AS she gets set to embark on a second season at Limerick’s Treaty United, Cork native Jesse Mendez has expressed her delight at the rising profile of the SSE Airtricity Women’s National League.

After making four appearances for Cork City in the truncated 2020 campaign, Mendez subsequently made the move to their Munster rivals at the beginning of last year.

The need for greater promotion in domestic women’s soccer has been brought to the forefront during the Covid-19 pandemic and Mendez was thrilled to see one channel in particular taking ownership of this issue.

“The whole media side and the coverage side of it I thought was a huge improvement last year.

“It’s good to see girls’ football keeps improving and the TG4 link last year as well,” Mendez acknowledged at a league launch in Dublin recently.

“The way the final games were televised for whether Peamount or Shels would win the league.

“That’s all great and it’s great to keep putting the women’s game out there. It’s fantastic that it keeps improving.”

Having finished bottom of a nine-team WNL in 2021, Mendez and Treaty will be hoping for a much-improved showing this time around.

Their season gets underway against DLR Waves at the UCD Bowl on March 5 and the Leesider expects it to be a difficult opening day assignment.

“That will be a tough game. They’ve had great signings this year. It will be a tough game, away from home as well, but we’re just going to focus on working hard in each game and trying to get the best result we can.

“We just want to give every team a really good game and work really hard together. We’re a really young group of girls.

“I think that can be a positive as well.”

In becoming a Women’s National League star, Mendez is maintaining a strong family tradition.

Her mother Barbara O’Connell was a stalwart at Cork City for many years and was an FAI Intermediate Cup winner with Wilton United as recently as 2018.

As Jesse explains, O’Connell is a major reason why she has progressed this far and continues to play a big part in her sporting life.

“She’s fantastic. She has been so influential in my career so far. Me and my sister [Treaty underage player Alix] grew up on sidelines so we had no other choice but to play! She’s fantastic.

“She drives me up to Limerick three or four times a week and same with my sister. Couldn’t ask for a better person to have around me while I’m playing,” Mendez added.