Cork City Women's Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chathair Chorcaí na mBan) is an Irish

women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national te ...

team, based in Cork city. Originally playing at

Bishopstown Stadium Bishopstown Stadium ( ga, Staid a' Baile an Easpaig) is an association football stadium located in Bishopstown on the western outskirts of Cork, Ireland. It is the home ground of Women's National League (WNL) club Cork City WFC. Formerly the h ...

, from the 2021 Women's National League season, the club were playing home games at Turners Cross Stadium. The club kit is the same as that of

Cork City FC Cork City Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chathair Chorcaí) is an Irish association football club based in Cork. The club was founded and elected to the League of Ireland in 1984. It was one of the first clubs in Ireland (and the first i ...

, as is the emblem, which is itself a variant of the Cork

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

. The club was founded in 2011 as Cork Women's F.C., to take its place as one of seven teams in Ireland's inaugural Women's National League. In 2014 they affiliated with FORAS, the supporters' trust behind Cork City FC, and relaunched as Cork City Women's FC. The club claimed their first national silverware by winning the

FAI Women's Cup The Football Association of Ireland Women's Cup is the senior cup competition for women's association football in the Republic of Ireland. It is commonly known as the Women's FAI Cup, the WFAI Cup, or prior to 2001, the Ladies FAI Cup or the LFAI ...

in 2017, and merged "fully" with Cork City FC ahead of the 2018 season.

History

2011–2015

Cork Women's F.C. was founded after the granting of a license to compete in the inaugural season of the Women's National League by the Football Association of Ireland. The club played its games in the stadium of the Cork Institute of Technology for their debut year. A squad was assembled containing players such as

Denise O'Sullivan Denise O'Sullivan (born 4 February 1994) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for the American club North Carolina Courage of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the Republic of Ireland national team which s ...

Marie Curtin Marie Claire Curtin (born 7 August 1985) is a former professional footballer who played for Republic of Ireland women's national football team. Curtin played for several clubs in the Women's National League, including Cork Women's F.C., Galwa ...

and Clare Shine under the management of Dave Bell. The club had some mixed results on the field in the 2011–12 Women's National League season, and Bell left by mutual agreement in early March 2012. Former Tralee Dynamos player Ronan Collins took the reins of the club until the end of the season (finishing third). Maurice Farrell was appointed as head coach for the 2012–13 season. There were also changes on the pitch as players like Katie McCarthy, Marie Curtin and

Sylvia Gee Sylvia Gee (born 30 November 1977) is a former Republic of Ireland women's international footballer who has spent the majority of her career playing in various women's association football leagues in the Republic of Ireland and the United State ...

departed. The club also moved to Turners Cross stadium for the following season. The club finished second-bottom of the league. For the 2013–14 WNL season, a number of players departed, and a largely new team was signed. Irish International Denise O'Sullivan was the highest profile departure, following a move to Scottish club Glasgow City. The club also began discussions with FORAS Trust which resulted in the club playing home games at

. The team failed to register a point and only scored two goals all season, and Maurice Farrell departed the club at the end of the season. For the 2014–15 season, the club formally agreed to a merger with Cork City F.C. and FORAS Trust, to become Cork City W.F.C. for the upcoming season. The club continued to play matches at Bishopstown stadium. Former Gaynor Cup-winning manager for Cork, Charlie Lynch, was appointed manager and assembled a squad with additions such as Irish U19 internationals Ciara McNamara and Shannon Carson. Despite an improvement on the field in performances, the club finished another season without a single league win. The club controversially forfeited their final league fixture against Raheny United, which deprived Raheny's

Katie McCabe Katie Alison McCabe (born 21 September 1995) is an Irish footballer who plays for FA WSL club Arsenal and serves as captain of the Republic of Ireland national team. As a teenager, she won the Irish Women's National League title twice and t ...

of an opportunity to claim the WNL Golden Boot.

2015–2022

Charlie Lynch was appointed Head of Youth Development and former Bandon AFC manager Niall O'Regan appointed as manager for the 2015–16 season. With some new players, they secured their first win in two years against newly formed Kilkenny United. In February 2016, Frank Kelleher was announced as the new manager, replacing Niall O'Regan. Cork City WFC came 5th in the 2017 Women's National League season, and won the

in November 2017. Affiliated with FORAS (the supporters' trust behind Cork City FC) from 2014, Cork City WFC was "fully merged" with Cork City FC ahead of the 2018 WNL season. During the 2018 season, the club reached the final of the Women's National League Development Shield competition, losing out to Wexford Youths W.F.C. on penalties. The club finished mid-table in the 2019 Women's National League, with 24 points from 21 games. Cork City WFC came fourth in the 2020 WNL League competition, and reached the 2020 FAI Women's Cup Final, losing out to Peamount United. The club came 8th in the 2021 league, and 9th in 2022.

Stadia

For several seasons, Cork City W.F.C. played their home games at Bishopstown Stadium in Curaheen. This stadium had been developed by former Cork City F.C. chairman Pat O'Donovan in 1994 as a new home for the club. However, due to the poor finances of the club, the ground was sold. Cork City F.C. rented the ground as a training and administrative base. In Cork Women FC's debut season, games were staged at the Cork Institute of Technology Sports Stadium. The club then moved to Turners Cross for 2012–13 before moving to Bishopstown Stadium. As of early 2021, the club were due to return to Turners Cross, and by 2022 had been included in a long-term agreement with the

Munster Football Association The Munster Football Association (MFA) is the governing body for association football in the Irish province of Munster. It is affiliated to the Football Association of Ireland and is responsible for organising the Munster Senior Cup and the ...

for the "use of Turner's Cross for .Women's National League fixtures".

League placings

Players

Current squad

Notable former players

;

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

women's internationals *

* Clare Shine ;

Cork ladies' Gaelic footballers Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

Valerie Mulcahy Valerie Mulcahy is an Irish footballer. As a ladies' Gaelic footballer, she played at senior level for Cork, winning ten All-Ireland titles and nine Ladies' National Football League titles between 2005 and 2015. She was also an All Star on six ...

Saoirse Noonan Saoirse Noonan ( ; born 13 July 1999) is an Irish dual code footballer from Cork. In association football she plays for Durham of the English FA Women's Championship. She represents the Republic of Ireland at senior level, having also represen ...

Coaching staff

As of January 2022, the technical staff included:

Managers

References

External links

Cork City Women's FC page at the WNL website
{{Sport in Cork City Association football clubs established in 2011 Women's association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland Association football clubs in County Cork 2011 establishments in Ireland Women's National League (Ireland) teams Association football clubs in Cork (city)