Niamh Fahey (born 13 October 1987) 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 defender or

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

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 ...

in 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 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 ...

. She has previously played for

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 ...

. Before joining Chelsea in December 2014, Fahey spent six seasons with

Arsenal Ladies Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is an English professional women's football club based in Islington, London, England. The club plays in the Women's Super League, the top tier of English women's football. Arse ...

. She has also won national cups playing

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 ...

with Galway Ladies Football. Niamh is the sister of Galway's 2001 All-Ireland-winning Gaelic football captain

Gary Fahey Gary Fahey is a former Gaelic footballer who captained the Galway county team in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. Playing primarily in a full-back position, he won five Connacht Senior medals and two All-Ireland medals. Fahey is t ...

Club career

Fahey began her career with her hometown club,

Salthill Devon Salthill Devon Football Club is an Irish association football club originally based in Salthill, Galway. Their senior team currently plays in the Galway & District League. They have previously played in the Connacht Senior League, the A Champi ...

. She progressed through the ranks alongside future international teammate Méabh De Búrca. Both players helped

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 ...

win 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 2007. In the final against Raheny United, Fahey scored the winning penalty and also subdued the attacking threat of Raheny's

Olivia O'Toole Olivia Christina O'Toole (born 25 February 1971) is an Irish former international association football forward. She made her debut for the Republic of Ireland women's national football team in 1991 and captained the team before retiring in 2009 ...

, in what

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

described as "a splendid individual display." She joined

in August 2008. In her first season with the Gunners Fahey made 18 appearances, mostly at left full–back, as the club won a domestic

treble Treble may refer to: In music: *Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass *Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range *Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands *T ...

. On 19 December 2014, Fahey signed for

Chelsea L.F.C. Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Norbiton that competes in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England. Since 2004, the clu ...

Fahey also won the All-Ireland in 2004 with Galway L.G.F.A.

International career

Fahey has won over 100 caps for 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 ...

, having previously represented her country at Under-17 and Under-19 level. In March 2007, Fahey made her senior debut for Ireland in a 1–1 draw with

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 ...

in the opening match of the

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

. After becoming a regular in the team, Fahey was named FAI Women's Senior International Player of the Year in 2008, 2009 and 2011. In April 2013, Fahey suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during inju ...

while playing for Arsenal. The 30 minutes she played for Ireland against the Basque Country in May 2014 was her first game back. On 16 February 2022, she played her 100th match for Republic of Ireland in a 2–1 win over

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 ...

in the

2022 Pinatar Cup The 2022 Pinatar Cup was the second edition of the Pinatar Cup, an international women's football friendly tournament, that was held from 16 to 22 February 2022 in San Pedro del Pinatar, Region of Murcia, Spain. Format The eight invited teams ...

. She scored her first ever goal for Ireland on the occasion of her 104th cap, in a 9–0

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group A UEFA Group A of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification competition consists of five teams: Sweden, Finland, Republic of Ireland, Slovakia, and Georgia. The composition of the nine groups in the qualifying group stage was decided by the draw ...

win over

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in Gori on 27 June 2022.

Honours

FA WSL 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 ...

: 3 :

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2015 FA WSL The 2015 season of the Women's Super League was the fifth season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season was played from 25 March to 4 October. Liverpool were the defending champions from the 2014 FA WSL. Chel ...

FA Women's Premier League National Division The FA Women's Premier League National Division (originally WFA National League Premier Division) was a football division in England. From 1991 until 2010, the National Division functioned as the top league in English women's football. Durin ...

: 2 : 2008–09, 2009–10 *

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 ...

:1 : 2021-22 *

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

: 5 :2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–2015 *

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 ...

: 3 :2011, 2012, 2013 *

FA Women's Premier League Cup The Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). It was renamed the FA Women's Premier League Cup from 1994 to 2018. The first edition of the Cup includ ...

: 2 :2008–09, 2014–15 GAA All-Ireland Women's title 2004

References

External links

*
Niamh Fahey
at fai.ie. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fahey, Niamh 1987 births Living people Association footballers from County Galway Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Arsenal W.F.C. players Chelsea F.C. Women players Liverpool F.C. Women players Republic of Ireland women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Expatriate women's footballers in England Women's Super League players Salthill Devon F.C. players Galway W.F.C. players Galway ladies' Gaelic footballers Ladies' Gaelic footballers who switched code Women's association football central defenders Women's association football midfielders Expatriate women's footballers in France Irish expatriate sportspeople in France Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Division 1 Féminine players FC Girondins de Bordeaux (women) players Republic of Ireland women's youth international footballers FIFA Century Club