Dundalk Women's Football Club is an Irish association football club based in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

. They are the women's team of

Dundalk F.C. Dundalk Football Club ( ; ga, Cumann Peile Dhún Dealgan) is a professional association football club that competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top tier of football in the Republic of Ireland. The club is based in Dundalk ...

They currently play in the

Dublin Women's Soccer League The Dublin Women's Soccer League was a women's association football league featuring teams from the Republic of Ireland. While the majority of the participating clubs were based in the Greater Dublin Area, the DWSL had regularly included teams f ...

. They represented the

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 ...

in the

2006–07 UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Cup 2006–07 was the sixth edition of the UEFA Women's Cup football club tournament (since rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League). 43 teams from 42 football associations took part, starting with the first qualifying round ...

. An earlier Dundalk F.C. women's team also competed in the Ladies League of Ireland during the 1970s.

History

Club history

The first Dundalk ladies team were the only team outside of England to be involved with the establishment of the

Women's Football Association The Women's Football Association (WFA) was the governing body of women's football in England. It was formed in 1969 and was disbanded in 1993, as responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the game of women's football in England passed to Th ...

(WFA) as a founding member. It is unclear exactly how the Dundalk ladies team came to be involved with the WFA; Patricia Gregory, a WFA founder member, surmised they may have become involved through an advertisement in the paper for a challenge match.

Ladies League of Ireland

The first Dundalk ladies team represented Ireland against England ( Corinthian Nomads) in an international on 10 May 1970, which took place at the Prestatyn Raceway, in North Wales. The game was won by the Corinthians 7-1, they played on the Raceway as women's football was still banned from association-affiliated grounds in Wales. 4,000 people attended the game, the Welsh officials were so impressed by the Dundalk side they were invited back to play Wales at Prestatyn in June the same year. In

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

when the FAI/ WFAI first organised a women's national league known as the Ladies League of Ireland, Dundalk were among its twelve founder members. Like Dundalk, other founder members included several teams associated with clubs in the men's

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

. These included

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was te ...

Cork Celtic Cork Celtic F.C., originally Evergreen United F.C., was an Irish football club based in Cork. They played in the League of Ireland between 1951 and 1979 and played their home games at Turners Cross. In 1974, they were League of Ireland champion ...

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

and

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 ...

Split

In December 2005

Dundalk City L.F.C. Dundalk City Ladies Football Club was an Irish association football club based in Dundalk, County Louth. During the early 2000s they were the "sister club" of Dundalk F.C. However, after winning the 2005 FAI Women's Cup and qualifying for the 20 ...

won 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 ...

and as a result qualified for the

. However, in 2006 a split developed within Dundalk City over a plan for the club to fully merge with

This effectively saw the emergence of two separate women's teams.

was re-established as an independent club while Dundalk W.F.C. became affiliated with the

club. Following complications that resulted from the split, it was Dundalk W.F.C. that went on to represent the

in the UEFA Women's Cup. The two rival clubs both subsequently entered teams in the FAI Women's Cup and the

Dundalk in Europe

Dundalk W.F.C. competed in Group 1 of the

Squad

Final table

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

* Gillian McDonnell * Paula Brennan (née Gorham) played eleven times for Ireland.

References

{{Dundalk F.C. Association football clubs in County Louth Women's association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland Dublin Women's Soccer League teams Dundalk F.C.