PREVIEW: BOHEMIANS v TREATY UNITED
March 26, 2021
BOHEMIANS v TREATY UNITED
Saturday March 27
Oscar Traynor Centre, 2pm
Bohemians took their first baby steps in the senior Women’s National League in 2020 and are looking to build on that this season.
Bohs have been playing catch-up to give women’s football the platform and attention it deserves as securing the very existence of the club took priority for much of the last decade.
But great strides have been made in recent seasons – talented and dedicated volunteers and coaches built a girls section from scratch in 2017, which now has eight grassroots girls teams up to U18 level.
The next step was entering our first WNL U17 team at the beginning of 2019 before making history in our 130th year by entering the senior Women’s National League for the first time in 2020. Bohemians will have a third WNL team this year with the creation of the U19 WNL.
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The senior squad, managed by Seán Byrne, was hastily assembled last season after the club’s application to join the WNL was belatedly accepted.
It was the first part of a building process he hopes will grow further this season as Bohs aim towards being the club of choice for women footballers in this country.
While they finished bottom of the table last term, they did so with one of the youngest and most inexperienced teams in the league.
It was a tough learning curve but one he hopes will stand to them this season.
Tomorrow, they host Treaty United, who finished one place and four points above them last season, at Oscar Traynor.
Byrne said: “This is a very strong league with the likes of Peamount, Shelbourne and Wexford ahead of the rest last year.
“We are one of four clubs in Dublin – UCD Waves have strengthened too – and our team is still very young.
“It is a long process to get up to those standards – we still have a lot of building to do. But the experience they had last season will stand to them.
“We have to be realistic but we want to build an environment where our players can fulfil their potential.
“We had a very young team but the likes of Chloe Darby, Abbie Brophy, Ciara Mulligan and others were thrown in at the deep end and showed what they are capable of.”
Bohs’ ranks have been bolstered by new arrivals: Goalkeeper Niamh Coombes, defenders Erica Byrne, Claire Conlon, Jade Reddy, defender/midfielder Isobel Finnegan and striker Naima Chemaou.
Byrne added: “We are happy that the players that we have brought in will add quality to the team. We are hoping to do well.
“They are good additions, Chemaou was with Peamount and an underage international. Erica played gaelic football for Kildare last year, switched codes last year and has looked excellent in pre-season.
“Jade is an underage international who has come in from Peamount, and Isobel is another ex-underage international who has returned from the US.
“We have the benefit of the U19 League starting this year too which will help with bringing players through by bridging the gap between U17s and senior football, and giving us an opportunity to give game-time to young players on the fringes of the team.”
Midfielder Sophie Watters, joint captain with defender Chloe Flynn this season, is already seeing a difference in the competition for places in the team this season.
The Dundalk woman said: “Last season, we were late coming into the league as a club, so we were late coming together as a team.
“We were young and maybe a little bit naive. We feel we can improve now with last season under our belts.
“With the new players coming in, you can already see the difference in training already – we have really good competition for places and we are all pushing each other.
“As a team we are going to try our best to improve on last season – we want to concede fewer goals and score more, and hopefully build from there.”
Prior to Watters’ stint with Crusaders in the north, her previous stint in the league here was with Shelbourne.
She believes the league, and women’s football in general, has come on leaps and bounds in that period.
She added: “You can definitely see that the profile within the three years since then has improved so much.
“The standard within the league keeps getting better and better, and the profile is growing too, with the live streaming this season adding to that.
“It is an exciting time to be a part of it.”
