Peas’ poised for a tough opener
By Daire Walsh
PEAMOUNT United will begin their quest to secure an unprecedented third consecutive Women’s National League title when they face Wexford Youths at Ferrycarrig Park on Saturday (kick-off 4pm).
Prior to the Newcastle side sealing back-to-back honours last November, Raheny United and Wexford had achieved a similar feat, but no team in the history of the competition has completed the three in-a-row.
James O’Callaghan will be hoping his Peamount team can get the defence of their National League title off to a winning start
Yet while the Newcastle club appear perfectly primed for another title challenge, the minds of team manager James O’Callaghan and his squad won’t be drifting beyond their season opener in the southeast.
“I know it’s a cliche and all, but we’re not looking too far down the road” insisted O’Callaghan.
“Whenever you do that you can trip yourself up. We are genuinely just looking at our first match against Wexford this Saturday..
“We played a lot of games in pre-season [six in total] and all the teams are improving. It’s getting really hard. The quality of the league is really, really good and we’ll see how we go Saturday. That’s all we’re really focusing on at the moment.”
While Niamh Farrelly has moved to Glasgow City, O’Callaghan has managed to retain the core of the side from their emphatic FAI Cup final triumph over Cork City at the end of 2020. There are new additions to the senior squad in the form of Chloe Smullen and Orla Fitzpatrick, both promoted from the club’s Under 17 set-up ahead of the new campaign.
They will be rubbing shoulders with the experienced triumvirate of Áine O’Gorman, Stephanie Roche and Karen Duggan, something O’Callaghan feels will be beneficial to their long-term development at Peamount.
“Áine, Steph and Karen, they’re phenomenal players. They’ve given a lot of time and service to women’s football in this country. It’s great for the younger players coming through to be training with them and playing with them, and learn from them.
“They do have a lot to offer, because they’ve been top pros over the years. Hopefully they can be top pros for another two or three seasons as well.”
As was the case when a truncated season got underway in August of last year, Peamount are set to play their games behind closed doors for the foreseeable future. Thanks to the advent of the FAI’s LOITV service, their supporters will be able to watch all their games – home and away – online.
The association has committed to streaming all 108 of their WNL fixtures and O’Callaghan hopes this can be the beginning of an even greater level of coverage for the game in Ireland.
“In fairness to the FAI, in terms of promoting the game, they stepped up. The games are going to be streamed live now, which is great for everybody to see,” O’Callaghan said.
“It’s badly-needed for the promotion of the game. Hopefully we can maybe even have some live matches on RTE at some stage during the season as well. It would be phenomenal.”
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