Celtic’s Women began their 2017 summer season three weeks ago with a home win against Forfar Farmington in the Scottish Women’s Premier League Cup.
With Scotland’s international fixtures intervening, they have had a long wait before starting their league campaign. The first Premier League One match is this Sunday, March 12, with an away fixture against newly-promoted Hamilton Accies.
Now in her second spell with the Hoops, 21-year old goalkeeper Megan Cunningham is looking forward to getting started, and in an exclusive interview with the official Celtic website she outlined her thoughts and ambitions for the new season.
She said: “The whole squad is really excited about the new season starting and all the girls have worked exceptionally hard over the close-season in preparation for the upcoming league campaign.
“We have made some excellent additions to our squad and, with the existing squad we have from last year, this season we are hoping to challenge the top-two clubs, Hibs and Glasgow City.
“The league is getting a lot more competitive nowadays and no game is going to be easy, but we’re setting our targets high for some silverware this time around.”
She added: “We have been fortunate to sign three fantastic players who will each bring something different to the squad. Sarah Crilly, for example, who I played with previously at Hamilton Accies and Glasgow City, is a terrific attack-minded player who is very versatile and rapid.
“She has huge experience of winning trophies and playing in the Champions League which will hopefully give our team an insight into what we need to do to reach those standards.
“We have also recruited Sarah Ewens, another player who can add real strength to the squad. She is exactly what we needed for this year and I have no doubt she will be an important goalscorer for us, and she also has experience of playing with another challenging team.
“Our newest signing is Kelsey Hodges from the United States, who brings real strength and composure at the back. She is a real team-player with lots of experience of leading from the back.”
Turning to her personal ambitions for the upcoming months, Megan Cunningham continued: “I have had an ongoing hip injury that unfortunately resulted in me missing the last few months of last season.
“I have been working really hard in the off-season with my rehab, so I’m hopeful this will be a good year for me and that I’ll be back playing with full fitness. I’m hoping to get back to playing consistently well for the club and to contribute to helping the Celtic to a successful season.”
Megan has already made two Scotland appearances, as well as having being a regular over the years in the U16, U17 and U19 national teams and still has ambitions to be involved in the Scotland set-up.
She said: “It’s always an honour to play for your country and that is one of my long-term goals – to hopefully have an opportunity to play with the national team. I plan to keep working hard and get an opportunity in the near future to be part of the squad.”
Sunday’s fixture:
Scottish Women’s Premier League One
Sunday, March 12,
Hamilton Accies v Celtic
The SuperSeal Stadium
Cadzow Avenue. Hamilton, ML3 0FT
Kick-Off 4 pm
Adults £5, concessions £3
http://www.celticfc.net/mainindex
