Massive week for Peamount women
THE COMING week could well prove one of the biggest ever for Peamount United Women’s soccer team.
James O’Callaghan’s side will welcome closest rivals Shelbourne to Greenogue today (Saturday), knowing that a win will see them capture the Women’s National League title.
Aine O’Gorman could play a key role in a big week for Peamount United women’s team.
And just four days later the same two sides go head-to-head again in Peamount in the semi finals of the Só Hotels FAI Women’s Senior Cup.
Currently five points ahead of their Dublin rivals at the top of the table with three matches remaining, Peamount can wrap up the title race with another big win this weekend.
Yet O’Callaghan is keeping his players focused on the game itself, telling The Echo “Shels are a really good team, but we’ll be just looking at this as another match in which we have to get three points.
“We play 21 games in the season and this is the 19th game. Hopefully we can win it.
“We’ll be playing them again in the FAI Cup semi final the following Wednesday.
“We were beaten in the final last season so the players would love to get that big day out in the Aviva again and hopefully go one step better.
“It’s the competition that gets all the attention, but we’ll be just focusing fully on our league game first and hopefully get the win there” he stressed.
The Newcastle side have taken four points from their two league encounters with Shels so far, although they did lose to the northsiders in the semi final of this season’s National League Cup- the very competition Peamount won last year.
Still, O’Callaghan is more than pleased with how the season has gone so far for his team which has been knocking on the door of National League glory over recent seasons.
Indeed the team was just one point away from the coveted prize back in 2017 and required only a draw in their final match of the season against Wexford Youths who subsequently pinched the prize.
“It’s been a long journey since then and the girls have worked really hard” said O’Callaghan. “They’re a great bunch of girls and so committed.”
The fact that they lead the charge for the title has been made all the more remarkable given the fact that they lost the hugely valuable services of Ireland Senior international striker Amber Barrett after she joined Bundesliga side Koln back in June.
“Amber was our top scorer and a really exciting player so she was a huge loss, but the girls have really rallied and stepped up their performances” said O’Callaghan.
“Losing your top scorer is tough, but the likes of Eleanor [Ryan Doyle] and Aine [O’Gorman] have been chipping in with the goals to help keep us up there” he added.
While they would love to bag the league title this weekend, Peamount could still secure the prize with wins over DLR Waves and/or Cork City in their closing two matches should they fail to beat Shels.
