Glenview are the stars of the first-ever women’s campaign Champions Glenview Stars can remain unbeaten in the inaugural Sligo Bay Lobsters Women’s League
THE Sligo Bay Lobsters Women’s Amateur League will next week formally crown its newest champions when Glenview Stars conclude their league campaign against Arrow Harps at MacSharry Park on Friday week, January 5.
Glenview, who are on course to win the title without losing a single game, with nine wins and one draw, have reaped the benefits of a 16-week pre-season programme which put them in a good place to hit the ground running when their season began on September 23.
Since assembling for their first training session on May 30, the senior women’s team has been guided by a dedicated backroom team consisting of manager Gino O’Boyle, Seamie O’Boyle, Clive O’Donoghue, Alan Collum, Paul Kelly, Tanya Wallace and Anto Johnston, with a number of them also involved in the week-toweek running of the club’s men’s and underage teams.
Glenview Stars team manager Gino O’Boyle and senior women’s team captain Gemma McDonagh discussed the experience of going from that firstever training session to becoming league champions.
“It only took a couple of weeks of pre-season before you could see something taking shape. We had big numbers from the start and we have managed to keep that being able to name a full matchday squad every week,” Gino said.
Gemma stated: “The interest was always there. A lot of us grew up together and we would often talk about being able to play together in a proper league but we never had the platform to do it, there was a time I thought it would never happen at all, but the league quickly took off.” As Gemma rightly pointed out, the core of the Glenview team already knew each other having grown up in the Forthill area together.
All of these players had varying interaction with women’s soccer over the years, while Laura McGuinn, for example, played for Ireland at the World Deaf Futsal Championships in Brazil. There were also talented players who, having moved on from the SligoLeitrim Schoolboys and Schoolgirls League, never got to play at senior level until this season. Gemma said: “In pre-season you could see the difference week in, week out. Our squad is made up of players who have come fom different levels and some have recently played while some haven’t played in maybe 10 years.
“There were those who were playing for the first time on a team in a competitive league so every week you were seeing the difference in little things like positional play and formations. “They have adjusted each week and now their dedication has been
GLENVIEW STARS RESULTS
Sligo Bay Lobsters Women’s
League 2023-24 season
Glenview Stars 4 (Jennifer Griffiths, Gemma McDonagh, Tammy McGwynne, Dahanna Feeney), Gurteen Celtic 0 (Astroturf pitch, The Showgrounds, September 23); Manor Rangers 0, Glenview Stars 5 (Sarah O’Boyle 3, Dayna Dykes, Kathlyn Feeney) (McSharry Park, September 30); Glenview
Stars 1 (Laura McGuinn), Real Tubber 0 (MacSharry Park, December 16);
Valley Rovers 3, Glenview Stars 5 (Michaela Gaffney 2, Sarah O’Boyle 2, Gemma McDonagh) (McSharry
rewarded.
“Training has been very competitive since pre-season, there is a great attitude there from every player involved,” Gino added.
“The standard has been exceptionally high, if you get along to any game in the league you might be surprised by the standard, there’s a good number of very competitive teams and that can only be a good thing for the league and long may that continue.” A 16-week pre-season required a lot of dedication early on for this Glenview side, but the wisdom of this decision has been rewarded.
While Glenview Stars were this
The number of goals scored by Sarah O’Boyle for Glenview Stars in the Sligo Women’s League.
Park, October 14); Glenview Stars 6 (Rachel Dunne 2, Sarah O’Boyle 2, Dahanna Feeney, Laura McGuinn), Kilglass-Enniscrone United 1 (MacSharry Park, October 21); Glenview Stars P Arrow Harps P (MacSharry Park, October 28)*; Glenview Stars 3 (Sarah O’Boyle 3), Ballisodare United 0 (MacSharry Park, November 4); Ballymote United 0, Glenview Stars 4 (Ciara Finan, Gemma McDonagh, Sarah O’Boyle, Tammy McGwynne) (MacSharry Park, November 18); Glenview Stars 6 (Sarah
O’Boyle 2, Shannon McGwynne, Tammy McGwynne, Rachel Dunne), Calry Bohs 1 (MacSharry Park, November 25); season’s standout side, Gurteen Celtic, Arrow Harps and Kilglass-Enniscrone United formed a strong chasing pace. This suggests there could be a more diverse title challenge in 2024.
