Lynn hoping to set the Dundalk benchmark
A small pocket of people from Dundalk will not be donning the familiar black and white this Sunday, in fact, the off shade of pink is what they will donn. In fact, Dundalk could perform a unique ‘Aviva Double’ on Sunday as in the Women’s FAI Cup Final Lynn Craven will be lining out for Wexford Youths.
The former Irish underage international will appear in her first final as a Wexford player having previously appeared in the final with Shelbourne. The Dundalk native spent three years at the reds before departing for the south-east in July, she has been part of a side that has had a second-half resurgence that has taken them straight to the final.
Moving clubs is tough for many players but the opportunity presented at Wexford coupled with Lynn’s ambition and strive to be a better player was the perfect fit.
“I was at Shelbourne from 2013 and I loved it at Shels” explained Lynn “I love a challenge and when the offer came it was one of the toughest choices I had to make. But after talking to Tom and the attitude and style of play. I moved in July just after I came home from the University games. I’m really loving it here so far.”
While still living in Dundalk but studying in Dublin as a Primary School teacher the talented right-back doesn’t have to hit the M11 as often as she thought.
“The training is in Carlow and matches are obviously in Ferrycarriag so it’s 1 hour and 10 minutes to training so its handier from Dublin”
But when it comes to game times she relies on her biggest supporter to take her to the home of the Youths
“My dad Pierce still drives me to games”
Like her Dundalk counterparts, Lynn had the experience of playing in the Women’s Champions League this year. While her experience in 2016 with Shelbourne was her first in the competition this year Lynn knew what she was facing in the premier European competition.
“I played in it with Shelbourne in my first year there when I was 16 as I was breaking into the squad and it was in Belfast which was nice for being so close to home.” Reflected Lynn
This year I was able to take it in a lot more and I played right back in all the games.”
Despite victories over Gintra and an impressive 7–2 win over Birkirkara the 3–1 loss to Vilazna on matchday one meant the team didn’t qualify.
We were unlucky not to quality as we did beat the top seeds, I think we were really well prepared as there was a lot of work done off the pitch including video analysis”
“In the game against Gintra They had to lot to worry about with Rianna Jarrett. It was the most enjoyable game I’ve played in when we were playing against a professional side and we only train twice a week.”
The game in which Lynn like the rest of the side had to raise their game give the side the confidence and the springboard to what has been a successful cup run all the way to the Aviva.
“This was a kick starter — hopefully we can keep that momentum going.”
Before the cup run the third year St Patricks College student had a chance to represent her country once again following her selection to participate in the 2019 Summer Universiade which took place in Naples.
When it came to the trial and selection basis the squad had an already familiar shape which led the patch to success at the tournament.
“Colin bell did the first trail but pulled out due to his Irish commitments and then Dave Connell — who coached me for two years at under 19 level came in. There were three trails and picked then the squad was picked. Every player picked was an underage international and it helped us gel as a team quicker.”
“We had a few days camp in UL in Limerick before heading off to Italy. We spent two weeks in Italy and we finished fourth in the 3rd / 4th playoff after losing to Russia. To be honest No one expected us to do so well, including beating Brazil.”
But their greatest challenge came from the most unfamiliar of countries
“North Korea I’ve never seen a team, they beat us 5–0.”
“When you are trying to play but thinking ‘how are they doing this’, you can just tell by the training and living together.”
Lynn’s underage experience at international level coupled with the Summer Universiade led the patch to her move to Wexford in July and coming home on that flight as she left Naples in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius behind her its no doubt those experiences will benefit her in the future.
“When you bring it home you can see the difference, you can really see how far you are off that level. When we played Brazil we played three at the back as opposed to the normal Irish way of four and we took the game to them and it shocked them.”
The cup run for Wexford has been ‘easy’ in some quarters but Lynn along with her teammates know all too well that you have to play what is in front of you. There will be no reunion for Lynn with her former Shelbourne teammates as Peamount United will be the opposite changing room in the showcase final.
“We were drawn against non-national league side TEK in the first round, it was still tough as the pitch on a bit of a hill but we went and got the result.”Then we got Galway and you never know what you will get as they really put up a battle we fought back from 1–0 down to win the game. We really brought what we have done in training to the game and it paid off.”
And Sunday’s opponents?
“We played Peamount and they beat us 2–1 we were annoyed that we didn’t take more out of that game.”
In 2016 Lynn was one of three Dundalk people to walk out of the Aviva Stadium happy that day. Lynn along with other Dundalk natives Grace Murray and Sophie Watters won the Women’s FAI Cup Final with Shelbourne. As she departed the stadium with a gold medal heading to celebrate her triumph Seani Maguire of Cork City broke thousands of hearts from the town with a 120th-minute winner in the Men’s Final.
Hopefully, she gets to repeat the feat and add another gold medal to the collection.
“In 2016 I was in the final with Shelbourne and that was my first year and that was surreal.
being so young it was hard to take it all in.”
And the irony of the opponents on that day.
“The result went our way against Wexford! Everyone in the Wexford team has been to the Aviva. We are going on Saturday to the Aviva and staying overnight until Sunday so we will be well prepped. It will be good to take it more in.”
While Lynn is playing for Wexford the emergence of the Lilywhite army will be defending on the Aviva she is hoping some supporters will come in to cheer her on in the final moments of her game to see her over the line. But she knows that she will have people who have been with her from the start sitting in the stands from minute one.
“I’ve to get a lot from tickets for people!” Lynn explained that more than one from the town will be there to see her “My Mam and dad and my family will be watching and it will be nice to get a good crowd.”
“The atmosphere really builds in the second half when you see some familiar faces from Dundalk.”
“You can really sense it as the game got on so hopefully they will be cheering for us.”
