DLR Waves

The 2012–13 season saw DLR Waves join the Women's National League as an expansion team. The club was formed with the support of the Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council and they played their home games at Jackson Park, Kilternan. DLR Waves were managed by former UCD coach, Larry Mahony, and their squad featured former UCD captain Sylvia Gee.[1][2][3] Initially DLR Waves had mixed success in the WNL. During the 2012–13 season they finished fifth. They were also FAI Women's Cup semi-finalists.[4][5]

Between 2014 and 2018, following a merger, with UCD, the club played as UCD Waves under manager Eileen Gleeson. During this time, UCD Waves reached the FAI Women's Cup final twice, in 2014 and 2017, but lost to Raheny United and Cork City FC respectively. Furthermore, UCD Waves were runners up in the league, placed 2nd in the 2014–15 and 2016 WNL. In 2018, UCD AFC decided to withdraw from the women's league and the club ceased to be known as UCD Waves. DLR Waves was revived as a separate women's-only club using the original name, with DLR Waves replacing UCD in the Women's National League.[5][6]

DLR Waves Squad Photo, April 2023

Since 2019, DLR Waves have played in the Women's National League at their home ground Jacksons Park initially, before returning to the UCD Bowl as their home ground in 2021. In recent years, DLR Waves have primarily been a mid-table team, finishing between 4th-6th in the league in the years 2019-2022. Mid-way through the 2023 season, long term manager Graham Kelly left the club for a role at St Patrick's Athletic and he was replaced by Laura Heffernan,[7] the only female manager in the 2023 women's premier division.

• Women's National League
  • Runners-up: 2014–15, 2016: 2
• FAI Women's Cup
  • Runners-up: 2014, 2017: 2

• League Title
  • Winners: 2022: 1

The current squad, correct as of the August 2023, is shown below.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  IRL Rugile Auskalnyte 2 DF  IRL Nicole Keogh 3 DF  IRL Aoife Brophy 4 DF  IRL Hannah Tobin Jones 5 DF  IRL Jessica Gleeson (captain) 6 MF  IRL Isobel Finnegan 7 MF  IRL Mia Chambers 8 MF  IRL Rebecca McMahon 12 MF  IRL Bronagh Kane 13 MF  IRL Neema Nyangasi

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 MF  IRL Amber Cosgrove 15 MF  IRL Ruth McDonnell 16 FW  IRL Freya Roche 17 DF  IRL Oleta Griffin 18 GK  IRL Eve Badana 19 MF  IRL Robyn Bolger 20 FW  IRL Michelle Doonan 21 MF  IRL Eve Conheady 22 FW  IRL Eve O'Brien 23 MF  IRL Cliodhna Donnelly 24 MF  IRL Nadine Raymond

A large number of current or former Irish senior international football players have played for DLR Waves at some stage in their careers, as shown in the table below.

The current manager of DLR Waves is Laura Heffernan, the wider coaching team for the senior team and underage teams are listed in the table below.

Position	Name
Head Manager	Laura Heffernan
1st Team Coach	Ronan Hannon
1st Team Coach	Aoibh Hall
1st Team Coach	Jack Pierce
Goalkeeping Coach	Ian Fowler
Physio	Kevin Quinn
Under-19 Coach	Ronan Crean
Under-17 Coach	Alan Dodd

There are have been five managers of DLR Waves since it was founded in 2012, as shown in the table below.