UCD Women's Soccer Club is an Irish association football club based in

Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown ( ga, Dún Laoghaire–Ráth an Dúin) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three s ...

. It is the

women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national te ...

team of

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 collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

. Founded in 1966, UCD are one of the oldest women's football clubs in 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 ...

. Like the UCD men's team, the women's football team has competed in national competitions, such as 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 ...

and the Women's National League, as well as intervarsity competitions. UCD has also represented the

in the UEFA Women's Cup. Between 2014 and 2018, following a merger, with DLR Waves, the club played in the Women's National League and FAI Women's Cup as UCD Waves. However in 2018 UCD withdrew from the WNL. DLR Waves was subsequently revived as a separate club, taking UCD Waves' place in the WNL.

History

Intervarsity level

According to Professor Meenan's ''History of UCD Sport'', the UCD women's association football team was founded in 1966, playing their first games in 1967, including one against

Dublin University The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dubl ...

. However it was not until the early 1980s that the club began to play regularly. In 1983 and 1984 they finished as runners-up in the LSCAI Intervarsity Cup. In 1991 UCD joined the national colleges league, which was organised by the Ladies Soccer Colleges Association of Ireland (LSCAI) and then by the Women's Soccer Colleges Association of Ireland (WSCAI). The club won its first Colleges Premier Division title in 1994–95 with a 100% record and without conceding a goal all season. The club completed an Intervarsity double after also winning the Intervarsity Cup for the first time. A second Intervarsity double was completed in 1996–97.

FAI Women's Cup

UCD entered the

for the first time in 2002 and won it on their first attempt after defeating

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

2–1 in the final. Goals came from captain Linda Greene and Carmel Kissane. Greene was the leading goal scorer for UCD and the captain during her 2 years playing at the University before transferring back to captain her old club Shamrock Rovers in 2004. With a team that included

Sylvia Gee Sylvia Gee (born 30 November 1977) is a former Republic of Ireland women's international footballer who has spent the majority of her career playing in various women's association football leagues in the Republic of Ireland and the United State ...

Mary Waldron Mary Veronica Waldron (born 5 May 1984) is an Irish association football player and cricketer who has represented both the Republic of Ireland women's national football team and the Ireland women's cricket team. She has also stood as an umpire ...

Valerie Redmond Valerie may refer to: People *Saint Valerie (disambiguation), a number of saints went by the name Valerie *Valerie (given name), a feminine given name Songs *"Valerie", a 1981 song by Quarterflash, from ''Quarterflash'' *"Valerie", a 1982 son ...

Caroline Thorpe Caroline Thorpe (born 2 August 1981) is an Irish former international football midfielder who played for Raheny United, Peamount United and DLR Waves of the Women's National League. She also represented English Premier League clubs Arsenal Ladie ...

and Nora Stapleton, UCD retained the cup in 2003 after defeating Lifford Ladies in the final. Carmel Kissane scored both goals in a 2–0 win. Under coach Larry Mahony, UCD completed a three-in-a-row of FAI Women's Cup wins when they defeated Dundalk City 4–1 in the 2004 final. UCD were also finalists in 2006 but they lost 1–0 to the Mayo Ladies League. As UCD Waves, the club were also runners up in 2014 and 2017.

Dublin Women's Soccer League

In 2002 UCD also began entering a team in the Dublin Women's Soccer League. After finishing as runners up in their debut season, UCD completed a four-in-a-row of DWSL titles between

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. The also won the DWSL's main league cup competition, the

DWSL Premier Cup 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 ...

in 2004, 2005 and 2007.

Women's National League era

Early seasons

The UCD women's team applied to join the Women's National League for the inaugural 2011–12 season. However their application fell through when the university couldn't guarantee them regular access to UCD Bowl. The men's football team and men's rugby union team were given priority access. During the 2011–12,

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 ...

and 2013–14 season the majority of UCD women's team and several alumni played in the WNL for other clubs. Louise Quinn,

Dora Gorman Dora Gorman (born 18 February 1993) is an Irish physician and Republic of Ireland women's international footballer who plays as a midfielder for Peamount United of the Women's National League (WNL). In 2010, she was captain of the Republic o ...

Julie-Ann Russell Julie-Ann Russell (born 28 March 1991) is a Republic of Ireland women's international footballer who currently plays for Galway in the Irish Women's National League. In 2014, Russell was voted both FAI Senior Women's International Player of ...

and

Chloe Mustaki Chloe Naomi Mustaki (born 29 July 1995) is an Irish footballer who plays as a defender or midfielder for Bristol City of the English Women's Championship. Born in the United States, and raised in France and Ireland, she is a member of the Repu ...

all played for Peamount United while

Siobhán Killeen Siobhán Killeen (born 21 September 1995) is a Republic of Ireland women's international footballer. She has also played for UCD, Raheny United and Shelbourne Ladies. In 2010, she was a member of the Republic of Ireland U-17 squad that wer ...

