Clondalkin trailblazer Fallon to reunite with John Caulfield at Galway United
By Daire Walsh
Clondalkin native Lisa Fallon is set for a busy start to 2021 after it was announced that she is to be the new first-team head coach of League of Ireland First Division outfit Galway United.
This move sees her reuniting with manager John Caulfield, who Fallon worked alongside at Cork City. Having initially operated as an opposition analyst for the Leesiders, she later progressed into a coaching role, helping City towards a league and cup double in 2017.
Previously a sports reporter for Today FM and FM104, she made history in 2013 when she became the first female head coach of a senior men’s team in Ireland.
That position at Leinster Senior League side Lakelands FC is one of several that Fallon has held in recent years, across a variety of sporting disciplines.
A Round Tower Clondalkin camogie star in the past, she was recruited by former club-mate Jim Gavin to the backroom team of the Dublin men’s senior footballers in 2018. It was a wildly successful year in this role for Fallon as the Sky Blues were crowned National League, Leinster and All-Ireland champions.
In July of the same year, she ended a six-year stint as part of the support staff for the Northern Ireland men’s international side, working once again in the area of opposition analysis.
Following a later spell as a game and tactical strategy coach with Chelsea in the Women’s Super League, Fallon was appointed as head coach of London City Lionesses in the Women’s Championship in May 2020. She spent just over four months in this role, before returning home for family reasons.
Combining her journalistic and sporting backgrounds, Fallon has also been a regular contributor to RTÉ as both a sports analyst and co-commentator in the past couple of years. In this capacity, she became the first-ever female to cover the men’s Champions League and senior men’s internationals.
The ex-Lucan United footballer is set to continue her trailblazing at Galway – their first-team coaches have been exclusively male up to this point – as they look to forge a promotion bid in the coming months.