THE CAR PARK is virtually empty upon The 42’s arrival, but within minutes, the AUL complex sparks to life.
It’s a little after half past five on a sunny June Wednesday evening, and preparations are well underway for Shelbourne’s top-of-the-table Women’s Premier Division clash against Galway United at Tolka Park on Saturday.
Slowly by surely, their north Dublin training base becomes a hive of activity.
Roma McLaughlin and Éabha O’Mahony are among the first to arrive together.
The Republic of Ireland internationals jump out of the car fully kitted out, ready for the gym session which begins shortly after 6pm, but they have media duties to tend to first.
They live together in digs in Beaumont, having both signed for Shels in the off-season.
There’s chatter and laughter from the get-go as Rebecca Creagh — former player, current player liaison officer — shows us to the function room.
As McLaughlin settles into her seat to chat to The 42, O’Mahony is lurking. She’s waiting to do a separate interview elsewhere and politely declines the offer to double up. Another time. For now, she jokes that she’ll sit in the background and add to her team-mate’s discomfort levels. When the tape starts rolling, though, she quietly exits.
After an up-and-down few years in America and Denmark, McLaughlin is back at the club she previously represented in 2017 and 2018.
“I loved my time at Shels and I thought coming back to Ireland, that’s kind of where I want to go and that’s the place I want to be.”
Along with that familiarity, McLaughlin saw potential. And plenty of it.
Shelbourne finished last season trophy-less for the first time in a while. They were runners-up as Peamount United won the league, while they also finished second best in the FAI Cup final after penalty shootout heartbreak to Athlone Town.
The previous year, Shels landed the double, while they were also crowned league champions in 2021.
Eoin Wearen succeeded Noel King at the helm last November and hit the ground running after a successful spell with the club’s underage set-up and some time in America.
Retention was key early doors, both of players and staff alike. He then made some statement signings, bringing in McLaughlin and O’Mahony, while Jess Gargan and Mia Dodd also returned to the Reds. He promoted Lucy O’Rourke, Nia Hannon and Katie McCarn, with the teenage trio joining him in making the transition from the Academy and striking a crucial balance of youth and experience.
After 12 games in all competitions, Shelbourne are the only team that are unbeaten.
They have strung together six wins and three draws in the league, sitting two points ahead of today’s opponents, Galway, and Athlone. Both of Shels’ rivals have a game in hand, having chalked up six wins and one draw, as well as a single defeat.
“A major thing for us is that we’re unbeaten,” McLaughlin says, surrounded by signed Shelbourne jerseys and other memorabilia, as music spills out from the gym.
“The standard of the league has really went up. We’re scraping 1-0s here and there, and every team’s putting it up to us. You see the other results as well, every game is tough.”
“From the beginning, it’s been a very relaxed environment,” the Donegal midfielder adds amidst the noise of airplanes overhead, “because we all know what to expect of each other, and we know if someone’s not working hard enough, it’s like, ‘Look here, you need to do better,’ in a sense. You have to be able to set the standards.
“We have really high expectations and Eoin pushes us to meet those. It’s been very positive. We all love to play out from the back, play football, so it’s been great for us.”
***
In comes Wearen, with a warm handshake and piercing eye contact. “Business as usual” is how the 31-year-old Dubliner describes this week.
“We don’t change depending on who we play or the competition or anything like that,” the former West Ham Academy player and League of Ireland midfielder begins.
“It’s definitely a case of stick to what’s worked for us so far. We’re unbeaten, we want to keep that momentum going.”
After Monday and Wednesday’s higher workload days, Friday’s session is toned down and more specifically geared towards Saturday’s fixture.
The focus, always, is playing good football. Just what Wearen liked as a player.
“We’ve probably had to change a little bit and adapt a little bit to what the squad were used to in previous years under old management. It hasn’t been an overnight transition. We want to be perceived as a side that plays good football. It’s easy on the eye, but at the same time, it’s also getting results.”
They are enjoying a rich vein of form, like their male counterparts under Damien Duff.
There’s a real sense of unity at the club — they dropped ‘Ladies’ from the women’s team name in 2019 in a bid to achieve equality for all players — and you can sense it immediately.
Wearen did, for one, from his first involvement with the Academy and Women’s U17s team 12 months ago.
“That’s something I love about the club: the men’s side, the women’s side, the Academy side, it’s all interlinked and there’s people involved in all three. That’s important, it keeps consistency and clarity right throughout, and we have that identity throughout the club.
“We feel like we have great support too around the club, and that there’s people that have a genuine interest in the team, but also in making things better.”
The raw materials were certainly there. Quality players, a winning mentality, togetherness, high standards. All of that good stuff.
The Holy Trinity, Pearl Slattery, Noelle Murray and Rachel Graham, are mentioned repeatedly by Wearen and McLaughlin.
The three stalwarts are Shelbourne through and through.
“When you have senior players like we do, Pearl, Rachel, Noelle, they’re so experienced at this stage and they’re brilliant with the young players,” Wearen says.
“There’s things that don’t even get to my door that they can deal with, and that’s just because they have seen it and done it throughout the years. Having great leaders like that has definitely been a huge help.
“You look at what Noelle’s done in the game, in particular. Scored over 100 goals for the club, won a lot of individual awards, team awards along the way — and when she trains as hard as she does, even at this stage of her career, what kind of example is that for the rest of the squad? I think that’s the real success, that’s the real advantage that we have at the moment: if your most successful, most experienced, your better players are conducting themselves in this kind of professional way, then it sets a great example for the rest then.”
That’s later confirmed on the training pitch: Murray is in the shape of her life at 34, constantly leading the charge. The younger players, meanwhile, row in behind, hanging on their team-mates’ and coaches’ every word.
