Sara Lawlor (born 11 November 1987) is an Irish international

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 played for

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 ...

of the Women's National League (WNL). She made her debut for 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 ...

in February 2012. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, Lawlor was the WNL Player of the Season in both 2011–12 and 2012–13.

Club career

Lawlor played her first match for

in January 2000 and featured in the club's

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 defeat by

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 ...

in 2005. She remained with the club for the inaugural 2011–12 Women's National League season, helping Peamount United win the title. She contributed 15 goals to Peamount's success, formed a "devastating" striking partnership with

Stephanie Roche Stephanie Roche (born 13 June 1989) is an Irish association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), striker for Shamrock Rovers Ladies F.C., Shamrock Rovers of Dublin and the Republic of Ireland women's national foot ...

and was named Player of the Year at the inaugural end of season awards ceremony. In

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Peamount lost their league title to Raheny United but the campaign was a personal triumph for Lawlor. The top goalscorer with 28 goals, she won a second consecutive Player of the Year award.

International career

At the girls' football tournament at the 2003

European Youth Olympic Festival The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) is a biennial multi-sport event for youth (14 to 18 years old) athletes from the 50 member countries of the association of European Olympic Committees. The festival has a summer edition, held for the fir ...

, Lawlor scored in the third place play-off shootout as Ireland beat

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

after a 1–1 draw at

Stade Sébastien Charléty Stade Sébastien-Charléty (; ), also known as Stade Charléty or Charléty, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, France. Comprising a running track and a football field, the stadium is a 20,000-seat state ...

in Paris. Lawlor was one of three nominees for the 2005 Under-19 Women's International Player of the Year, won by

Niamh Fahey Niamh Fahey (born 13 October 1987) is an Irish footballer who plays as a defender or midfielder for Liverpool in the Women's Super League and the Republic of Ireland women's national football team. She has previously played for Chelsea. Before ...

. After noting her impressive form in the nascent Women's National League, national team coach

Susan Ronan Susan "Sue" Ronan (born 21 February 1964) is an Irish football coach and former player, who managed the Republic of Ireland women's national football team from 2010 until 2016. Ronan represented Welsox and Shelbourne at club level, and made he ...

called Lawlor up to the senior

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 ...

squad for the first time ahead of the 2012 Algarve Cup. Lawlor made her debut in Ireland's opening match at the tournament, a 1–0 defeat by

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. She also represented Ireland at the

2013 Summer Universiade The 2013 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXVII Summer Universiade (russian: XXVII Летняя Универсиада), was held in the city of Kazan, Russia, the most northerly city ever to host a Summer Universiade. Over 10,400 un ...

in July. In October 2013, Lawlor withdrew from the national squad with a knee injury.

References

External links

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Sara Lawlor
at Football Association of Ireland (FAI) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawlor, Sara 1987 births Living people Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers Association footballers from Dublin (city) Peamount United F.C. players Women's National League (Ireland) players Quinnipiac Bobcats women's soccer players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Dublin Women's Soccer League players Women's association football forwards Republic of Ireland women's youth international footballers