Talented teenage footballer steps up to work on front line in pharmacy

A talented teenage footballer who is missing her teammates during the Covid-19 lockdown has turned her attention to helping others on the front line.

Kerry McConville (17), who is captain of the Antrim minor ladies team, has donned Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to work in her local pharmacy dispensing prescriptions.

At a time when she should have been studying for her A-Levels and leading her team on the football field, the schoolgirl is working at a chemist's in Mount Eagles in west Belfast.

After being given the honour of captain at the beginning of the season, Kerry only got to experience the role once before the coronavirus crisis hit.

She also didn't get to properly finish her final year of school and will now be awarded predicted grades for her A-Levels instead of having the chance to sit her exams.

Next month she had also been due to fly to Spain with her friends to celebrate her 18th birthday but this has been cancelled.

But Kerry - who hopes to study engineering at Queen's University Belfast - said she is happy to step up and play a role in the fight against Covid-19.

Having had a part-time job at the pharmacy, the St Paul's GAC player is now working more hours amid increased demand.

"I feel like I am contributing to the whole thing and it is making me realise how serious it is," he said.

"More and more people are coming in for prescriptions because they can't get the stuff delivered out to them - only those with coronavirus or underlying conditions.

"We have masks and gloves and as long as I wear them, I feel safe enough. I don't worry too much."

Kerry said she is missing her teammates.

"For county, we had literally only played one game. I only got to captain my team for one match," she said.

"I felt like it was a great opportunity for me and it was disappointing that it was taken away from me too soon. It was devastating.

"I miss the training and being with the girls. I can go on a run and we are doing Zoom classes with the club and the county now. I would rather be out with the team than by myself."

Kerry's father Damien McConville, who is the manager of the Antrim senior ladies football team, said the family is very proud of the teenager who had "stepped up".

"She is enjoying the fact that she is being able to help in some way," he said.

Kerry added: "I realise the severity of it and I feel like I am contributing to society because I am working."