- Macdara Ferris
- Wed, Mar 01 2023
Shamrock Rovers have certainly caused quite a stir with their re-entry this season into the top flight of the women’s club game in Ireland.
With their brand new squad including a dozen players signed from Shelbourne and Peamount United – the club’s that have won the last four titles – some might be expecting that the Hoops have title ambitions for this season.
However, the Head Coach of the new Hoops side Collie O’Neill has a different perspective, with the former UCD manager talking this week about building a team from the ground up but one that can challenge in 2024.
O’Neill was speaking on the extratime.com podcast, where he outlined how he went about creating this Hoops squad, the team’s training setup and the ambitions for Rovers on their return to play senior women’s football for the first time since 2014.
“I was trying to get players with the right mind set and attitude who would easily slot in to what we hope to do,” said O’Neill. “For me you can have all the skill in the world but unless you have a good growth mindset, I don't think you can really be part of what Shamrock Rovers is looking to do.”
O’Neill has described his squad as “a good mixture of senior players with youth” and is delighted with the calibre of senior players he has been able to bring in.
“Along with Áine O'Gorman and Stephanie Roche (both 33), there is Jess Gargan (25), Amanda Budden (28) and Shauna Fox (26) as the senior pros. Apart from them, the majority of the squad is 16 to 18 years of age. Overall we are pretty young.
“It is those senior players who are driving the dressingroom. They are hungry and they want to go where we want to go. When you have good pros like that they are the ones who set the standards.”
O’Neill admitted that being able to build a squad from scratch was a big enticement for him to come to Tallaght. “There aren't many times in your career you are told 'we are going to build a whole new football team, would you like to build it from the ground up?’
“The culture that is around the place was shown on one of our very first evening when we got the team together in Roadstone. In comes Stephen McPhail, Stephen Bradley and Glenn [Cronin], just to introduce themselves to the women's team, to meet them all and welcome them to the club.
"There is a family feel around the place and you feel you are part of something special at Shamrock Rovers. There is a high expectation and people go about delivering on those expectations.
“The last thing we talked to any player was money. People are thinking Shamrock Rovers are signing players so it must be the money. Has anyone considered that it is not the money?
"That it is the good proper coaching facilities, the good professional setup, a club that has been proven to do things in a good professional manner and it is something that players have been crying out for for a long time.
“Maybe it might be that rather than the money. I find it disrespectful to the players. Those comments are more a dig at the club but it comes across as a dig at the players who are only trying to do something more professional.”
The Hoops are training four evenings a week at the club’s Roadstone Academy.
“What makes it professional is that we are looking at their nutrition making sure they are eating the proper food - particulary after training. We supply food to them and on Tuesday night we all stay after training and we have a meal in Roadstone together.
"We have physios at every training session and we have the access to our own gym with our own strength and condiditoning coach. Everthing is monitored with GPS trackers. We are on a similar training programme to a First Division men's team.
Season ambitions
“If we come in and around the top three, I think we will be doing well,” said O’Neill when asked about his ambitions for the season. “Particulary in a year when there is a big break for the Women’s World Cup and we only play each other twice.
"By the time we get fully up and running, it will be maybe 10 games in to the season so it will be too much of a catch up. For us, it is about setting out the ground work for what we want to achieve. We will look to challenge next year.
“The teams that are succesful are the ones that have been together for two or three years maybe. Wexford will be one of the favourites to win it as they've retained their squad and added Rianna Jarrett and the player of the year from last year [Emily Corbet]. The extra quality that they have brought in, makes them the favourite.”
