Gilly Flaherty has hailed the squad of players around her at West Ham United after her team-mates voted her the Women’s Hammer of the Year.
The centre-back was chosen as the FA Women’s Super League side’s stand-out individual by her fellow Hammers on Wednesday evening, following a successful first campaign in Claret and Blue.
Flaherty believes such an accolade is the biggest honour a player can receive, given it is chosen by her team-mates, and says the group has helped her to become a better captain.
They’re been a fantastic group of girls this year. They’ve helped me to come along as captain and they have made my job a lot easier as well.
Gilly Flaherty
“I always think it’s one of the best awards to win, the players’ player,” Flaherty said. “It’s been really nice. They’re been a fantastic group of girls this year.
“They’ve helped me to come along as captain and they have made my job a lot easier as well. They’re a fantastic group and I wouldn’t be able to do it without them.”
Flaherty led West Ham United out at Wembley Stadium last weekend in the SSE Women’s FA Cup against Manchester City, and says she was always certain the Irons would be competing for trophies.
The defender says the Hammers have enjoyed an incredible season and is looking forward to helping the side continue to develop in 2019/20.
“I never doubted for one minute when I signed here that this club wouldn’t be able to reach the top heights and be in finals,” she added. “It’s just the start for West Ham United women. It’s our first year in the FA WSL and hopefully we’ll be here for many more years to come.
“It’s been an incredible year. It was a bit of a rocky start, but we got there, and we just needed to build up our consistency. To cap off our season with an FA Cup final was the dream ending to the fairy-tale first year.
“It’s a building base and we have to carry on going upwards.”