Galway W.F.C.

Galway W.F.C.
Full name Galway Women's Football Club
Nickname(s) The Galway Girls[1][2]
Ground Eamonn Deacy Park
Capacity 5,000 (3,300 seated)
Chairman Rob Fox
Manager Billy Cleary
League Women's National League
Website Club website

Galway Women's Football Club (Irish: Cumann Peile Ghaillimh na mBan) is an Irish association football club based in Galway. Since 2013–14 the club has played in the Women's National League. The club is closely associated with both the Galway Ladies League and the Galway Football Association. The WNL team has its origins in the Galway Ladies League representative team that won the 2007 FAI Women's Cup and then represented the Republic of Ireland in the 2008–09 UEFA Women's Cup. The Galway Ladies League and its member clubs, such as Salthill Devon, Galway Bohemians, Colga F.C. and NUI Galway, are a feeder system for Galway W.F.C..

History

2000s

During the 2000s, representative teams of women's leagues began to enter the FAI Women's Cup. In 2006 a team representing the Galway Ladies League were semi-finalists, losing after extra time and penalties to UCD. A team representing the Mayo Ladies League subsequently defeated UCD in the final.[3][4] In 2007 the Galway Ladies League reached the final with a team that included Niamh Fahey, Méabh De Búrca and Julie-Ann Russell. All three were also playing for Salthill Devon. On 14 October 2007 at Dalymount Park, Galway defeated a Raheny United team that included Niamh Reid Burke and Olivia O'Toole. Fahey's penalty in the 75th minute gave the Galway Girls a 1–0 win.[5][6] In 2008 Galway were FAI Women's Cup semi-finalists, losing 2–1 to Peamount United.[7] In 2009 they were beaten 3–2 in the second round by St. Catherine's.[8]

2008–09 UEFA Women's Cup

As a result of winning the 2007 FAI Women's Cup, Galway qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland in the 2008–09 UEFA Women's Cup. They were drawn in Group A9 along with Zürich, Universitet Vitebsk and SFK Sarajevo. The competition format saw Galway travel to Sarajevo in September 2008 to play in a mini-tournament to decide who would progress to the next round. With a squad that included Méabh De Búrca and Julie-Ann Russell, Galway finished second after beating the pre-tournament favourites, Universitet Vitebsk.[9][10][11]

Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
1 Switzerland Zürich 3 2 1 0 6 3 +3 7
2 Republic of Ireland Galway 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 4
3 Belarus Universitet Vitebsk 3 1 1 1 3 4 1 4
4 Bosnia and Herzegovina SFK Sarajevo 3 0 1 2 3 5 2 1
September 4, 2008
Universitet Vitebsk-FC Zürich1–1
SFK 2000 Sarajevo-Galway0–0
September 6, 2008
Universitet Vitebsk-Galway0–2
FC Zürich-SFK 2000 Sarajevo3–2
September 9, 2008
SFK 2000 Sarajevo-Universitet Vitebsk1–2
Galway-FC Zürich0–2

Women's National League

In June 2013 the Football Association of Ireland announced Galway as an expansion team for the upcoming 2013–14 Women's National League season. Republic of Ireland women's national football team manager Susan Ronan welcomed the addition of Galway for helping make the league more national.[12] The 2013–14 Galway WNL squad included several veterans of the 2008–09 UEFA Women's Cup campaign including Susie Cunningham, Melissa Casserly and Becky Walsh.[13] Former Galway United manager Don O'Riordan was appointed manager of the women's club in June 2014, replacing Nigel Keady who had overseen the first season.[14]

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Republic of Ireland GK Louise Creaven
2 Republic of Ireland DF Jenny Byrne
3 Republic of Ireland DF Shauna Fox
4 Republic of Ireland DF Megan Carroll
5 Republic of Ireland MF Meabh de Burca
6 Republic of Ireland MF Keara Cormican
7 Republic of Ireland MF Aoife Walsh
8 Republic of Ireland MF Grainne Barrett
9 Republic of Ireland FW Lisa Casserly
10 Republic of Ireland FW Alina Cheatham
No. Position Player
11 Republic of Ireland FW Lynsey McKey
12 Republic of Ireland FW Aoife Brennan
13 Republic of Ireland MF Sinead Taylor
14 Republic of Ireland MF Rachel Baynes
15 Republic of Ireland MF Tessa Mullins
16 Republic of Ireland DF Jennifer Chambers
17 Republic of Ireland MF Therese Hartley
18 Republic of Ireland FW Sadhbh Doyle
19 Republic of Ireland FW Aislinn Meaney
20 Republic of Ireland GK Christina Hughes

Notable players

Republic of Ireland women's internationals

Honours

References

  1. "Galway WFC". fai.ie.
  2. "Galway WFC - Get out on Sunday and support the Galway Girls - Facebook". facebook.com.
  3. www.fai.ie
  4. 2006 FAI Women's Cup Rsssf
  5. "Galway League 1–0 Raheny United". RTÉ. 14 October 2007. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
  6. 2007 FAI Women's Cup Rsssf
  7. 2008 FAI Women's Cup Rsssf
  8. "Ireland (Women) 2009". www.rsssf.com. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  9. www.advertiser.ie
  10. 2008–09 UEFA Women's Cup Rsssf
  11. www.uefa.com
  12. Kelly, Keith (13 June 2013). "Galway women come together to form new National League side". Connacht Tribune. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  13. wnl.fai.ie
  14. "Galway WFC appoints former United manager O'Riordan". Galway Advertiser. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
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