Walsh delighted with move to Peamount United
WITH her education conquered, Claire Walsh now wants to grab the WNL by the horns and cement her place on the international team.
Walsh combined her studies and football in UCD over the past few seasons but having wrapped up a masters degree in computer science, she has left UCD Waves behind and returned to former club Peamount United.
Walsh enjoyed a fruitful time on the pitch at Belfield but it could have been better – they slumped to fourth in the table and lost out to Cork in the cup final at the Aviva Stadium.
But now she is back where it all began and she has team-mates like Aine O’Gorman and Karen Duggan to learn from.
“Really happy to have signed back with Peamount, I grew up playing there so it’ll be good to be back. The ambition would be to win the league this year with Peamount and my personal goal is to get back into the Irish squad after suffering from a back injury in Slovakia.
“Really disappointing to have lost the cup final against cork but they were the better team on the day.
Disappointing finishing fourth in the league as well.
“My main reason for moving would be that I’m finished up studying in UCD. Peamount has always been my club and it’s closer to home.
“It’s great to have Áine and Karen with me in Peamount. They are both unbelievable players and will bring a lot of experience to a young Peamount team.
“They’re both huge parts of the Irish team and they are they types of players I want to be around, along with a lot of excellent players at Peamount.”
The Kilbride native struggled to balance her studies and her football last year so is hoping to see the benefits of her more relaxed schedule in 2018. Something that won’t be in that 2018 schedule is GAA but the former Wicklow star does still have the itch for her native game.
“The last year and a half have been tough because I have been very busy doing a master’s in UCD but the facilities in UCD are unbelievable and we were really lucky to have an excellent strength and conditioning coach in UCD (Maria Monahan) who worked closely with us. I’m starting a job now as an engineer as I have just finished my course.
“I do miss GAA a lot. I loved every minute of playing with Wicklow last year and they are such a great group of girls along with an unreal management.
“For myself, giving up GAA was the only way I could give 100% to soccer and I don’t regret the decision. I knew if I wanted to give myself the best chance at soccer I needed to commit fully to it, it’s just a sacrifice that comes with the sport.”
Although she no longer represents her county, she has now earned the ultimate honour to represent her country and she’s hoping to help them to a first ever major international tournament.
“I believe that Ireland can qualify under Colin Bell. He’s been excellent so far and the girls really like him.
“He’s brought the level of women’s football in Ireland to a new level.
“It’s great that he has such high expectations and the results in the qualifying campaign so far are a clear reflection of the good work he has done.”