larmour's spurned a glorious chance on 57 minutes after Tiarnan Mulvenna dispossessed defender Shane McEleney and cut the ball back across goal, but Michael Morgan's effort was saved by the face of Glentoran goalkeeper Andrew eventually broke the deadlock on 67 minutes when Kyle Owens' attempted back header to his keeper was intercepted by Cooney, who nipped in to poke the ball past Deane and the Glens were able to hold on relatively comfortably to record back-to-back 1-0 victories in the league. Carrick edge past Glenavon Glenavon stopper Jacob Carney was called into action early in the match to gather both Adam Lecky's header and Danny Gibson's effort before, at the other end, Davy McDaid sent an effort just wide after connecting with Paddy Burns' broke the deadlock in the 37th minute when Paul Heatley's cross from near the byeline was fired home by Gibson from close range, for his third goal in the opening two Steele then tried to give the home side a more comfortable lead before the break, but the alert Carney denied his strong the restart, the away side believed that Stephen Mallon's set piece was handled in the box. However, referee Evan Boyce waved away their penalty Glenavon pushed for a late equaliser, Jimmy Callacher made a crucial clearance off the line to divert substitute Michael O'Connor's strike away from then went straight down the other end and Gibson had a chance to add to his tally for the afternoon, but his shot took a deflection and was quickly gathered by Carney. Stalemate at Solitude The points were shared at Solitude as defences dominated in a scoreless started brightly and Rory Hale flashed a shot from distance narrowly past the far post in the opening Cliftonville defender Levi Ives forced debutant goalkeeper PJ Morrison into a smart save moments later before Jamie Glackin passed up the best chance of the first half, failing to find the target following fine play by right winger Lewis Campbell was forced off with injury following a tussle with Charles Dunne just before the break and Jim Magilton's woes were compounded moments after the restart when Luke Conlan was also forced off introduction of Eric McWoods injected pace into the Reds' attack and he presented Ryan Curran with the best chance of the game with 20 minutes remaining, but the striker steered his effort just the wrong side of the himself came close to breaking the deadlock in the closing minutes but his spectacular overhead effort lacked power and was comfortably dealt with by visiting goalkeeper Aidan McManus headed wide from a Ronan Doherty cross in the final minute of normal time but there was late drama still to Gormley was waiting to pounce after a Jonny Addis long throw in made its way across goal but somehow Dean Jarvis, not long on the pitch, hooked the ball off the goal line to preserve a point for the to follow.
