Aislinn Meaney (born 24 October 1998) is an Irish

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

er, who plays for

Treaty United Treaty United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Limerick. The club was founded in 2020 following the demise of Limerick F.C. and began playing in the League of Ireland in 2021. They play their home matches at Market ...

. She has previously played for Galway W.F.C. and the American

Akron Zips Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

women's soccer team. She has played for the

Republic of Ireland women's national football team ) , Association = Women's Football Association of Ireland , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Vera Pauw , Captain = Katie McCabe , Most caps = Emma Byrne (134) , Top scorer = Olivia ...

Personal life

Meaney is from

Ennis Ennis () is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in County Clare, with a population of 25,27 ...

. As a youngster, she played

Ladies' Gaelic football Ladies' Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach na mBan) is a women's team sport. It is the women's equivalent of Gaelic football. Ladies' football is organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a ...

for Clare U14, with whom she won the 2012 All-Ireland title for her age group. She studied arts at

NUI Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

, and played for their

varsity team In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

from 2017 until 2019. In 2019, she transferred her studies to the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified ...

in the US.

Club career

As a youngster, Meaney played for Lifford Ladies, making her senior debut at the age of 16. In 2017, she joined

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

. Meaney was the 2018 Women's National League Player of the Month for May 2018, and was named in the league's Team of the Season. She was on the shortlist for the Player of the Season award. In 2019, Meaney signed for American

women's soccer team; Meaney and

Lucia Lobato Lucia may refer to: Arts and culture * ''Lucía'', a 1968 Cuban film by Humberto Solás * ''Lucia'' (film), a 2013 Kannada-language film * '' Lucia & The Best Boys'', a Scottish indie rock band formerly known as ''LUCIA'' * "Lucia", a Swedish c ...

were the first Irishwomen to play for the Zips. She made 19 appearances in her first season at the club. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, she was unable to play in the US and returned to Ireland. Ahead of the 2021 Women's National League, Meaney left Galway. She played for Akron Zips in 2021, and later returned to Galway in June 2021. In 2022, Meaney joined

International career

Meaney played for

Republic of Ireland women's national under-17 football team Republic of Ireland women's national under-17 football team represents Republic of Ireland in international youth football competitions. FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The team has qualified in 2010 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship Previ ...

, and was part of the Irish under-17 team that beat

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

2–0 in a

2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualification The 2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualifying competition was a women's under-17 football competition played in 2014 and 2015 to determine the seven teams joining Iceland, who qualified automatically as hosts, in the 2015 UEFA Women's Un ...

match. She made four appearances in that qualification tournament, and was also in the Republic of Ireland squad for the

2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The 2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship was the eighth edition of the UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, the annual European youth football competition contested by the women's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Icela ...

in Iceland. Meaney made her debut for the senior side in a 2018 friendly match against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. She also played in a 2018 match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. As of 2019, she had made two appearances for the senior team. She also played for the Irish Universities Team in the women's football tournament at the

2019 Summer Universiade ) , Nations participating = 118 , Athletes participating = 5,971 , Events = 220 , Sports = 18 , Opening ceremony = 3 July , Closing ceremony = 14 July , Officially opened by = President Se ...

; they finished fourth in the tournament.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meaney, Aislinn Republic of Ireland women's international footballers 1998 births Living people Women's National League (Ireland) players Alumni of the University of Galway University of Akron alumni Sportspeople from County Clare People from Ennis Competitors at the 2019 Summer Universiade Galway W.F.C. players Akron Zips women's soccer players Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Women's association football midfielders Women's association football forwards Republic of Ireland women's youth international footballers