Flaherty's Final aim
Thursday, 03 June, 2010
Defender wants to get her hands on the trophy again.
Gilly Flaherty’s determination to get her hands on the European Women’s U19 Championship trophy saw her put any nerves firmly to the back of her mind on Thursday.
The defender was given the responsibility of converting England’s final spot-kick to lead her side to a shoot-out victory against Holland in the semi-final.
Being part of the U19s team which lifted the same trophy last year, she is now hungry to do it again.
"We'll be going out there to get our trophy back and get our gold medals again," said the Arsenal starlet.
"It's a very good time to be an England team at the moment – everything's looking up for us. We're expecting to get to Finals now and with the team we've got there was never any doubt about it here."
Mo Marley’s team couldn’t find a way past the Dutch during 120 minutes of play, but were more than convincing from the spot and that obvious confidence could be summed up in Flaherty’s attitude.
"I had no doubts at all," she added.
"I just picked my spot and stuck with it. It's a long time since I've taken a penalty, the first in a European Championship semi-final – a winning penalty at that.
“I was confident in myself, confident that the rest of the girls would convert their penalties and that Becs would do her bit in goal."
Flaherty also felt that England’s performance more than warranted their place in the Final, despite not being able to find a goal against a resolute and tough Holland side.
"We came in at half-time and Mo was really pleased with us and she repeated that at the end there," said Flaherty.
"It's the best we've played at this tournament and we deserved to win. It's just that next time we don't need to leave it to the end and penalties; it's about making chances and taking chances."