WNL 2015/16 - A season of highs and lows

The 2015-2016 Women’s National League came to a conclusion last weekend when Wexford Youths retained their league crown after defeating Shelbourne Ladies 2-1 in the first ever WNL play-off after the sides could not be split during the regular season.

Last August at the FAI Headquarters in Abbotstown the WFAI along with Continental Tyres announced that the 2015-16 season would be the best year yet. However, little did we know the season would instead be left in disarray after several storms during the winter causes the cancellation countless games forced several of the top sides to play countless midweek games during the run in.

While last season also saw the introduction of Kilkenny United, the South-East side led by Noel Kealy would find their first season at Senior level difficult, but despite a rocky start the youthful squad showed they were capable of further improvement and they will be aiming to collect their first  league win in the new season.

With the addition of Kilkenny and the number of teams participating in the WNL increasing to eight while the number of games each side player would be reduced from 18 to 14.

Last November at a rain soaked Aviva Stadium for the third consecutive year the FAI Cup final was played at the home of Irish football and after a thrilling game, both Shelbourne Ladies and Wexford Youths could not be separated and for the third year in a row extra-time was required to decide the cups destination after the sides finished level at 1-1.

Despite Maria Delahunty giving Youths the lead in extra-time, Shelbourne led by Casey McQuillan showed excellent courage and equalised in the last minute of extra-time when Dearbhaile Beirne fired home from close range to send the game to a penalty shoot-out which Wexford ran out 4-2 victors in to claim a first FAI Cup success.

The sides’ would again clash in March in the inaugural WNL Shield final and a first-half Edel Kennedy goal was enough to seal a 1-0 win for Will Doyle’s side.

Less than 24 hours after the side’s put on an excellent spectacle for women’s football the news broke of Castlebar Celtic withdrawing from the league. While I was one who was critical of them earlier in the year when they were failed to field a team against Shelbourne in the Shield group stages I was sad to see them go as not only would it leave seven teams remaining, it would also see many talented young players left without a club.

While this season has been frustrating for both players and management, one thing that has shone through was the injection of youth and exuberance with several Ireland underage internationals such as Roma McLaughlin, Niamh Prior, Leanne Kiernan, Amanda McQuillan and Saoirse Noonan bursting onto the league stage and showing why they are players to watch for the future.

In April while the league took a break for senior internationals, Ireland hosted Group 1 of the under 19 qualifiers and the Girls in Green impressed with victorious against Azerbaijan and Poland after suffering heartache in their opening day 1-0 defeat to group winners Germany.

When the league resumed and after Castlebars results being expunged, several sides were staring down the barrel of being forced to play twice a week with teams such Galway and Wexford being forced to travel to Dublin on a Wednesday evening on more than one occasion while UCD was also forced to travel to Cork City for a re-arranged League Cup clash.

For an amateur sport where players do not receive compensation for the loss of earnings the decision making from League bosses had many fans scratching their heads at times as well as a feeling sympathy for the clubs caught up in it.

As the battle for the league title continued to heat up, Shelbourne after suffering defeat to Galway WFC in March were allowed to slide into the picture under the radar and when they met Wexford Youths in the League Cup semi-final. A first-half blitz from Noelle Murray and Leanne Kiernan saw the Reds regain revenge for their FAI Cup and Shield defeats to book a League Cup final place against Dublin rivals UCD Waves who defeated Galway WFC in the second semi-final.

With an exciting final week of the season looming, Youths travelled to Galway WFC knowing a victory would secure them league glory, but unlike their previous unblemished away league form, Youths dropped their first league points on the road when they were forced to fight back from a goal down to snatch a 1-1 draw which set up a mouth-watering league decider against Shels at Tolka Park.

Three days after slipping up in Galway, Youths found themselves 1-0 up at half-time against Shelbourne and to dismay of the dejected Youths players and supporters at full-time, a superb second-half display from Shels saw the Reds forcing a league play-off thanks to a 3-1 win.

With momentum on their side, Shels went into the League Cup final against UCD Waves on sparkling form and a brace from Murray and a second-half strike from Kiernan saw Shelbourne gaining a first trophy at senior level since their merger with Raheny United.

Seven days after their cup success, Shels entered the league play-off as favourites after back to back victories against Youths and they found themselves 1-0 up after 13 minutes thanks to a headed effort from skipper Pearl Slattery. But despite several chances to extend their lead a brace from Claire O’Riordan would see Youths crowned champions in front of 710 spectators at Tallaght Stadium.

The Extratime.ie Player of the Year was Wexford Youths Emma Hansberry while the Young Player of the Year went to Peamount United’s breakout star Roma McLaughlin.