Leanne Kiernan (born 27 April 1999) is an Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a striker for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

of the WSL and 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 ...

Early life

Born in

Bailieborough Bailieborough or Bailieboro (; ) is a town in County Cavan, Ireland. , its population was 2,683, up from 1,529 as of the 1996 census. Bailieborough's proximity to the N3 road (Ireland), N3 National Road has made it a commuter town. History P ...

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; gle, Contae an Chabháin) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Border Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is base ...

, Kiernan attended Bailieborough Community School, where she played for the girls

footsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the ...

team. She played with Bailieboro Celtic and, at the age of 12, with the boys team at Kingscourt Harps, where she was spotted by FAI scout Mark Leavy and selected for their emerging talent programme. Outside of soccer, Kiernan had been an accomplished

cross-country runner Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

, winning the Ulster club juvenile cross-country championship four times with Shercock Athletic Club, and finishing fourth in the Irish U-13 cross-country championships in 2011. She also played

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

for Cavan up to U-16 level. She lived with her family on a

pig farm Pig farming or pork farming or hog farming is the raising and breeding of domestic pigs as livestock, and is a branch of animal husbandry. Pigs are farmed principally for food (e.g. pork: bacon, ham, gammon) and skins. Pigs are amenable to ...

Killinkere , native_name_lang = ga , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_alt = , image_caption = , pushpin_map = Ireland , pushpin_label_position = , pushpin_map_alt = Location of Killinkere within the Republic of Irelan ...

Club career

Shelbourne (2015–2018)

Kiernan joined Shelbourne at the age of 15. On 1 May 2016, she scored the winner for Shelbourne against

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 ...

in the

WNL Cup The League of Ireland Women's Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn na mBan i Sraith na hÉireann, sponsor name SSE Airtricity League Women's Premier Division) is a professional women's association football league in the Republic of Ireland, org ...

final at

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks, and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, C ...

. In the 2015–16 season, she scored 5 goals. In 2016, she scored 12 goals and was part of the "

invincible Invincible may refer to: Film and television * ''Invincible'' (2001 drama film), a drama by Werner Herzog about Jewish cabaret during the rise of Nazism * ''Invincible'' (2001 TV film), a fantasy / martial arts TV movie starring Billy Zane ...

" Shelbourne side that won the WNL without losing a single game. On 6 November 2016, she scored a hat-trick against Wexford Youths in 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 ...

final. In January 2017, she was named Young Player of the Year at 2016 Continental Tyres Women's National League Awards, earning a spot in the Team of the Year as well. The following week, she was also named Sportswoman of the Month for December 2016 by ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

''. On 22 August 2017, she made her

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

debut in a 0–0 draw with

KKPK Medyk Konin KKPK Medyk Konin is a Polish women's football club from Konin. Medyk Konin was founded in 1985. Since its promotion to the top league, the team has always finished near the top. Their best result was 2nd place in 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06 ...

. She finished the 2017 season with 9 goals. Kiernan began the 2018 season with 11 goals in her first six games – taking her total to 37 league goals in her three-and-a-half years with Shelbourne – before her departure in July.

West Ham United (2018–2021)

On 18 July 2018, Kiernan signed with

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. On 19 August 2018, she made her debut in a 3–1 loss to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the

FA WSL Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Pr ...

. On 26 August 2018, she scored her first goal in a 4–1 win over

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

. On 21 May 2021 Kiernan left West Ham following the expiry of her contract.

Liverpool F.C. (2021–)

On 22 June 2021, Kiernan signed for Liverpool F.C. Women, where she was re-united with her former West Ham manager

Matt Beard Matthew Beard (born 9 January 1978) is an English professional football manager, who is currently head coach of FA Women's Super League club Liverpool FC Women. He has managed the side previously, as well as the women's teams of Bristol City ...

and was assigned the

number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers c ...

9 jersey. She recovered from

shin splints A shin splint, also known as medial tibial stress syndrome, is pain along the inside edge of the shinbone (tibia) due to inflammation of tissue in the area. Generally this is between the middle of the lower leg and the ankle. The pain may be dull ...

which had disrupted her progress and recaptured her goal scoring form in the

2021–22 FA Women's Championship The 2021–22 FA Women's Championship is the fourth season of the rebranded FA Women's Championship, the second tier of women's football in England. It was renamed from the FA WSL 2 which was founded in 2014. Teams Twelve teams will compete in ...

season. She scored 13 goals for the title-winning Liverpool team who won

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

back to the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

, and signed a new contract with Liverpool in September 2022. On the opening day of the

2022–23 Women's Super League The 2022–23 Women's Super League season (also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons) is the 12th season of the Women's Super League (WSL) since it was formed in 2010. It is the fifth season after the rebranding of ...

season, Kiernan suffered an ankle injury in Liverpool's 2–1 win over

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

which required surgery and ruled her out for several months.

International career

Kiernan received a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

call-up in August 2016, first coming into the squad for two challenge matches against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in Newport. She scored the winner on her competitive debut, a 2–1 victory against the Basque Country 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 ...

on 26 November 2016.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Republic of Ireland's goal tally first.''

Career statistics

International

Honours

Club

;Shelbourne * WNL:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

: 2015–16 *

: 2016 ;Liverpool FC *

FA Women's Championship The Women's Championship (formerly The FA Women's Championship) is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2 (WSL 2). WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 d ...

: 2021-22

Individual

* WNL Young Player of the Year: 2016 * WNL Team of the Year: 2016 * ''

'' Sportswoman of the Month: December 2016

References

External links

*
Leanne Kiernan
at West Ham United
Leanne Kiernan
at Football Association of Ireland
Leanne Kiernan
at Extratime * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiernan, Leanne 1999 births Living people Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers Women's National League (Ireland) players Shelbourne F.C. (women) players West Ham United F.C. Women players Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in England Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Women's association football forwards Women's Super League players Sportspeople from County Cavan Cavan ladies' Gaelic footballers Ladies' Gaelic footballers who switched code Liverpool F.C. Women players Women's Championship (England) players Republic of Ireland women's youth international footballers