2021 Season Preview - Treaty United
Treaty United finished second-last in their first official season, one place ahead of fellow new entrants Bohemians. Credit: Hugh de Paor (ETPhotos)
Manager: Niall Connolly
Stadium: Market’s Field
Players in: Jesse Mendez, Olivia Gibson (Cork City), Anna Shanagher, Emma Costello, Alanna Roddy (unattached).
Players out: Karen Connolly, Laura Kavanagh, Maggie Duncliffe, Chloe Connolly (released), Marie Curtin (retired).
Extratime.ie Key Player: Aoife Horgan
Goalscorers are golddust at this level but, in Aoife Horgan, Treaty United unearthed a shiny nugget for their first season proper.
The Clare native managed an impressive eight goals during the season for one of the league’s lower-performing sides and will look to build on that in 2021.
Horgan has only just turned 18 and has been earmarked as one for the future but it’s in the now that she is very much required for new manager Niall Connolly.
Extratime.ie One to Watch: Jesse Mendez
She might sound more like a contender at Wrestlemania than a top-level footballer but midfielder Mendez is a player Cork City would rather not have lost.
The product of City’s prolific underage set-up has opted to make the long trip up one of Ireland’s shortest dual-carraigeways in search of first-team football.
Coming into a team shorn of the experience of Maggie Duncliffe and Marie Curtin may prove a baptism of fire but it may prove the making of the player who broke into Cork’s first team last season.
How they did last season:
League: 8th
Treaty United finished second-last in their first official season, one place ahead of fellow new entrants Bohemians.
The Dave Rooney-managed side managed nine points from their 11 games, finishing a comfortable five points clear of the Gypsies.
Wins over DLR Waves and a double over Bohs will be seen as a positive for the side formed from the ashes of the former Limerick.
FAI Cup: Semi-finalists
A 2-0 win at home to DLR Waves – their second win over Graham Kelly’s side – earned a semi-final date with Cork City but they suffered the same scoreline in reverse.
What to expect this season:
Like the other teams around them, the expectation for Treaty this year will be to improve on what was a reasonably successful first season.
The loss of experienced goalkeeper Karen Connolly and goalscorer Chloe Connolly will hurt, but young talents arriving from Cork, Jesse Mendez and Olivia Gibson, will improve them in attack.
Title Odds: 100/1
First game: Away v Bohemians, Saturday, March 27th, 2021.
