Series 23 of the WNL saw the first live TV broadcast of the action, with some interesting results too across the competition.
🎥 WNL WRAP | Series 23
🗣 @_alicelinehaan | @seana_cooke | @acunnane10#WNL | #LOITV pic.twitter.com/HUcIWkRE2Q— Women's National League (@LoiWomen) October 5, 2021
Athlone Town 2-0 Cork City
Could @AthloneTownAFC be about to leapfrog @CorkCityFCWomen or will there be a comeback?
Watch LIVE 👉 https://t.co/8yFxgw8JLx 💻#WNL | #LOITV pic.twitter.com/o8ovXhjvdY— Women's National League (@LoiWomen) October 2, 2021
Two first-half goals did the damage here, well along with the attacking play of Kellie Brennan, as Athlone Town collected just their third win of the season. The three points helped Tommy Hewitt's team leapfrog Cork in the table, which was hugely surprising considering Cork beat DLR Waves last weekend and had looked like they were ready to establish a run of form.
Athlone, however, did not let them settle. The high pressing pushed Cork back inside their own half and they were left stunned when Laoise O'Haodha opened the scoring with a shot from distance.
The visitors did not learn from that and were caught high up the pitch when Roisin Molloy broke free to score the second goal. This game belonged to Athlone, from start to finish.
⚽️ GOAL | Roisin Molloy@AthloneTownAFC 2-0 @CorkCityFCWomen
The home side are leading at the break thanks to two early goals, including the below 👇
Watch LIVE 👉 https://t.co/8yFxgw8JLx 💻#WNL | #LOITV pic.twitter.com/G7w5Vte4Tl— Women's National League (@LoiWomen) October 2, 2021
Shelbourne 1-0 DLR Waves
A great day and a huge step for the @LoiWomen with the first ever televised game on @TG4TV
Hope people enjoyed watching 📺⚽️ pic.twitter.com/YFJhT5R4yS— Rachel Graham (@RaquelleG) October 3, 2021
Lights! Camera! Action! And add to that...a big crowd, slick football and a wonder goal. Yes, the TG4 debut had it all in Tolka Park.
The first televised game in the League's history did not disappoint and it was given the highlight moment that it deserved when Alex Kavanagh lobbed goalkeeper Eve Badana from around 30 yards out.
Shels were the more aggressive of the two teams and should have commanded a comfortable early lead but Jessie Stapleton and Saoirse Noonan were unfortunate not to convert chances on goal.
DLR, as they always do, kept battling hard and made sure that their Dublin rivals did not win this one easy. But the result does mean that Shels stay alive in the title race.
Is í Noelle Murray as @shelsfc Laoch na hImeartha inniu! #DublinsFinest | #WNL pic.twitter.com/deDQvSHbtT
— Shelbourne FC (@shelsfc) October 2, 2021
Treaty United 0-10 Peamount United
GOLDEN BOOT RACE ⚽️
⬆️ @Aineogor9 #WNL | #LOITV pic.twitter.com/6Xlxnfxi7G— Women's National League (@LoiWomen) October 4, 2021
A lot of people were waiting for Peamount to make a big statement about their ability to enter the final run-in to the season as the undoubted leaders. This was it!
For Treaty, they were like a trainee driver who had taken a wrong turn onto a Grand Prix circuit as the speed of the game left them so far behind that it felt like they never got started.
Peamount were 5-0 up by the interval with Sabhdh Doyle, Áine O'Gorman (2), Stephanie Roche and Alannah McEvoy all netting. After the restart, McEvoy scored twice more before Becky Watkins and a brace from Lauren Kelly wrapped it all up.
Treaty are not a team who should be losing by this scoreline but Peamount were in an unforgiving mood as they opened up a four-point lead at the top of the table with four games left to play.
HT | @TreatyUnitedFC 0-5 @peamountutd
A tough half for the home side as Peamount score 5⃣@Aineogor9 bagged her second of the game just before the break 👇#WNL | #LOITV pic.twitter.com/OxCVaPJMZi— Women's National League (@LoiWomen) October 3, 2021
Wexford Youths 0-1 Galway WFC
📢𝙏𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙘𝙪𝙥 𝙨𝙚𝙢𝙞-𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡📢
For Saturday's huge @EVOKE FAI Cup semi final clash with Peamount, we're pleased to confirm that tickets will be on sale at the gate, pre-purchase is not necessary
📍PRL Park
⌚️4:00pm pic.twitter.com/X5mi6YEdzG— Wexford Youths Women (@YouthsWomen) October 5, 2021
This was not a game full of end-to-end action, but there was enough in it to keep both teams on their toes as they both battled hard throughout.
