The 2015–16 Women's National League was the fifth season of the Women's National League. Two new clubs joined the league before the start of the season, restoring the number of teams in the league to eight. Kilkenny United were formed as expansion team while Raheny United's senior women's team merged with Shelbourne Ladies. This effectively saw Shelbourne Ladies takeover Raheny United's place in the WNL. The season also saw the introduction of the WNL Shield.

Wexford Youths Wexford Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Crossabeg, County Wexford. They compete in the League of Ireland First Division. The club joined the league after being awarded a First Division licence for the 2007 League ...

and Shelbourne Ladies finished the season as the league's two strongest teams. In the league itself, the two teams finished level on points before Wexford Youths retained the title after a play-off. Wexford Youths also completed a treble, having already won both the FAI Women's Cup and WNL Shield. Shelbourne Ladies were also runners up in the WNL Shield before going onto win the WNL Cup. Before the season was finished

Castlebar Celtic Castlebar Celtic F.C. ( ga, Cumann Peile Caisleán an Bharraigh Ceiltigh) is an Irish association football club based in Castlebar, County Mayo. They currently play in the Mayo Association Football League. They have previously fielded teams in ...

withdrew because they were unable to field a team.

WNL Shield

The season began with the inaugural WNL Shield which saw the eight teams divided into two regional groups, one featuring northern teams and another featuring mostly southern teams.

UCD Waves UCD Women's Soccer Club is an Irish association football club based in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It is the women's association football team of University College Dublin. Founded in 1966, UCD are one of the oldest women's football clubs in the ...

played in Group A along with the southern teams,

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the c ...

, Kilkenny United and

. The other four northern teams,

, Galway W.F.C., Peamount United and Shelbourne Ladies played in Group B. The group stages began on 5 September and were completed by 4 October, before the regular season began. The format saw the four teams play each other once with the two group winners meeting in the final. In a sign of things to come, Castlebar Celtic failed to field a team against Shelbourne Ladies in their group game. Wexford Youths booked their place in the final with a 5–0 victory over Cork City. In the final, played at

Ferrycarrig Park Ferrycarrig Park has been the home of League of Ireland side Wexford Football Club since joining the league in 2007. The building works for the new stadium and facilities, at Newcastle, Crossabeg, have been ongoing since 2003. Currently specta ...

on 30 March 2016, Wexford Youths defeated Shelbourne Ladies 1–0 with Edel Kennedy scoring the winner.

Group A

Group B

Final

Notes

Regular season

The regular season began in late October 2015 and was completed by May 2016. It used the traditional round-robin format with each team playing two full rounds of games home and away. Before the season was finished

withdrew because they were unable to field a team. Celtic had played nine games, losing eight and winning just one. All their results were subsequently expunged. During the course of the regular season Celtic had suffered two heavy defeats. On 10 October 2015 they lost 9–1 at home to Shelbourne Ladies. Then on 2 January 2016 they lost 17–1 to

. As a result of storms and floods, the season saw several games called off. This resulted in a backlog of games during the final run in. Some of these games were played midweek. In the final week Wexford Youths travelled to Galway W.F.C. on Sunday, 8 May knowing a victory would secure them the league title. However Youths dropped their first league points away from home and could only manage a 1–1 draw. Youths had a second chance to clinch the title when they played Shelbourne Ladies at

Tolka Park Tolka Park ( ga, Páirc na Tulchann) is an Irish football ground located in the north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Ireland club Shelbourne. The stadium ...

on Wednesday, 11 May. However Shelbourne Ladies won 3–1 and as result finished level on points with Youths. This meant the title would be decided by a play-off for the first time. Before the play-off Shelbourne Ladies defeated

in the WNL Cup final on Sunday, 15 May. The play-off took place on Sunday, 22 May at

Tallaght Stadium Tallaght Stadium ( ga, Staid Thamhlachta) is an association football stadium in the Republic of Ireland based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club Shamrock Rovers originally announced details of the stadium in July, 1996. The stadium is now ow ...

. It proved third time lucky for Wexford Youths as they finally secured the title with a 2–1 win.

Final table

Results

Play-off

WNL Cup

The WNL Cup was played between January and May 2016 during the second half of the season. The cup used a similar format to the WNL Shield, using the same regional groups. The WNL Cup fixtures were effectively the return matches of the earlier WNL Shield fixtures. The top two teams from each group progressed to the semi-finals. In the final Shelbourne Ladies defeated

3–2 at

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of London's Royal Parks, and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I in the 17th century as a deer pa ...

on 1 May 2016.

Group A

Group B

Semi-finals

Final

WNL Awards

;Senior Player of the Year * Karen Duggan (

) ;Young Player of the Year * Roma McLaughlin ( Peamount United) ;''

Irish Daily Mail The ''Irish Daily Mail'' is a newspaper published in Ireland and :Northern Ireland by DMG Media (the parent company of the British ''Daily Mail''). The paper launched in February 2006 with a launch strategy that included giving away free copies ...

'' Golden Boot * Áine O'Gorman (

) ;Team of the Season

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2015-16 Women's National League (Ireland) Women's National League (Ireland) seasons

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...