Mary Veronica Waldron (born 5 May 1984) 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 ...

player and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er who has represented both 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 = Oliv ...

and the

Ireland women's cricket team The Ireland women's cricket team represents Ireland in international women's cricket. Cricket in Ireland is governed by Cricket Ireland and organised on an All-Ireland basis, meaning the Irish women's team represents both Northern Ireland and ...

. She has also stood as an

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

in cricket matches.

Football

Club career

Waldron was nominated for the FAI Under–18 Women Player of the Year in 2001 and 2002, while playing for St James's Gate. She was awarded a sport scholarship to

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

in 2003. In the 2004

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 at

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...

, Waldron played in UCD's 4–1 win over Dundalk City. In July 2004 Waldron made her

UEFA Women's Cup 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. T ...

debut for UCD; in a 5–0 defeat to

Montpellier HSC Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC or simply Montpellier, is a French professional football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitanie. The original club was founded in 1919, while the current ...

. Waldron hit an injury–time winner from the penalty spot, as St Francis beat

Peamount United Peamount United Football Club () is an Irish association football club based in Newcastle, South Dublin. The club is best known for its senior women's team who in 2011–12 became founder members and inaugural champions of the Women's National ...

2–1 in the final of the 2008 FAI Women's Cup 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 park ...

. She also played in 2009 as St Francis beat St Catherine's 1–0 to retain the Cup. In the 2011 final Waldron headed the opening goal in St Catherine's 3–1 win over Wilton United at Turners Cross.

International career

Waldron captained

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 ...

at Under–19 level. Coach Noel King gave her an appearance in Ireland's senior team in a 2–1 friendly win over

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

Klaksvík Klaksvík is the second largest town of the Faroe Islands behind Tórshavn. The town is located on Borðoy, which is one of the northernmost islands (the Norðoyar). It is the administrative centre of Klaksvík municipality. History The first ...

on 12 October 2004. In August 2011 she reappeared for the senior team, as an 86th-minute substitute for Shannon Smyth in a 1–0 home friendly defeat to Switzerland. Waldron also represented Irish Universities at the World University Games, playing in the 2009 tournament in Belgrade.

Cricket

In July 2010 Waldron made her One Day International debut for

, against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

at Kibworth Cricket Club New Ground. She is a

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

. In June 2018, she was named in Ireland's squad for the

2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier The 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier was an international women's cricket tournament held from 7 to 14 July 2018 in the Netherlands. It was the third edition of the Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier and was the qualification tournament ...

tournament. In October 2018, she was named in Ireland's squad for the

2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 The 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 was the sixth edition of the ICC Women's World Twenty20, hosted in the West Indies from 9 to 24 November 2018. It the second World Twenty20 hosted by the West Indies (after the 2010 edition), and the West In ...

tournament in the West Indies. In August 2019, she was named in Ireland's squad for the

2019 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier The 2019 ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier was an international women's cricket tournament that was held in August and September 2019 in Scotland. It was the fourth edition of the Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier and was the qualification tour ...

tournament in Scotland. In July 2020, she was awarded a part-time professional contract by

Cricket Ireland Cricket Ireland, officially the Irish Cricket Union, is the national governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), and oversees the national men's and women's cricket teams. It also org ...

for the following year. In November 2021, she was named in Ireland's team for the

2021 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier The 2021 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier was an international women's cricket tournament that was held in Zimbabwe in November and December 2021. The tournament was the final part of the qualification process for the 2022 Women's Cricket Worl ...

tournament in Zimbabwe.

Umpiring

Waldron is also pursuing a career as a cricket

. In October 2016, she became the first woman for 38 years to stand as an umpire in a men's

Grade cricket Grade cricket, also known as Premier Cricket is the name of the senior inter-club or district cricket competitions in each of the Australian states and territories. The term may refer to: *Victorian Premier Cricket * NSW Premier Cricket * Queens ...

match in South Australia. In August 2018, she became the first Irish woman to umpire in a men's List A fixture. In May 2019, the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the ' ...

named her as one of the eight women on the ICC Development Panel of Umpires. On 15 June 2019, she stood in her first

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) match, between Italy and Norway, in the Regional Finals of the 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier tournament. In September–October 2019, she stood in Australian women's domestic league, the

Women's Big Bash League The Women's Big Bash League (known as the WBBL and, for sponsorship reasons, the Weber WBBL) is the Australian women's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition. The WBBL replaced the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup, which ran from the 2007–08 ...

Field hockey

Waldron has also played field hockey for Glenanne where her teammates included

Nicola Daly Nicola Daly (born 3 April 1988), also referred to as Nicci Daly or Nikki Daly, is an Ireland women's field hockey international. She was a member of the Ireland team that played in the 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup final. In 2010 Daly was a mem ...

and she was coached by

Nikki Symmons Nikki Symmons (born 2 August 1982) is a former Ireland women's field hockey international. Symmons is also a former Ireland women's cricket international. Between 2001 and 2013 Symmons made 208 appearances and scored 31 goals for Ireland. She ...

References

External links

Mary Waldron
at

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

Mary Waldron
at ESPNcricinfo

at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldron, Mary Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers 1984 births Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Women's National League (Ireland) players Raheny United F.C. players UCD Women's Soccer Club players St Francis L.F.C. players St James's Gate F.C. players St Catherine's L.F.C. players Dublin Women's Soccer League players Women's association football forwards Republic of Ireland women's youth international footballers Cricketers from Dublin (city) Irish women cricketers Ireland women One Day International cricketers Ireland women Twenty20 International cricketers Irish Twenty20 International cricket umpires Irish women cricket captains Irish cricket umpires Women cricket umpires Dragons (women's cricket) cricketers Typhoons (women's cricket) cricketers Wicket-keepers Irish female field hockey players Field hockey players from County Dublin Alumni of University College Dublin Irish women referees and umpires