, Ciara Grant and

played for

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 ...

Nicola Sinnott Nicola Sinnott (born 8 August 1987) is a Republic of Ireland women's international footballer who plays for Wexford Youths of the Women's National League. Club career Sinnott played youth football for Boca Juniors of Gorey, then attended Uni ...

also played for

before switching to

Wexford Youths Wexford Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Crossabeg, County Wexford. They compete in the League of Ireland First Division. The club joined the league after being awarded a First Division licence for the 2007 League ...

. Meanwhile, Dora Gorman, Julie-Ann Russell,

, Siobhán Killeen, Ciara Grant also played for UCD in intervarsity competitions and in 2013–14 they helped UCD win the WSCAI Premier Division and the WSCAI Futsal Cup.

UCD Waves

Before the start of the 2014–15 season it was announced that DLR Waves and UCD would merge.

Eileen Gleeson Eileen Gleeson is the Head of Women and Girls Football for the Football Association of Ireland. She is responsible for helping to grow participation and retention of women and girls at all levels of the game, while also supporting wider football ...

, formerly of Peamount United, was appointed manager of the new team known as UCD Waves. A number of Peamount United players including

Aine O'Gorman Aine may refer to: * Áine, Irish goddess of summer, wealth and sovereignty * Áine (given name), an Irish female given name * Aine, Dahanu Aine is a village in the Palghar district of Maharashtra, India. It is located in the Dahanu taluka. ...

Karen Duggan Karen Duggan (born 29 May 1991) is an Irish footballer who plays for Peamount United of the Women's National League (WNL). She has previously played for UCD Waves and the Republic of Ireland women's national football team. Between 2013 and 2 ...

and Emily Cahill all subsequently followed Gleeson to UCD Waves UCD student Ciara Grant also joined from

. In 2018 UCD withdrew from the WNL. DLR Waves was subsequently revived as a separate club, taking UCD Waves' place in the WNL.

UCD in Europe

After winning the

, UCD qualified three times to represent the

in the UEFA Women's Cup. After

, UCD were the second women's team to represent the Republic of Ireland in Europe. ;

2003–04 UEFA Women's Cup The third 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 ...

– Group 6 ;

2004–05 UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Cup 2004–05 was the fourth edition of the UEFA Women's Cup football club tournament. It was won by Germany's FFC Turbine Potsdam against Djurgården/Älvsjö of Sweden in the final for their first title in the competition. It w ...

– Group 9 ; 2005–06 UEFA Women's Cup – Group 2

Notable former players

women's internationals ; Ireland women's field hockey international *

Emily Beatty Emily Beatty (born 18 August 1993) 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. Beatty has also won Irish Senior Cup and Women's Irish Hockey L ...

; Ireland women's rugby union international * Nora Stapleton

Managers

Ian Nesbitt 1991-2000 Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

* Linda Greene 2000-2003 player/manager *

Jason Carey 2002-2003 Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He was ...

* Pat Kavanagh 2003-2005 * Larry Mahony 005-2008 011-2013 *

2014-2017 * Noel Kealy

Honours

;First Team *

**''Winners'': 2002, 2003, 2004 : 3 **''Runners-up'': 2006, 2014, 2017: 3 * Dublin Women's Soccer League **''Winners'':

, 2004,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

: 4 **''Runners-up'': 2002: 1 *

**''Winners'': 2004, 2005, 2007 : 3 * Women's National League **''Runners-up'': 2014–15,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

: 2 *

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 ...

**''Runners-up'':

: 1 ;Intervarsity *LSCAI/WSCAI Premier Division **''Winners'': 1994–95, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2013–14: 5 **''Runners-up'': 2012–13: 1 *LSCAI/WSCAI First Division **''Winners'': 1992–93, 2007–08: 2 *LSCAI/WSCAI Intervarsity Cup **''Winners'': 1994–95, 1996–97: 2 **''Runners-up'': 1983, 1984, 2006–07, 2008–09 : 4 *LSCAI/WSCAI Intervarsity Challenge Cup **''Winners'': 2007–08: 1 *WSCAI Intervarsity Plate **''Winners'': 2001–02, 2002–03: 2 **''Runners-up'': 2007–08, 2011–12 : 2 *UCG Galway Plate **''Winners'': 1996–97, 1995–96, 1994–95, 1993–94: 4 *WSCAI Futsal Cup **''Winners'': 2007–08, 2005–06, 2002–03, 2007–08, 2013–14: 6

References

External links

UCD Women's Soccer Club on Facebook

UCD Women's Soccer Club on Twitter
{{University College Dublin Women's association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland Association football clubs in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown

Waves Waves most often refers to: *Waves, oscillations accompanied by a transfer of energy that travel through space or mass. * Wind waves, surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water. Waves may also refer to: Music * Waves (ban ...

University and college association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland Former Women's National League (Ireland) teams Dublin Women's Soccer League teams Association football clubs established in 1966 1966 establishments in Ireland