Sarah Linda Rowe (born 25 July 1995) is a triple code sportswoman. She currently plays association football for
Central Coast Mariners and
women's Australian rules football
Women's Australian rules football (in areas where it is popular, known simply as women's football or women's footy or women's AFL), is the female-only form of Australian rules football, generally with some modification to the laws of the game. ...
for
Collingwood in the
AFLW
AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football competition for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the l ...
.
She is a former
Republic of Ireland women's association football international. In addition to association football, Rowe has also played two other football codes at a senior level. She has played
ladies' Gaelic football
Ladies' Gaelic football () is an Irish team sport for women. It is the women's equivalent of Gaelic football. Ladies' football is organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a round ball toward ...
for and Australian rules football for Collingwood in the AFLW. At club level, Rowe has played association football for
Castlebar Celtic,
Raheny United,
Shelbourne,
Bohemians in the
Women's National League and for
Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...
in the
A-League Women. Rowe was a member of the
Republic of Ireland U19 team that won their group at the
2014 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship
The UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship 2014 Final Tournament was held in Norway from 15 to 27 July 2014. The first qualification matches were played on 21 September 2013.
A competition record of 48 participating nations was set. For the first time ...
and qualified for the semi-finals. In 2016, she was also a member of the Shelbourne Ladies team that won a Women's National League/
FAI Women's Cup double. In 2023, she returned to association football playing for Melbourne Victory and then for Bohemians. She signed for Central Coast Mariners in 2024.
Early years, family and education
Rowe is from
Ballina, County Mayo
Ballina ( ; ) is a town in north County Mayo, Ireland. It lies at the mouth of the River Moy near Killala Bay, in the Moy valley and civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Kilmoremoy, with the Ox Mountains to the east and the Nephin Beg Ra ...
. She is the daughter of Alan and Grainne Rowe. She has two older sisters, Lorna and Fiona. Her grandfather, Paddy Jordan, was a member of the
Mayo squad that won the
1951 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. Her father is involved with
Ballina R.F.C., serving as club chairman and club president. He also works for the family business, Rowear, a clothing company specialising in
pyjamas.
Rowe was educated at The Quay National School
and St. Mary's Secondary School.
She began playing
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
aged seven and
Gaelic football
Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...
aged eight. She credits Hugh Lynn, her school principal at The Quay National School, for encouraging her to develop her sporting potential.
Between 2013 and 2018 Rowe attended
Dublin City University
Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...
on a sports scholarship and trained to be a
PE and Biology teacher.
Association football
Clubs
St. Mary's Secondary School
In 2010 Rowe was a member of the St. Mary's Secondary School team that won the FAI Under-16 Schoolsgirls Cup. Rowe scored twice in the semi-final as St. Mary's defeated St. Caimin's Community School,
Shannon 2–0. In the final Rowe scored the winner as St. Mary's defeated
Moville Community College 2–1.
Castlebar Celtic
Rowe played for
Castlebar Celtic during the
2012–13 and
2013–14 Women's National League seasons. She was a member of the Celtic team that played in three cup finals, the 2013 and 2014
WNL Cup finals and the 2013
FAI Women's Cup final. On each occasion Celtic finished as runners up.
While playing for Celtic, Rowe was also named in the 2012–13 WNL Team of the Year.
Ballina Town
In 2014 Rowe was a member of the
Ballina Town team that won the
WFAI Intermediate Cup. Rowe provided an assist and scored Ballina's third goal as they defeated Douglas Hall 3–1 in the final at
Turners Cross.
Raheny United
Rowe played for
Raheny United during the
2014–15 Women's National League season and helped the team win the 2015
WNL Cup.
Shelbourne Ladies
Rowe played for
Shelbourne Ladies during the
2015–16 and
2016 Women's National League seasons. She played in the 2015
FAI Women's Cup final but again finished as a runner up. In 2016 she was a member of the Shelbourne Ladies team that won a
Women's National League/FAI Women's Cup double.
Melbourne Victory
In January 2023, Rowe signed with
A-League Women club
Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...
, initially on a three-week injury replacement contract for in place of
Melina Ayres.
Bohemians
In February 2023, Rowe returned to her homeland and signed for
Bohemians, in the hope of impressing and being selected by
Vera Pauw for the national team.
Central Coast Mariners
In December 2024, Rowe returned to the
A-League Women, signing with
Central Coast Mariners until the end of the season. Her
AFLW
AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football competition for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the l ...
club,
Collingwood, confirmed that she's still contracted to them too and will return in May 2025 for pre-season training.
Republic of Ireland
Rowe represented the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
at under-15,
under-17 and
under-19 levels.
Together with
Megan Connolly,
Savannah McCarthy,
Clare Shine and
Katie McCabe
Katie Alison McCabe (born 21 September 1995) is an Irish professional footballer who plays for English Women's Super League club Arsenal and captains the Republic of Ireland women's national team. Mainly a left back, she can also operate as ...
, Rowe was a member of the
Republic of Ireland U19 team that won their group at the
2014 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship
The UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship 2014 Final Tournament was held in Norway from 15 to 27 July 2014. The first qualification matches were played on 21 September 2013.
A competition record of 48 participating nations was set. For the first time ...
and qualified for the semi-finals. In the
qualification campaign she scored the goal against
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
that secured their place in the finals.
On 4 March 2015, Rowe made her senior debut for the Republic of Ireland at the
2015 Istria Cup. She came on as a substitute against
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...
and subsequently provided an assist for
Ruesha Littlejohn who scored to earn the Republic of Ireland a 1–1 draw.
Rowe was also a member of the Ireland squad at the
2015 Summer Universiade
The 2015 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXVIII Summer Universiade () and also known as Gwangju 2015 () was a multi-sport event for student and youth athletes sanctioned by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), hel ...