There’s jokes made that ‘the kids’ want to do interviews themselves, but they shy away before any real moves are made.
“It’s very easy to forget some of them aren’t 17 yet,” Wearen nods, pointing out the consciously “perfect” average age of the squad at 23.7.
“It’s probably only when you speak to them one-to-one, you realise their age, because on the pitch, they play with so much composure and maturity and belief, and that’s the way we want them to play. We want them to feel that they’re allowed to make mistakes, they’re young players.
“Again, that comes back the senior players allowing them to go out and express themselves and enjoy it. And I think that’s the kind of environment that we’ve created.”
McLaughlin, at 26, falls between them and the stalwarts, in “the chunk that are coming into their prime and they’re hungry”.
But it hasn’t all been plain sailing.
***
After 14 months dogged by hamstring and quad injuries, McLaughlin is still in the process of returning to her brilliant best.
“Probably my most difficult spell in football” is how she describes her time at Fortuna Hjørring in Denmark, after a successful four-and-a-half years in collegiate football at Central Connecticut Blue Devils.
She first got injured in training after returning from her earning her 11th — and most recent — Ireland cap in last April’s friendlies against USA, and was soon ruled out of the World Cup.
After a downward spiral, McLaughlin decided change was needed and an agreement was made to terminate her contract in early December.
“For me, I just want to get back playing football at a consistent level and put those injuries behind me. Being at Shels, that’s been great for me because Eoin and everyone understands that here.
“As a player, he’s had his injuries, and I think it’s good that he can relate in a sense — they’re very patient with me, and they know once I’m fit that hopefully I’ll be able to do the business for them.”
Her love for football is certainly coming back. “Still a bit up and down at the minute, but I know that once I’m back on the pitch and playing, I’m a lot happier.”
Wearen had three significant knee injuries in his playing career. He ruptured his ACL for the first time at 19 and again at 25, while a meniscus tear afterwards also required surgery.
He relates with players as they navigate the highs and lows, trials and tribulations of football, having been in their shoes not so long ago.
“Roma’s an unbelievable player, and you see it in training when she’s on it, and we’ve seen it in a few of the games where we’ve really seen the best of her.
“I think that’s the scary thing, there’s still more to come, she still needs to get that kind of rhythm and run of games going. Once that happens, there’ll be no looking back.”
Wearen’s first knee setback ultimately led to the ex-Ireland underage international coming home from England in 2014, while the others led to further interest in coaching.
Having represented Bohemians, Sligo Rovers, Glenavon and Limerick FC and completed his badges while playing, Wearen went to the US in January 2020 to prioritise coaching with his Uefa Pro Licence.
He dabbled in semi-professional football, but jumped into the deep end with Evolution SC Academy in Texas, before taking head coach roles with Liverpool FC International Academy and the Chicago City Soccer Club’s USLW side.
“It was my first taste of the women’s game, and I was blown away by the standard and the athleticism. I felt like my personality suited the game and I was able to get the best out of players as a result. It was a great experience.”
He has continued working in full-time football back home, juggling the Shels job with another at DBS Academy around their Transition Year Academy. “It’s 24/7 football, that’s my life.”
What about switching off? “I like to think I’m getting better but I don’t think I am,” he laughs. “I find it difficult.
“Players would laugh – first thing on a Sunday morning, I’d watch the game back from the Saturday. I can’t wait until the Monday or Tuesday to watch it, I have to watch it straight away.
“When you’re a player, you switch off after training, when you get home at two or three o’clock in the afternoon, put your feet up and relax, because you’re only worried about yourself. Management is a different story altogether. The phone never stops — just when you think you’ve got a quiet day ahead… expect the unexpected. Never get too comfortable, because you know that there’s a fire to put out somewhere along the line.”
He can’t praise his assistant coach Rory Kirk enough, and his influence is clear on the pitch.
“It’s important not to stand still in the modern game and not be stuck in your ways, and I want the players to feel that they’re heard and they can come to us about anything. We’re open minded. It’s not a case where they can come to us with their own feedback or their own opinion, and it’s shut down. It’s far from that. We welcome that. That’s important if you’re striving to get better and move forward.”
With that, it’s off to analysis, and then out to the grass.
***
Everything has already been set up as the players make their way through the maze of the AUL pitches just after 7pm.
Small goals had been carried through the car park; various cones and poles dotted around the patch they’ll work on for the next while as underage teams train elsewhere.
They run a lap together to warm-up, balls being kicked and caught at every turn.
One goes flying across the ditch, to be recovered later.
S&C coach Dave O’Connor oversees the warm-up as players prepare to move through the gears. Everyone but Megan Smyth Lynch, who is returning from injury, partakes fully, and there’s a real buzz throughout.
McLaughlin’s answer when she was earlier asked what Shelbourne means to her comes to mind immediately.
“That’s a tough one,” she hesitated as she gathered her thoughts.
“There’s just an amazing sense of community around the place. I just love being in this environment and around all the girls. To me, it’s a family away from home.”
There’s little mention of Galway on the pitch, as Wearen forecasted.
Creagh comes to check we have all we need before departing.
The last word goes to the player and manager.
“I went to watch Galway play against Shamrock Rovers a few weeks ago and I was quite impressed,” as McLaughlin said.
“They look like a well organised team, and they’ve kept a lot of players from last season so it just shows that they’ve grown. Definitely expecting a tough game.”
“For anybody who’s got a big interest in the Women’s National League, or people that want to start to learn a little bit more, there’ll be no better game,” Wearen added.
“It’ll hopefully be a good advertisement for the league.”
- Shelbourne v Galway United, Tolka Park, 2pm
