Derry girl to walk out as a mascot with Liverpool in the Carabao Cup Final

A Derry girl will be one of the mascots for the Carabao Cup final between Liverpool and Newcastle United.

Hannah O’Carolan has been selected to walk out with the Liverpool squad for the final on March 16 at Wembley.

The 11-year-old has been a die-hard Liverpool fan for as long as she can remember and cannot wait to wear the red kit alongside her favourite team as they look to win the first silverware of the English domestic season.

Her mother, Shauna, said: “Hannah was chosen by Liverpool Football Club, as she would have a membership with them; she is under the ‘Red Squad,’ which is a junior type of membership.

“One of the benefits or the perks of this membership is that she can always be selected for being a mascot but Hannah has been a member for a few years and we never heard anything regarding this previously but then a few weeks ago I received an email a few weeks ago from Liverpool to state that Hannah had been selected as an official mascot.

“Her favourite Liverpool player is obviously Mohamed Salah, and so she is hoping to walk out on the pitch with him, but she will be happy to join any of the squad out on the pitch. 

She was sent a complementary kit, a match ticket for herself and two adults and she gets to meet the team beforehand and spend a bit of time playing a bit of football and meeting the team and then she will walk out on the pitch with a player. It is an amazing opportunity.”

Unfortunately for Shauna and her husband, they will be unable to join Hannah at Wembley on that date as they had a holiday booked from over a year ago.

While they sit glued to the television watching their daughter walk out at ‘the home of football’ with the 10-time League Cup champions, Hannah’s auntie Sinead Ward will be sitting in the stands with her wife Gillian Costgrove as they accompany her to London.

Shauna said: “Sinead has been a big influence on Hannah’s life because she played football too. Sinead is a big Liverpool supporter and has played for a number of local teams over the years and even had a stint at Northern Ireland Ladies.

“We are happy that someone with such a big influence on Hannah’s life is taking her to this Liverpool match.”

Football is a major part of Hannah’s life, particularly Liverpool, as her room is covered in memorabilia, and she is a regular at Derry City matches for both the men’s and women’s teams.

The 11-year-old has experienced much success with her Maiden City side, winning a number of trophies in her short four-year career, but the right-sided player is determined to emulate the career of her aunt and has a record-breaking footballer in her family she can look to as evidence she could potentially one day not only lead Liverpool out as a mascot but maybe as a player once she is a senior player; her great uncle is Brendan Bradley, the current leading scorer in the League of Ireland history, scoring 235 goals and holding the Finn Harps record of 181 goals for the club.