WNL Season Preview - DLR Waves
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How they did last season:Nowhere. That is, they weren’t in the Women’s National League. This is a new club ready to go. The Waves will represent Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, hence the name. It’s a decent sized catchment area in south Dublin and should attract plenty of good footballers, particularly younger ones who want to play at Ireland’s highest level.
How are they shaping up this year: Manager Larry Mahoney’s team is a totally new outfit to enter the WNL. They’ll be playing at Jackson Park in Kilternan, also home to Wayside Celtic.
One of the best factors for the Waves going forward is Mahoney himself. He’s a really experienced League of Ireland man who has stints as first team coach at Shamrock Rovers and UCD on his CV. Keith O’Halloran is also involved and brings a wealth of knowledge to the set up.
It’s a new team all the same and it will take them a while to settle into top class competition, just as it did for teams last year.
Key player: Niamh Connolly. Connolly is one of the experienced players in the side and played in the WNL last year. She represented Shamrock Rovers last time around. She was also their captain so will know what to expect as she leads the Waves into a new experience.
One to watch: Mahoney is reluctant to single out any young players who could be surprise packages in the WNL. As a totally new outfit, the Waves are brimming with fresh talent. As they are largely new, it would be journalistically disingenuous to single anyone out either so let’s say, if they believe in themselves, they can achieve anything.
What one can be sure of is that there is a good coaching base involved with the Waves and players with real potential and drive will have all the resources at hand to excel.
Prediction: The Waves will definitely go out to win every game they play, according to Mahoney. There will be no fear in them of pressure on them and if they shoot for the stars, what harm if they only reach the moon?
Realistically, the club’s main goal is to establish itself in the WNL. They want to set up a ladder of progression so that female soccer players in the area can develop as players and then play at the highest level. It is a development project with a goal of having an academy in place by the end of the season.
The Waves won’t reach the stars and it is difficult to see anybody topping the irresistible attacking force of Peamount United this year. They can mix it up and there’s no reason they will finish bottom just because they are the new kids on the block.