Gino stated: “You look at how the season is playing out, I am glad we started training as early as we did. There are other good teams who didn’t start great, but after those first four or five games have been flying since.
“We are probably about two steps ahead of where we are in the progression plan we set out at the start.
“We are happy with the squad but there is always room for a small bit of recruitment so we will be open to adding a couple of new players.” Glenview have another week to wait
GOAL DELIGHT: Glenview Stars captain Gemma McDonagh celebrates scoring a goal against Gurteen Celtic in a Sligo Bay Lobsters Women’s League fixture at The Showgrounds last September. INSET: Glenview Stars after the 1-0 defeat of Real Tubber on December 16 that confirmed them as champions. *Rescheduled for Friday, January 5, 2024, at MacSharry Park (7pm).
GLENVIEW STARS SCORERS
(12 players scored) Sarah O’Boyle; Gemma McDonagh, Rachel Dunne; Laura McGuinn, Dahanna Feeney, Michaela Gaffney, Tammy McGwynne; Jennifer Griffiths, Kathlyn Feeney, Dayna Dykes, Ciara Finan, Shannon McGwynne.
before they can lift their league title. This will be followed by a cup competition and while Gemma says they would like to win the double, they are solely focused for now on what promises to be a quality game with Arrow Harps, who need to win to finish runners-up. Gemma said: “Our sights are firmly on Arrow Harps next week, we have been waiting a while to play them, they are a very good team and there’ll be a lot of good battles all over the pitch. “We’ll look to the cup then with the aim of hopefully doing double but even if we manage to do that, we are still looking to next season focusing on how we can improve, because there is still plenty we can work on to be a better team and we will need to do because I think you are going to see more sides competing for the title next season.”
Speaking about the impact and potential of the Sligo Bay Lobsters Women’s Amateur League, which is organised and run by the SligoLeitrim and District Soccer League, Gino feels there is a lot of potential for growth across Sligo and Leitrim with room for more clubs to join in the years to come and many more players to get involved. “I think it’s only going to go from strength-to-strength and will benefit players in youth set-ups having these senior teams to move to when they are older.
“I think of players I grew up with who once they turned 18 only really got to play in leagues when they were in Dublin.
“Anyone growing up should have a soccer club on their doorstep to call their own and the first season of the league covers a lot of great areas and hopefully as seasons go by we will see more teams enter the league.”
Gino and Gemma concluded by paying tribute to Gino’s late father, Seamus, who passed away in August of 2015. Seamus ‘Seamie’ O’Boyle, a Sligo County Councillor and well-known community activist, was synonymous with Glenview Stars and was aware of the power a junior soccer club has in the community for everyone. The formation of a competitive women’s team was something he had always hoped to see.
Gino said: “I would also mention how proud my father would be of what this team has achieved in their first year for Glenview, he would always have worked to see Glenview Stars be a club for everyone and he’d have been delighted to see the club represented in a local women’s league.”
Gemma added: “The players are the team, but that man was the club in so many ways and to be able to reward him in his memory like that means a lot to us.”
Glenview Stars senior women’s soccer squad: Gemma McDonagh (c), Sarah O’Boyle, Donna O’Boyle, Laura McGuinn, Mollie Costello, Kathlyn Feeney, Chloe McManus, Jennifer Griffiths, Shanarah Burns, Dayna Dykes, Tammy McGwynne, Shannon McGwynne, Dahanna Feeney,
Erin Kennedy, Rachel Scanlon, Karen McDonagh, Courtney Downes, Michaela Gaffney, Karin Roddy, Emma McPadden, Aoife Masterson, Laura Conlon, Rachel Dunne, Ciara Finan, Lisa McMoreland, Nina McFadden
Glenview Stars Gurteen Celtic Arrow Harps Kilglass-E’crone Utd Yeats Utd
Ballymote Celtic Valley Rovers Manor Rangers Ballisodare Utd Calry Bohs
Real Tubber
Carrick Town
P W 10 9 11 8 10 7 11 7 11 5 11 5 10 4 10 4 10 3 10 3 11 3 11 0
D 1 0 1 1 2 0 2 1 1 1 0 0
L 0 3 2 3 4 6 4 5 6 6 8 11
F 38 48 38 31 27 26 20 20 13 15 19 0
A 6 13 19 31 22 36 23 24 26 31 31 33
Diff +32 +35 +19 0 +5 -10 -3 -4 -13 -16 -12 -33
Pts 28 24 22 22 17 15 14 13 10 10 9 0