City form earns Megan Bowen further international experience

After a stellar season with the Bluebirds, centre-back Megan Bowen earned a call-up to Wales' U19s recent camp. 

The defender has produced some fine displays for City this campaign, notably netting a brace on the opening day against Cardiff Met, as well as scoring in both the Adran Trophy and Bute Energy Welsh Cup Semi-Finals. 

After returning to the international fold, she said: "It was a bit of a surprise at first, but it shows that my hard work with Cardiff City has paid off and it has been noticed. It's always an honour to be called up to a Wales camp. To represent your country and have that Welsh badge on is amazing. 

"I think I've improved massively from last season to this campaign. The way I play football has changed a lot and it's all credit to the staff at Cardiff City for helping me develop."

Wales' U19s squad includes current players and products of the Adran Premier, including former City trio Lily Billingham, Manon Pearce and Evie Hughes.

The domestic top-flight league is producing talent, with the side's captain Olivia Francis going from representing Pontypridd United to featuring for Manchester United this season. 

"It's always nice to have those familiar faces," Megan continued. "You already know their style of play and can work with them at international level. 

"It's massive for the league. It has shown its development over the last few years and sometimes, it might go unnoticed. There is so much talent in our league with the young players coming through. To see someone like Olivia do what she's doing is amazing, because I've known her since I was 13."

During the international camp, Wales' U19s claimed wins over Lithuania and Moldova, before a narrow defeat to North Macedonia saw them remain in League B.

Megan continued: "We went out there to win all three games, which we didn't quite achieve, but the amount of lessons we learned were really good. 

"For me individually, it was nice to be back involved and to play three 90 minutes. It was nice for me to be able to showcase my talent. As a team, we were quite disappointed not to win all three games, but we can all learn from that going back to our club environments."