North Wales ace Kelsey Davies already has medal secured before new season starts

Kelsey Davies (front row – second from left) celebrates winning the Shropshire Women’s County Cup with Wem Town. In the original after-match photos, Kelsey wasn’t visible, but she’s certainly in this shot. Picture: CS JONES PHOTOGRAPHY

Our North Wales football girls cannot wait to compete for trophies in the season ahead, but two of our female stars already have a medal in their lockers.

Two weeks ago, Wem Town won the Shropshire Women’s County Cup, thrashing Shrewsbury Town 5-0 in the final.

In the starting line-up for Wem, formerly The New Saints, was striker Laura Pennington, who scored the opening goal, and winger Kelsey Davies, who came on as a second-half substitute.

When Grassroots North Wales ran its women’s dream team features recently, both Laura and Kelsey appeared in many line-ups.

Laura Pennington looks on as hat-trick star Katie Doster scores a wonder goal for Wem in the 2020-21 Shropshire Cup Final. Picture: CS JONES PHOTOGRAPHY

No surprise to me at all. Of the two, I’ve seen a lot more of Kelsey, in fact I’ve been writing about her career for about 10 years.

Back in 2013, I reported on Kelsey being named Girls’ Player of the Year at the Welsh Grassroots Football Awards in Cardiff after starring for Kinmel Bay and also playing for both regional and national teams in the Celtic Nations Tournament.

She was just 16 then, and received her award from Welsh international Jessica Fishlock in front of past and present legends of Welsh football, including Wales first team manager Chris Coleman and players Ashley Williams and Craig Bellamy.

Kelsey’s own international career really took off at under-16 level, where she won her first cap against Finland in Helsinki.

Kelsey (left) receives her 2013 Welsh Girls Player of the Year award from Jess Fishlock

She also competed in the Celtic Nations and UEFA development tournament in Dublin.

At under-17, her first opportunity arrived against England at St George’s Park. She featured in the U17 European Championship qualifying tournament in Denmark, as well as the UEFA development competition in Lithuania.

Kelsey remained part of the Wales set-up at under-19, playing in the European Championship qualifying tournament in Turkey.

She was also involved in numerous other friendlies at U16 and U17 against the likes of Belgium, Faroe Islands, Czech Republic and England.

Born on February 11, 1997, Kelsey’s talents developed with Kinmel Bay Girls, with whom she reached the 2012 Under-16 Welsh Cup final.

Kelsey Davies (black and white) challenges former Llandudno team-mate Katie Bowe. Picture: DAI SINCLAIR

A speedy right-sided attacker with an eye for goal, she signed for Welsh Premier Women’s League side Llandudno as a senior and went on to be one of the club’s finest-ever players.

She was part of the team which made it to the 2015-16 Welsh Cup Final and also did much to ensure Tudno maintained top league status for seven full seasons.

After the Seasiders resigned from the WPWL in 2019-20, Kelsey moved to Wem Town, a semi-professional club which play in the FA Women’s National League Division One Midlands. They formerly played under the TNS banner, but became known as Wem Town last season.

Top skills from Kelsey Davies

Kelsey’s enthusiasm for football is an example for all young girls coming into the game. One example of this came in April 2016, when she hauled herself away from her university studies to score the deciding goal in the 83rd minute of Llandudno’s 1-0 win at Rhyl.

The young winger raced against the clock from Liverpool to arrive in Rhyl 10 minutes before kick-off (no exaggeration, I saw her arrive) and ended up the hero of the night.

Still just 24, Kelsey hopefully has many more successes to come in the game she has loved from a very young age.