Niamh Cooper’s World Cup diary with Northern Ireland

Niamh Cooper will be providing News Letter readers a World Cup diary offering insight into life in the Northern Ireland camp across the tournament:

“We arrived in Cardiff last Friday following a long six-hour bus journey from Manchester!

“Everyone was in high spirits off the back of two good performances against Barbados and England A in training matches.

“Sharp and punchy training on Saturday morning set us up for our first official test match of the weekend v Trinidad and Tobago, a team ranked 12th in the world but boasting several big-name players from professional leagues in Australia and New Zealand.

“We got off to a nervy start, sitting just behind in score for most of the game, pulling through in the last minute to level for an overall draw.

“Although disappointed not to win, there were lots of positives to take from the first test played in over a year.

“It was also a fantastic first performance from Shaunagh Craig, who looked like a seasoned international on her debut in the green dress.

“Speaking of seasoned internationals - veteran Noleen Armstrong (nee Lennon) took to the court to secure her 100th international test cap for Northern Ireland, looking as fresh faced as she did for on her debut!

“With lessons to learn in a quick turnaround, we lined out to face a strong Malawi team on Sunday and a team renowned for their strong possession game proved too tough to crack as we fell short.

“We head up to Liverpool with a good pre-camp under our belts, excited to get started on Friday.”