The 2023 Women’s Premier Division title might be their sweetest yet.
FEW WOULD HAVE had Peamount United down as 2023 SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division champions at the start of the season.
Peamount have been a consistent force since the formation of the Women’s National League in 2011. Having previously flourished in the Dublin Women’s Soccer League , they were the inaugural champions and persistently contested thereafter. “His wife went to the shops and was like, ‘I can’t buy anything on the on the card, what’s going on?’ He was like, ‘Oh, I’ve used the money to make sure we can play in the Champions League’. “Peamount has always been that club, especially supporting girls and women. They really pushed their girls and women’s team to be the more successful .”
Player departures has been a common theme at Peas in recent years. They’ve watched the likes of Amber Barrett, Niamh Farrelly, Claire Walsh, Eleanor Ryan Doyle, Tiegan Ruddy and Naoisha McAloon spread their wings, but the outset of this campaign was particularly difficult. Step up teenage trio Jess Fitzgerald, Ellen Dolan and Freya Healy, who have been instrumental. Dolan bagged the double that ultimately secured the title against Wexford Youths, but they’ve all slotted seamlessly into an impressive squad.
“This Peamount side, its consistency levels have been unbelievable over the last seven years,” O’Callaghan, who became the first manager in WNL history to lead a team to three league titles , beamed.“We’ve been so close so many times, and we’ve had a lot of setbacks along the way. I think that’s one of the key areas this year that’s drove us on, that’s given us the hunger. We’ve learned from the mistakes we’ve made, and you see the rewards here today.