Jarrett named Player of the Month for January

Wexford Youths Women’s FC striker Rianna Jarrett has been named as the Bus Éireann Women’s National League Player of the Month for January.

Jarrett, who has scored 12 goals this season, bag six goals in three games in January as she helped the Model County side move to the top of the league.

The Ireland U19 international striker, 19, has emerged as one of the hottest properties in the league this season.

“I got the call while I was in college and I was delighted when I heard. I was surprised as I don’t really think about things like that but I’m delighted all the same,” she said.

The Wexford town native is study BA in Sport & Exercise (Soccer) at IT Carlow and is delighted with how her side has done this season as they have moved ahead of the favourites Raheny United and Peamount United recently.

“We always knew we had the talent and we’ve gelled together really well this year. We’re taking each game as it comes,” she said.

“We’re playing better than we did last season but we always knew we had it in us. We’re doing well but we’ll just see how it pans out.

“We knew last year we didn’t do as well as we could but we didn’t go into this season thinking we should be top of the league. We just took each game as it came along and looked to do as well as we can.

“Obviously we’d love to go on and win the league but there’s no point in getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve tricky games coming up against Raheny United and Peamount United so we’ll know where we stand after those games. We’ve also Peamount in the cup so we’ll know a lot more about ourselves as a team after those games.”

Jarrett’s form is likely to attract the attention of the senior international team manager Sue Ronan before long but the striker is focused on doing her best for club and country at U19 level first.

“I’d love to push towards the senior Ireland squad eventually but I’m still in the U19 squad this year and I’m just looking to keep my place in that squad and hopefully with the next phase of the qualifiers coming up we’ll look to do as well as we can there. I’ll just keep trying my best and if I get a senior call-up then great,” she added.

“I’m studying in IT Carlow and the course is going really well. It’s really helped my game. I’m in first year and I really enjoy it. We’re training every day and training with the lads every day has helped a lot. I’ve noticed that it’s helped my game. I feel fitter and I’m progressing as a player so I’m delighted with it. Megan Campbell is in second year too and she’s in the senior squad now. I think we benefit from doing the course.”