There were numerous half chances, with Julie-Ann Russell and Aoife Thompson going close for Galway, while Sinead Taylor and Kylie Murphy were constant threats for Wexford.
In the end it was 16-year-old substitute Aoibheann Costello who settled the contest when firing in from inside the penalty area following terrible defending by the home team.
The win gives Galway some hope of catching DLR Waves to finish inside the top four, but, crucially, breaks Wexford's long unbeaten run which stretched back to the opening day of the season when they lost to Peamount United.
FULL-TIME | @YouthsWomen 0-1 @GalwayWFC
Substitute Aoibheann Costello breaks Wexford's long unbeaten run to gift Galway an away win#WNL | #LOITV pic.twitter.com/x13gwdao3J— Women's National League (@LoiWomen) October 2, 2021
TG4 Select Second WNL Game For Live Broadcast
CONFIRMED | TG4 LIVE GAME 👍@shelsfc v @GalwayWFC
📆 Saturday, October 30
🏟 Tolka Park
⏰ KO 19:30
📺 LIVE on TG4 pic.twitter.com/UKeMypi6xo— Women's National League (@LoiWomen) October 5, 2021
The SSE Airtricity Women's National League game between Shelbourne and Galway WFC will be shown live on TG4 on Saturday, October 30th.
The kick-off time has now been changed to 19:30 with the TG4 cameras set to return to Tolka Park for the second time this month.
Last Saturday's meeting of Shelbourne and DLR Waves was the first ever live match on national television in the League's history and it proved to be an entertaining contest.
SSE Airtricity Women's National League
Shelbourne v Galway WFC
Tolka Park
KO 19:30
LIVE on TG4
📺 | @alex_kavanagh ready for more magic TG4 moments #DublinsFinest | #WNL pic.twitter.com/uwCAGOT9g9
— Shelbourne FC (@shelsfc) October 5, 2021
Shelbourne announce Shein as official leisurewear & womenswear partner
Shels 🤝 @SHEIN_official
Welcome to our first ever Official Leisurewear & Womenswear partner for our @LoiWomen team!
📲 https://t.co/RrwyhJZKpK#RedsTogether | #WNL pic.twitter.com/01pVk7ddHV— Shelbourne FC (@shelsfc) October 5, 2021
Shelbourne announces SHEIN as first ever Official Leisurewear & Womenswear partner
October 05: Shelbourne FC is delighted to announce that global e-retailer SHEIN has become the club’s first ever Official Leisurewear & Womenswear Partner of our Women’s National League (WNL) team.
The partnership marks another significant milestone for our WNL team as we seek to grow the Club on the pitch and commercially.
As part of the sponsorship, Shelbourne FC WNL matchday tops and t-shirts will be branded with the SHEIN logo, which will be displayed prominently on the front.
Shelbourne FC players will also feature in social media collaborations with the global brand allowing for further exposure for both the Club and SHEIN.
The announcement comes as Shelbourne FC play the first ever FAI Women’s National League match to be broadcast live on Irish national television on TG4 at 5pm on October 2nd.
It is the Club’s belief that there is significant room for growth of the women’s game and partnerships with large global brands like SHEIN can help the game get to where it needs to be.
Shelbourne FC faces an exciting Women’s National League run-in as well as an FAI Women’s Cup campaign with semi-final on the horizon and we very much welcome the opportunity to share this journey with SHEIN and other key club partners.
Shelbourne FC CEO, David O’Connor said: “We are thrilled to welcome such a well-known brand as Official Womenswear partner to Shelbourne FC. It is fantastic recognition of the potential for growth at our Club for our WNL team and of the work done at our WNL set over the past number of years to allow us to grow commercially. We have an exciting end of season in store for our WNL team and we look forward to sharing this excitement with our new partners at SHEIN. With more and more coverage of the game here, there are exciting opportunities like this for our commercial partners where we look to be able to grow together.”
