Limerick FC to participate in Continental Tyres Women’s National League for the first time

The FAI have announced that they have accepted Limerick FC into the Continental Tyres National Women’s League for the 2018 season. It will be the first time since the club’s inception in to the League of Ireland in 1937 that they will compete in the women’s league.

Limerick FC chairman Pat O’Sullivan was delighted with the announcement when speaking to the club’s official website today;

“The board of Limerick FC and the club’s supporters are delighted, for the first time in the history of the football club founded in 1937, that we will now be represented by a national senior women’s team. As chairman, it is more significant as it reflects the respect that this club holds for women, and I want to emphasise how much better the world and our community would be if women were shown the respect that they are entitled to in our society.”

Since taking over at Limerick in 2008, Pat O’Sullivan has been keen to point out that the club would be looking to branch into the community with a series of initiatives. In 2017, Limerick FC won the best community initiative award at the SSE Airtricity League Club Awards. O’Sullivan re-iterated this point as he encouraged the public to promote and support female sports in Ireland;

“We would ask all of those who support sport in Limerick, in the broadest sense, to ensure that the top-class facilities available to male-sport participants also be made available to female-sport activities, and in this case to our National League women’s teams. Limerick FC’s respect for women in sport is reflected in our planning application for our Regional Centre of Excellence in Bruff, which includes an exclusive full-size pitch to facilitate camogie and ladies’ Gaelic football.”

FAI Competitions Director Fran Gavin welcomed the addition of Limerick FC to the league.

“This is a huge step forward for Women’s Football in Limerick and Munster. It is imperative that we continue to grow the Women’s National League which has gone from strength to strength over recent seasons, with the amount of WNL players in our national team continuing to increase.”

The new Limerick FC women’s squad will be officially unveiled at a press conference next week. The ladies will find out who they will face in the opening game as the fixtures for the new league season will be revealed tomorrow afternoon. It will be a competitive league next season as Wexford look to defend their league championship. Other strong sides include Shelbourne, UCD Waves and Peamount.