Donnan: Fifth isn’t good enough... Blues must challenge for top

NAOMI Donnan is back at Linfield Women. Back as a more experienced player and — most importantly — back with the intention of being a winner once again.

A three-times title winner with the Blues before moving to Sion Swifts Ladies in the summer of 2021, Donnan is now ‘home’ and although a lot has changed at Linfield in the last three years one big thing remains very much the same — the club’s determination to compete for silverware.

Ryan Mcconville has a previous League success with Linfield on his managerial CV and he has been brought back with the remit to revive the club’s fortunes and get among the trophies once again having gone through a barren period since 2019 and Donnan is very much on board for the challenge.

“Ryan would probably say himself that for both of us Linfield is home,” said Donnan, as the Blues prepare to get their Sports Direct Women’s Premiership season underway against Lisburn Ladies.

That 2019 League winning squad has long since broken up. Linfield hit the reset button and put great faith in the youth set up to build a first-team.

Such an approach requires patience, which ran out at the end of last season, hence the change of manager and a raft of signings that it is hoped will compliment what is, without doubt, an exciting crop of young players, including several Under-19 internationals and Keri Halliday, who has stepped up into the senior squad.

“We talked at the start of pre-season about how Linfield were disappointed with how they finished last year. Fifth purely isn’t good enough for a Linfield team,” said Donnan.

“I came through during the four in-a-row. I was involved in three of them and the last two in particular I was playing regularly. We know that the men always challenge at the top and that’s where the women want to be.

“A good young team has been built over the last couple of years, but we don’t want to be remembered as a promising young team, we want to be remembered as winners — as a successful team.

“Yes, a few players have gone, but players have come in to replace them — Cora Chambers, Eve Reilly, Nicole Adams, Alex Clarke coming back from a longterm injury, myself, so we have that experience and replaced what has left like-for-like and hopefully over the next couple of years we can start to really challenge at the top again where Linfield used to be.”

While the Blues have added those new signings the age profile of the squad remains young.

Only Ashley Hutton and striker Eilish Ward are over 30-years-old.

That means their leaders are younger than they might be at other clubs and Donnan is enjoying that responsibility.

“At 23 you don’t expect to be called experienced, but when you have been about the League as long as I have — I made my debut at 16 so the maths is seven years at the top level,” said Donnan.

“I think Linfield have got a more mature player who is willing to lead and step up to the plate after being one of the younger players in the squad.

“I also know what it’s like to be there so I know how to carry the young players through and be a support to them.”