Soccer
Peamount poised to kick off new campaign against newcomers Sligo Rovers
By Daire Walsh
PEAMOUNT United manager James O’Callaghan believes the addition of Sligo Rovers to the Women’s National League represents an important step forward for the competition.
Long regarded as one of the biggest soccer clubs in the country, the Bit O’Red have registered a women’s squad for 2022 and will complete a 10-team WNL for the coming season – the highest number to have participated in the league since its inception 11 years ago.
Peamount kick-start their campaign by welcoming Sligo to PRL Park this Saturday (kick-off 5pm) and O’Callaghan is hopeful of hitting the ground running against the newcomers.
“It’s great to see Sligo in the league,” said O’Callaghan. “Obviously Sligo is a big soccer town, so it’s about time they actually got a women’s team in the senior league.
“It’s really exciting and we’re really looking forward to it. They’re a new team so they’re going to come down to Peamount and they’re going to be buzzing. We’ll have to prepare really well,” he stressed.
For much of 2021, Peamount looked set to create history by becoming WNL champions for a third year in succession.
But in the end, Dublin rivals Shelbourne dramatically pipped them to the post and now the challenge for the Newcastle outfit is to knock Noel King’s charges off their perch.
It was by no means a two-horse race last year, however, as eventual FAI Cup winners Wexford Youths kept pace with the Metropolitans for the bulk of the campaign.
As the weeks progress and players start to find their feet again, O’Callaghan fully expects more teams to join the pack.
“I think this season obviously Shelbourne are the team to beat. Wexford and Galway as well, it’s going to be really difficult.
“I think all of the teams that probably finished a little bit lower in the league last season have strengthened and they’re going to be much stronger this season.
“Everybody is going to take points off each other. I think this could be the first year where it’s a lot more open than previous seasons, because I think teams are going to take points off everybody. It should be exciting.
“Last season was nearly a great season for Peamount, but it was a great season for the league in terms of how it finished as well.
“It was a really exciting end to the season. You can see the progression and the development of teams all the time. They’re really, really improving,” he insisted.
While a number of players, including Lucan native Eleanor Ryan-Doyle, have departed the club over the past 12 months to play overseas, O’Callaghan still has a number of talented operators to call upon.
Supplementing the experienced quartet of Niamh Reid-Burke, Stephanie Roche, Aine O’Gorman and Karen Duggan, are young guns like Tiegan Ruddy.
A native of Celbridge, Ruddy is confident the current squad are more than capable of making up for last year’s disappointment and securing their fourth league title.
“I think we all know in our own minds that if we play to our abilities and we’re mentally strong, that we can definitely challenge for the league again and push on again,” Ruddy insisted.
“Obviously the last day of the season didn’t go to plan at all, but we just need to get out of our heads now and really push on. Try and win that title back.”