.
Gaelic football
Clubs
At club level, Rowe has played for Kilmoremoy and
DCU GAA.
She has played in two
O'Connor Cup finals for DCU, both against the
University of Limerick
University of Limerick (UL) () is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972, as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in Septemb ...
. In 2015 she finished as a runners up. In 2018 she scored 1–3 as DCU won by 2–12 to 0–17.
Inter-county
Rowe played for at under-12, under-14, under-16, under-18 and under-21 levels before making her senior debut in 2012, aged 16, against .
Rowe has played for Mayo in three
Ladies' National Football League finals, losing in 2013 and
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
to and in
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
to .
She also played for Mayo in the
2017 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship final, losing again to Dublin.
Australian rules football
In August
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
it was announced that Rowe had signed a five-month, one season contract with
Collingwood in the
AFLW
AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football competition for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the l ...
.
On 2 February 2019 Rowe made her AFLW debut for Collingwood in a 24–23 defeat against at
GMHBA Stadium in round 1 of the
2019 season.
At the end of the season, Rowe was named Collingwood's Best First Year Player.
She signed a contract to play for Collingwood in
2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
, though declined a two-season contract so to ensure she could remain available to play for
Mayo.
Rowe improved her output in most statistical areas and was part of the Magpies team that was narrowly eliminated by
North Melbourne
North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...
in the
finals series, shortly before the rest of the season was cancelled outright due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. She re-signed with Collingwood again for the
2021 season.
;AFLW stats
:''Statistics are correct at the end of the
2024 AFL Women's season''.
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2019
This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year.
Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 7 , , 7 , , 2 , , 2 , , 52 , , 21 , , 73 , , 21 , , 20 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 7.4 , , 3.0 , , 10.4 , , 3.0 , , 2.9 , , 3
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 7 , , 7 , , 5 , , 1 , , 72 , , 31 , , 103 , , 27 , , 17 , , 0.7 , , 0.1 , , 10.3 , , 4.4 , , 14.7 , , 3.9 , , 2.4 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2021
Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 7 , , 7 , , 1 , , 2 , , 57 , , 37 , , 94 , , 14 , , 6 , , 0.1 , , 0.3 , , 8.1 , , 5.3 , , 13.4 , , 2.0 , , 0.9 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2022 (S6)
, style="text-align:center;",
, 7 , , 11 , , 1 , , 2 , , 135 , , 50 , , 185 , , 30 , , 23 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 12.3 , , 4.5 , , 16.8 , , 2.7 , , 2.1 , , 3
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2022 (S7)
, style="text-align:center;",
, 7 , , 11 , , 2 , , 4 , , 82 , , 27 , , 109 , , 18 , , 20 , , 0.2 , , 0.4 , , 7.5 , , 2.5 , , 9.9 , , 1.6 , , 1.8 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2023
Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 7 , , 10 , , 1 , , 5 , , 152 , , 27 , , 179 , , 28 , , 43 , , 0.1 , , 0.5 , , 15.2 , , 2.7 , , 17.9 , , 2.8 , , 4.3 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2023
Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
, style="text-align:center;",
, 7 , , 11 , , 1 , , 1 , , 155 , , 52 , , 207 , , 27 , , 47 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 14.1 , , 4.7 , , 18.8 , , 2.5 , , 4.3 , , 0
, - class="sortbottom"
! colspan=3, Career
! 64
! 13
! 17
! 705
! 245
! 950
! 165
! 176
! 0.2
! 0.3
! 11.0
! 3.8
! 14.8
! 2.6
! 2.8
! 6
Personal life
From 2018 until 2019, Rowe was in a relationship with
Seán O'Brien, the retired
Ireland rugby union international. This relationship ended because of long distance.
She has previously been in a relationship with
Aidan O'Shea, who is also a
Mayo Gaelic footballer.
Honours
Association football
;
Shelbourne Ladies
*
FAI Women's Cup
**''Winners'': 2016: 1
**''Runners-up'': 2015: 1
*
Women's National League
**''Winners'':
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
**''Runners-up'':
2015–16
;
Raheny United
*
WNL Cup
**''Winners'':
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
;
Ballina Town
*
WFAI Intermediate Cup
**''Winners'': 2014
;
Castlebar Celtic
*
FAI Women's Cup
** ''Runners-up'': 2013: 1
*
WNL Cup
** ''Runners-up'':
2013
2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years).
2013 was designated as:
*International Year of Water Cooperation
*International Year of Quinoa
Events
January
* January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
,
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
: 2
Gaelic football
;
Mayo
*
All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship
**''Runner up'':
2017
2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly.
Events January
* January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
*
Ladies' National Football League
**''Runner up'': 2012,
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
,
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
: 3
;
DCU GAA
*
O'Connor Cup
**''Winners'': 2018: 1
**''Runner up'': 2015: 1
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Sarah
1995 births
Living people
Alumni of Dublin City University
Association footballers from County Mayo
Sportspeople from Ballina, County Mayo
Republic of Ireland women's international footballers
Republic of Ireland women's association footballers
Castlebar Celtic W.F.C. players
Raheny United F.C. players
Shelbourne F.C. (women) players
Melbourne Victory FC (women) players
Central Coast Mariners FC (women) players
League of Ireland Women's Premier Division players
Women's association football midfielders
Collingwood Football Club (AFLW) players
Irish expatriate sportspeople in Australia
Irish female players of Australian rules football
DCU ladies' Gaelic footballers
Ladies' Gaelic footballers who switched code
Mayo inter-county ladies' Gaelic footballers
21st-century Irish sportswomen