WNL Season Preview: Galway WFC

Manager: Billy Clery

Stadium: Eamonn Deacy Park

Players in: Amanda Budden (Cork City), Abbiegayle Royanne, Shauna Brennan, Kelsey Monroe, Therese Kinnevey, Aoife Lynagh, Kate Slevin, Savannah McCarthy (Cork City), Jaime Turrentine.

Players out: Kayla Brady (Athlone Town), Leah Brady (Athlone Town), Sadhbh Doyle (Peamount United),

Extratime.com Key Player: Méabh De Búrca

The Republic of Ireland international has returned for another season with her home-town club which is good news for Billy Clery and his squad.

A player of incredible experience as a senior international, and with time spent playing football abroad, De Búrca will be invaluable to the Galway Girls this season as they call up some of their talented Under 17 squad from last season.

She also scored six times last season, but more importantly her seemingly never ending energy in the centre of the park makes her an important part of the Galway team.

Extratime.com One to Watch: Shauna Brennan

The Republic of Ireland Under-17 international was a key part of Galway’s Under-17 side that were crowned league and cup doble champions last season.

The defender was also called up to the Republic of Ireland senior side last January for their game against Belgium after impressing then manager Colin Bell during the Women’s Under-17 European Championship qualifiers.

How they did last season:

League: Galway clinched a fourth place finish for the second season in a row in the Women’s National League.

The side showed their strengths at times, particularly against the weaker teams in the league and their 13 points advantage over 5^th placed Cork City would reflect that.

They pushed Wexford Youths as far as they could all season but still came up short outside the bottom three with five less points than the WFAI Cup winners who finished in third.

A big weakness of Galway is their inability to pick up points against the top three sides Peamount United, Shelbourne and Wexford.

Billy Clery’s side managed to run them close on a number of occasions but out of nine meetings in total, Galway only managed three draws.

WFAI Cup: Clery’s side defeated DLR Waves at home in the quarter-finals of the competition. American striker McKenna Doyle was the goal scorer on the day for the home side.

Their semi-final opponents were Wexford Youths— the eventual winners of the competition. Galway were powerless to resist as Youths ran out 4-2 winners in Ferycarraig Park last October.

Despite their gallant effort with two goals coming from Aoife Thompson,  Wexford goals from McKenna Davidson, Kylie Murphy and a brace for Rianna Jarrett saw the home side on their way to the Aviva last November.

WNL Cup: The Galway Girls were eliminated in the first round of the WNL Cup in 2019 when they travelled away to face Limerick.

Just the solitary goal in the game to send the away side out of the competition, the only time they lost to Limerick all season, out of four meetings.

What to expect this season: Galway should give another decent showing in the Women’s National League this coming season.

If they can be more consistent against the top teams in the league they could have a chance of finishing higher than fourth.

However, a decent challenge for the league title is probably out of their reach this year, but with how close Galway got to the WFAI Cup Final last season that should be a major priority for the side again in 2020.

We should see a number of Galway’s Under-17 squad get their first taste of senior football this season. That side was littered with quality and it will be interesting to see how they can adapt to the senior game.

First game: DLR Waves (Home).