The 2021 Women's National League, known as the SSE Airtricity WNL for

sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...

reasons, is the 11th season of the Women's National League, the highest

women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and about 200 national teams partic ...

league in 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. ...

since its establishment in 2011. Peamount United were the defending champions, having won their third league title the previous season. In January 2021 the League attracted a new title sponsor, as

SSE Airtricity SSE Airtricity (previously Eirtricity) is an energy company founded in Ireland in 1997, and now a subsidiary SSE plc. SSE Airtricity supplies and distributes electricity and gas to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. History The compa ...

agreed a two-year renewal of their existing deal with the (men's)

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

and extended it to also cover the WNL. The

Bank of Ireland Bank of Ireland Group plc () is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. Historically the premier banking organisation in Ireland, the bank occupies a unique position in Irish banking history. At ...

also signed a three-year deal as an associate sponsor of the League of Ireland and WNL. This followed a season without a WNL sponsorship deal 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 ...

. The 1,007 spectators at

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

's 3–1 win over

Treaty United Treaty United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Limerick. The club was founded in 2020 following the demise of Limerick F.C. and began playing in the League of Ireland Women's Premier Division in 2020 followed by th ...

on 6 November 2021 at Turners Cross set a new WNL record for the highest attendance. A dramatic conclusion to the season saw defending champions Peamount United unexpectedly squander a two-goal lead to lose 5–2 at home to

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

on the final match day, allowing Shelbourne to claim the title with their 3–2 win over Wexford Youths. Both matches were subject to live

television coverage Broadcasting is the distribution of audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began with ...

, following the WNL's agreement of a broadcast arrangement with

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

in September 2021. During the season a number of players transferred to

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

clubs in England and Scotland. Peamount manager James O'Callaghan called for the formation of a

task force A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology. Many ...

, to examine the possibility of making the WNL

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...

in future: "It's great for those players that they are getting to play professionally, but it's not great for the league to be losing them."

Teams

The same nine teams who had contested the abridged 2020 season returned for 2021.

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Managerial changes

Format

The nine teams play each other three times, with a mid-season break from 7 June to 25 June 2021.

League table

Standings

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included to the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards.

Results

Matches 1–24

Teams play each other three times, with one team idle on every round of fixtures.

Statistics

Top scorers

Last updated after fixtures on 13 November 2021. Source:Extratime.com

Awards

Monthly awards

Annual awards

Broadcasting

In February 2021 the

Football Association of Ireland The Football Association of Ireland (FAI; ) is the governing body for association football in the Republic of Ireland. Organisation The FAI has an executive committee of five members under the president, who receive expenses, as well as a p ...

announced that all WNL matches would be streamed worldwide, free of charge on the new LOITV platform. In September 2021 the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

television network agreed a deal to broadcast four matches.

Alex Kavanagh Alexandra Kavanagh (born 11 December 1999) is an Irish association footballer who plays for Women's National League (Ireland), Women's National League (WNL) club Shelbourne F.C. (women), Shelbourne and the Republic of Ireland women's national foo ...

scored the first televised goal, in Shelbourne's 1–0 win over DLR Waves at Tolka Park. The 309,000 viewing figures exceeded expectations, and TG4 extended the arrangement into the following season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2021 Women's National League (Ireland) Women's National League (Ireland) seasons

Ireland, Republic of 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. ...

Women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...