Plenty of medals – and there is still so much to come from Ceri Slaney

Ceri Slaney has enjoyed a lot of success in her relatively short football career.

At the age of just 23, the Anglesey-based winger has played in the Welsh Premier Women’s League, won two league titles, two league cups and landed a silver medal in the International Island Games.

Her early football experiences included playing for Llangefni Girls and she later represented the Coleg Menai Academi, a hat-trick in a 5-1 win over West Cheshire College in 2015 among her achievements.

Ceri could not have wished for a better start to her senior career, being part of a strong Caernarfon Town women’s squad which included great players like Elena Julio, Wales international Katie Williams, Lexi Musgrave, Anna Jones and Ffion Owen.

The team won the Betty Pickering Cup in 2015-16, beating Amlwch Town 1-0 in the final at Llangefni.

The following season things got considerably better for Ceri and Caernarfon as they cruised to the North Wales Women’s League title and retained the Pickering Cup.

In a goal-packed season for Town, which saw Catrin Thomas net 38 times in all competitions and Ffion Owen grab 33, Ceri herself netted on seven occasions.

Caernarfon returned to the Welsh Premier and Ceri put in some great performances despite the team struggling in 2017-18.

The Canaries’ problems worsened in 2018-19 and they resigned from the WPWL after a handful of games.

They were permitted to enter cup competitions for the rest of the season and Ceri was a star turn in the North Wales League Supplementary Cup Group A 7-2 semi-final triumph over Airbus, the Llangristiolus right-sided attacker notching a hat-trick.

Unfortunately the final was never played, denying Ceri a chance of more silverware.

Summer 2019 brought an unforgettable experience for Ceri as she was included in the Ynys Môn squad for the Inter-Island Games football tournament, which was played on Anglesey.

Ynys Môn had no form to speak of in past competitions, but on this occasion, helped by tournament top-scorer Lexi Crawley’s (nee Musgrave) five goals, they made it all the way to the final, losing narrowly 2-1 to Isle of Man. Ceri played in every match and scooped a silver medal.

After shining in the Games, Ceri became one of a number of star players signed by the island’s sole women’s team Amlwch Town for 2019-20.

Despite the season being shortened by the coronavirus pandemic, Amlwch still won the North Wales Women’s League Division Two title.

Ceri needed time out following an operation in the early stages of the campaign, but still played an important part in the team’s success.

She is now looking forward to a second season with Amlwch – when we finally get the go ahead to play matches again !

Quiet and unassuming by nature, Ceri is a highly respected and well-liked footballer. The fact she has never been carded in her career is testament to that.

As well as aiming to excel in her own career, she is very keen to help the younger players around her – such as goalscoring sensation Catrin Evans – develop and reach the highest level possible.