The stars of the Ireland Women’s cricket team inspired dozens of young girls from Donegal to try their hand at the sport when they visited the Certa exhibition stand at the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska this week.
The opportunity to meet the Ireland players and to learn more about women’s cricket was organised by Certa as the title sponsor of the Ireland Women’s cricket team and as official fuel supplier to the National Ploughing Championships.
Certa, which is part of DCC plc, operates Ireland’s largest network of 41 unmanned, pay@pump forecourts and 22 home heating depots, including a Certa forecourt and a Certa depot in Letterkenny.
Women’s cricket is now one of the fastest growing sports among young women in Ireland and has become hugely attractive since it became only the second sport in Ireland, after rugby, to offer full-time professional playing contracts to women.
Star players Leah Paul, Arlene Kelly and Cara Murray, who are part of the trailblazing Ireland Women’s cricket team now ranked among the top 10 teams in the world, were kept busy fielding questions, signing autographs and posing for selfies when they attended the opening day of the three-day event.
They invited young visitors to the Certa exhibition stand to learn about the growth and popularity of the sport, to test their skills and to discover how joining their local cricket club can put them on a path to becoming a professional cricket player in Ireland.
Visitors were also given an insight into how Certa has helped the National Ploughing Championship to go fossil-free by supplying it with a biofuel called Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) to power the event, and how its transition from diesel to the biofuel has helped it to reduce carbon emissions by up to 90%.
“The Ireland Women’s cricket team are the rising stars of Irish sport. Their journey to turning professional and their high standard of competitiveness against the world’s best teams is truly inspiring and we were delighted to share that story with so many visitors to Certa’s exhibition stand,” said Orla Stevens, Commercial Director at Certa Ireland.
“Certa are working with Cricket Ireland to help grow women’s cricket from grassroots to elite level. We have a shared belief in pushing boundaries and challenging the status quo. Our aim is to develop women’s cricket as a major sport here and to help even more women to follow their dream of being professional cricket players in Ireland,” she added.
“The National Ploughing Championships is renowned as one of the largest outdoor events in Ireland. Certa is also proud of the role we have played in helping the organisers to achieve their sustainability goals and to reduce the event’s carbon footprint by transitioning to HVO as a lower carbon and high performing alternative to diesel,” she continued.
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