Women’s Premier Division – statistical review for 2024

Sure you know the drill by now, it gets to the end of the year and we review the Wyscout statistics for the past season and bring you some notable numbers. We then uncrown the actual League of Ireland champions and re-award the title via the expected points tally to another team.

Having reviewed the men's top flight (see here), we looked at the 2024 Women’s Premier Division and have demoted league winners Athlone Town to third place as their expected points total was only 35.5 (compared with the 47 points they accrued on the pitch).

We’ve awarded the title to Galway United on 37.2 expected points (which is 3.8 less than they actually earned) ahead of expected runners up Shelbourne (35.9 xG / -9.1). 

Formations

Eight of the 11 Premier Division teams went 4-2-3-1, with Galway United using 4-3-1-2 most of the time (51.6%). Shels’ 3-5-2 and Cork City’s 4-4-2 proved to be novel formations compared to the other sides.

Team Passing / Possession

The top three teams in passing were all clustered close together with Shels on top with 421 passes per 90 minutes with a 76% accuracy, ahead of Galway United’s 414 (75%) and Shamrock Rovers with 410 passes (73%).

The same three topped the ball possession stats but with Rovers just on top with 59% from Galway (58%) and Shels (57%).

The Hoops topped the crossing stats with 20 per 90 minutes and were one cross ahead of Athlone Town. The Midlanders had the most dribbles (36 per 90 minutes) and touches in the penalty area (21). 

Player breakdown

Galway United’s Jenna Slattery was capocannoniere with ten goals – scoring five of the seven penalties she took.

Slattery’s overall total was one clear of both her club teammate Julie-Ann Russell and Shelbourne’s Kate Mooney. The Shels striker had a remarkable 1.61 goals per 90 minutes, compared with Slattery’s (0.52) and Russell’s (0.47). 

Slattery also had the most shots 64 (3.35 per 90 minutes) ahead of Shamrock Rovers’ striker Joy Ralph (58 / 3.27) and SWI Women’s Personality of the Year winner Russell (51 / 2.66).

Athlone Town’s Maddie Gibson proved essential to her team’s title winning success and she topped a number of the league’s attacking metrics. She had six assists, one clear of Shamrock Rovers’ Lia O’Leary.

She had the best crossing stats (6.7 per 90 mins), just ahead of O’Leary (6.1), with the American’s key passing stats number one ahead of Rovers skipper Áine O’Gorman. 

Top for touches in the opposition penalty area was Brenda Tabe from Athlone (6.7 per 90) just ahead of Julie-Ann Russell (6.6) who was the best for dribbles (10.9), progressive runs (4.6 per 90) and offensive duels. 

A trio of defenders from DLR Waves topped the defensive duel stats – Isobel Finnegan (14.6), Amber Cosgrove (13.7) and Keelin Dodd (11.3). 

And if you want to know who had the most throw ins per 90 minutes, that prestigious award goes to Galway United’s Aoibheann Costello with 16.45 throw ins.

[image or embed]

— extratime.com (@extratime.com) 28 December 2024 at 09:55