Shelbourne Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Shíol Bhroin) is an Irish association football club based in

Northside, Dublin The Northside ( ga, Taobh Ó Thuaidh) is the part of Dublin city that lies to the north of the River Liffey. It is an informal but commonly used term. While it is sometimes regarded as less wealthy than the city's Southside, the Northside wa ...

. It is the women's section of the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

club

Shelbourne FC Shelbourne Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Shíol Bhroin) is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Drumcondra, Dublin, who play in the League of Ireland Premier Division. She ...

. The senior women's team currently plays in the Women's National League. They have also fielded teams in the

Dublin Women's Soccer League The Dublin Women's Soccer League was a women's association football league featuring teams from the Republic of Ireland. While the majority of the participating clubs were based in the Greater Dublin Area, the DWSL had regularly included teams f ...

, the Metropolitan Girls League and the North Dublin Schoolboys/Girls League.

History

1990s

In 1995

Shelbourne F.C. Shelbourne Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Shíol Bhroin) is an Irish association football club based in Drumcondra, Dublin, who play in the League of Ireland Premier Division. Shelbourne were founded in Dublin in 1895. In 1904 the club join ...

took over the women's football club Welsox F.C.. Welsox played in both the Civil Service League and the

and had won 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 both 1992 and 1994. They were also DWSL runners-up in 1995. After coming under the Shelbourne umbrella, they also finished as FAI Women's Cup runners-up in 1997 and 1999 and were DWSL runners-up in 1998, 1999 and 2000. Future

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 ...

manager

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 ...

played for both Welsox and Shelbourne during this era. Following its integration into Shelbourne, the club was administered mainly, though not exclusively, by women on a voluntary basis while it received financial and logistical support from the men's club. However, in 2002, following a change in management and coaching staff, the original Shelbourne Ladies team disbanded and a core group of players moved to Templeogue United to merge with an existing girls' team.

Revival

After a five-year period of inactivity, Shelbourne Women's F.C. was revived in 2007 by Mick Neville, then serving as a director of coaching at

, and coach Keith O'Neill. The club initially fielded schoolgirl teams in the North Dublin Schoolboys/girls League before also joining the Metropolitan Girls League and the

Women's National League

In 2015 Shelbourne Ladies merged with

Raheny United Raheny United Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ráth Éanna Aontaithe) is an Irish association football club based in Raheny, Dublin. Raheny United was founded in 1994 following the amalgamation of Raheny Boys and Dunseedy United. In 2017–18 ...

's senior women's team. This effectively saw Shelbourne Ladies takeover Raheny United's place in the Women's National League. During the subsequent 2015–16 season, Shelbourne Ladies finished as runners-up in

, the

WNL Shield The Women's National League (WNL; ga, Sraith Náisiúnta na mBan) is the top-level league for women's association football in the Republic of Ireland. It is organised by the Football Association of Ireland and the Women's Football Association ...

and the Women's National League. All three competitions were won by Wexford Youths. However Shelbourne Ladies did win 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 ...

after defeating

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 ...

3–2 in the 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 ...

on 1 May 2016. In 2016 Shelbourne won the FAI Women's Cup after defeating Wexford Youths 5–0 in the final. The most notable individual performance to come out of the game was undoubtedly that of Shels'

Leanne Kiernan Leanne Kiernan (born 27 April 1999) is an Irish footballer who plays as a striker for Liverpool of the WSL and the Republic of Ireland. Early life Born in Bailieborough in County Cavan, Kiernan attended Bailieborough Community School, whe ...

, who scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

and picked up the '

player of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

' award for her efforts. The team won their first league championship when they finished the shortened 2016 season in first place. They qualified for the

2017–18 UEFA Women's Champions League The 2017–18 UEFA Women's Champions League was the 17th season of the European women's club football championship organised by UEFA, and the ninth since being rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League. The final was held at the Valeriy Lob ...

with that title. In March 2019 Shelbourne announced a number of steps intended to boost "equality and parity of esteem for all of our players". They dropped the word Ladies from the women's team's name and moved WNL home games from the AUL Complex to the main stadium at Tolka Park.

Shelbourne Women U18

Shelbourne Women U18 won the 2015

WFAI Intermediate Cup Football Association of Ireland, Women's (FAI Women's) (formerly the Women's Football Association of Ireland) is the governing body for women's association football in the Republic of Ireland. It is responsible for organising the Republic of Irel ...

, defeating St Catherine's 6–0 in the final. Shelbourne Women U18 also reached the semi-finals of the 2015

, defeating two members of the Women's National League along the way. In the last sixteen they defeated

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city' ...

3–2 and in the quarter finals they won 4–0 against Castlebar Celtic. In the semi-final they lost 4–0 to the Shelbourne Women senior team.

Grounds

Shelbourne Women's National League team play their home games at

Tolka Park Tolka Park ( ga, Páirc na Tulchann) is an Irish football ground located in the north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Ireland club Shelbourne. The stadium fo ...

. They played their home games in 2018 at

AUL Complex The Athletic Union League is an association football league featuring junior and amateur teams mainly from Northside, Dublin. The AUL currently operates thirteen divisions. Its senior division is known as the Premier A. Teams from the AUL also co ...

. They formerly played at

Morton Stadium Morton Stadium, or the National Athletics Stadium, is an athletics stadium in Santry Demesne, Santry in Ireland. Often called Santry Stadium, it is the centre for athletics events in Dublin city and the home track of Clonliffe Harriers. It has ...

from 2015 to 2017. The club's junior teams play at the

Players

Current squad

Former players

Honours

Shelbourne

* Women's National League **''Winners'':

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3 **''Runners-up'': 2015–16, 2018 *

**''Winners'': 2016,

: 2 **''Runners-up'': 1997, 1999, 2015, 2021: 4 *

**''Winners'':

, 2017 *

**''Winners'': 2015: 1 **''Runners-up'': 1998, 1999, 2000: 3 *

**''Runners-up'':

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Welsox

**''Runners-up'': 1995: 1 *

**''Winners'': 1992, 1994: 2

References

{{Women's National League (Ireland)

Ladies The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Inform ...

Association football clubs established in 1995 Women's association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland Association football clubs in Dublin (city) 1995 establishments in Ireland Women's National League (Ireland) teams Dublin Women's Soccer League teams