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

Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown () is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished in 1994. It is named after the former ...

. It is the

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 ...

team of

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

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

. 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 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 Cup. Organised ...

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

in the

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 governing body UEFA. T ...

. Between 2014 and 2018, following a merger, with

DLR Waves Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown Waves, also referred to as DLR Waves, is a women-only Irish association football club based in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It was originally founded in 2012. DLR Waves field several teams; the senior League of Ireland t ...

, 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 (), corporately named as The Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a research university located in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dublin, whi ...

. 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 is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

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, Mary Waldron, Valerie Redmond, Caroline Thorpe 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 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 ...

. After finishing as runners up in their debut season, UCD completed a four-in-a-row of DWSL titles between

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

. The also won the DWSL's main league cup competition, the DWSL Premier Cup 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 UCD Bowl, also known as the Belfield Bowl, is a rugby union and football stadium in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. It is the home ground of University College Dublin R.F.C. in the AIB All Ireland League and League of Ireland Premier ...

. 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, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

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

Louise Quinn Louise Catherine Quinn (born 17 June 1990) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a centre back. At club level Quinn began her senior career with Peamount United, captaining the club to the inaugural 2011–12 Women's Natio ...

, Dora Gorman, Julie-Ann Russell, Caroline Thorpe 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, Ciara Grant and Mary Waldron played for Raheny United. Nicola Sinnott also played for

before switching to Wexford Youths. 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

and UCD would merge.

Eileen Gleeson Eileen Gleeson is an Irish association football manager who was most recently head coach of the Republic of Ireland women's team. She has also held the role of the Football Association of Ireland's (FAI) Head of Women and Girls Football, as wel ...

, formerly of Peamount United, was appointed manager of the new team known as UCD Waves. A number of Peamount United players including Julie-Ann Russell, Aine O'Gorman, Karen Duggan, Dora Gorman,

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

. After

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

2003–04 UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Cup 2003–04 was the third edition of the UEFA Women's Cup. It was convincingly won by reigning champions Umeå IK of Sweden in a two-legged final against Frankfurt of Germany. Both sides were aiming for their second win in the ...

– Group B6 --> ;

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 of Sweden in the final for their first title in the competition. It was the s ...

– Group A9 --> ;

2005–06 UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Cup 2005–06 was the fifth edition of the UEFA Women's Cup football club tournament. It was won by Frankfurt in an all-German final against defending champions Turbine Potsdam for their second title in the competition. Teams ...

– Group A2 -->

Notable former players

women's internationals ; Ireland women's field hockey international * Emily Beatty ; Ireland women's rugby union international * Nora Stapleton

Managers

* Ian Nesbitt 1991-2000 * Linda Greene 2000-2003 player/manager * Jason Carey 2002-2003 * 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 *

**''Winners'':

, 2004,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

: 4 **''Runners-up'': 2002: 1 * DWSL Premier Cup **''Winners'': 2004, 2005, 2007 : 3 * Women's National League **''Runners-up'': 2014–15,

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 ...

: 2 * WNL Cup **''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 United States Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve), better known as the WAVES (for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), was the women's branch of the United States Naval Reserve during World War II. It was established on July 21, 1942, ...

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