2023 Season Review: Shamrock Rovers

Shamrock Rovers finished third in the Women's Premier Division and made the semi-final of the FAI Cup

Shamrock Rovers finished third in the Women's Premier Division and made the semi-final of the FAI Cup Credit: None

Team: Shamrock Rovers

Head Coach: Collie O’Neill

Top Scorer: Áine O’Gorman (12 goals)

Stadium:  Tallaght Stadium

Highest Attendance: 1,567 (2-0 defeat to Shelbourne in FAI Cup semi-final)

Star Player:                 Áine O’Gorman

The Hoops skipper had a remarkable season where she moved her career goal tally in the league to 199, provided ten assists and, with a dozen goals, finished second top scorer in the league (missing on topping that chart for the fourth season in a row only by one goal).

On the international stage she played her part in Ireland’s debut at the Women’s World Cup in Australia.

Hoops Head Coach Collie O’Neill brought O’Gorman in as the first of the extensive number of signings for Rovers on their return to the senior level of the women’s game after a nine year absence.

He also handed her the Hoops captain’s armband. O’Neill praised the contribution of the 34-year-old off the pitch along with a number of the more experienced players in his squad which had an average age for their starting XI of 22.3 (the fifth youngest in the 11 team league)



“You can't buy that experience that the younger players are getting off Áine (O'Gorman - 34), Steph (Zambra - 34), Shauna (Fox - 27), Amanda Budden (29) and Jess Gargan (26),” said O’Neill speaking to extratime.com at the conclusion of the season.

“They have been really good at setting what the standard is, what are principles should be. They are very good at putting the arm around their shoulder and giving them good guidance.”

Best Young Player:     Lia O’Leary

Signed as one of six players from Shelbourne in the off-season, 17-year-old Lia O’Leary provided the Hoops an excellent attacking outlet. She scored five league goals, along with four assists, from the 18 matches she played in the Women’s Premier Division.

Deployed on the left hand side – both as left back and left attacking midfield – according to Wyscout stats she was second in the crossing charts and had most progressive runs of any player in the league (84 compared with 45 with Peamount’s Tara O’Hanlon who was second on that list).

Best New Signing:      Joy Ralph



With 15 new players signed for the start of the 2023 campaign from outside the club, there is plenty of choice for their best new signing.

With that in mind, we will look to pick one of the summer signings when the Hoops brought in 23-year-old Tiegan Ruddy (who had limited game time) and two teenage additions to their team.

19-year-old Scarlett Herron joined from Athlone Town having played previously with Peamount United and she provided great stability in the second half of the season for Rovers in the middle of the park where she was mostly deployed on the left of centre.

17-year-old Joy Ralph came in from DLR Waves and her two goals and five assists from six league appearances (along with two FAI Cup goals and two assists from three cup starts) marks her down as Rovers’ best new signing.

The underage international has showed great potential having joined the Hoops and will be a real attacking asset to a Rovers side who were top scorers in the league this season.

How did Rovers’ season go:

Women’s Premier Division

There were plenty of eyes on Shamrock Rovers this season with a fair bit of criticism from outside of how Rovers ‘raided’ other clubs. With professional and semi-professional contacts available to be offered from this season, the opportunity to play in the best stadium in the country and to train out of Rovers’ Roadstone base, the Hoops had lots to offer players from other clubs to make the move to Tallaght.

The expectation was that Rovers would compete at the top of the league – even if they were gelling a brand new squad - and they did for most of the season.

They did go top of the table briefly in early June but their one league loss – against Peamount United in June - just before an effective three month World Cup league break for the Hoops, proved very costly as the Peas never relinquished the lead they built up after that match.

On their return to league action, the Hoops won five and drew two of their remaining league games. The draw in their final game cost them runners up spot.

In that match the Hoops were 4-1 up in Tallaght with 20 minutes remaining and they seemed certain to finish second in the league.

However, the Athlone Town spirited comeback for a draw cost Rovers who finished seven points behind champions Peamount United and a point behind Shelbourne.

O’Neill deployed his team with a flat back four with the imposing Jessica Hennessy and Shauna Fox in the middle. He looked for his team to take the ball out from the back and they scored a number of eye catching goals throughout the season that involved long passing moves.

FAI Cup

Having hammered non-league Killester Donnycarney 8-0 in Tallaght in the first round (with Abbie Larkin scoring four) and crushing Cork City 5-0 in Bishopstown, it set up a mouth watering semi-final between Rovers and last year’s double winners Shelbourne.

The Hoops warmed up a week before the cup tie by beating Shels in the league 3-1 but failed to deliver the following week suffering a painful 2-0 defeat on a day when both the cup and league ambitions went up in smoke.

As Rovers were losing in Tallaght, Peamount United’s win in Wexford secured the Peas the league title.

Avenir Sports Women's All-Island Cup

Rovers used the cup competition during the very long league break for the World Cup to mix up their team. The Hoops were the only club to lose players to the Ireland World Cup squad – Áine O’Gorman and Abbie Larkin (who moved to Glasgow City soon after her return from Australia).

Rovers did beat Peamount United 2-1 in Tallaght in their first group game but their 5-3 loss to Wexford Youths in Ferrycarrig Park meant prior to kick off in Belfast against Glentoran (a match they won 3-2) they knew they couldn’t progress to the knock out stages.

What they need to improve on for next year:

Rovers’ home record was a very impressive with eight wins, one draw and just the one defeat. Away from Tallaght Stadium they were undefeated but drew five of their ten league matches away from Dublin 24 – and if O’Neill’s side are to claim the title in 2024 that will be an aspect he will look at no doubt.

In their biggest games of the season in Tallaght, the Hoops came up short - the 1-0 league loss to Peamount and that cup semi-final defeat to Shelbourne, along with the costly draw against FAI Cup winners Athlone – and so O’Neill talked after the final game this year about the need to bring a “winning culture” to his team.

“I've learned more about the players from the semi-final game against Shels and in the second half (against Athlone Town). It is good education. The last thing now we have to build is a winning culture. That is the final ingredient that we need to try and add in next year.”

The Hoops Head Coach spoke about bringing in additional players to boost the quality in their squad but without having to galvanise a whole new squad together for the new campaign, Rovers will be formidable next season.

“We have built some really really good foundations for next year. The squad have worked really hard. Now the ground work is done and we can hit the ground running next year. We will look to improve again in the off season.

"We will see if we can get one or two extra in to add extra quality into what we already have.”

Peamount United will be looking to retain their crown, Shelbourne will be bruised by finishing runners up in the league and cup while FAI Cup winners Athlone Town will be a formidable force.

Throw in the potential of a resurgent team from Wexford and All-Island Cup winners Galway United and there will be plenty of opposition for Rovers next season but the Hoops have shown enough in this recent short 20 game season to be one of the favourties for next year’s title.

About Macdara Ferris

Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile