Glentoran W.F.C.
Glentoran Women is a women's football club from Belfast, Northern Ireland and a subsidiary of Glentoran Football Club.
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| Full name | Glentoran Women Football Club | ||
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| Founded | 1987 | ||
| Ground | The Oval | ||
| Capacity | 6,500 | ||
| Manager | Billy Clarke | ||
| Head Coach | Kim Turner | ||
| Physio | Emma Donaghey | ||
| Coach | John Spence | ||
| League | Women's Premiership | ||
| Media | Scott Martin | ||
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The team holds the record as the most successful women's team in the Irish League, having won the Women's Premiership on nine occasions, most recently in 2021. Having won all four major trophies in the 2020 season,[1] the team was victorious again in the 2021 season, retaining the Irish League, Irish Cup, County Antrim Shield and League Cup to become the first team to ever hold all four trophies, and the first team to retain all four.
2022 Season
As the Northern Ireland Women's Premiership season runs from April to October, the 2022 season was disrupted by the Women's International European Championships held in England during the summer.[2] For the first time in their history, Northern Ireland qualified for the tournament, with a squad including four Glentoran players. This resulted in the players being unavailable for club selection from the start of the season until the tournament had ended in July.
Glentoran suffered two major setbacks, losing forwards Caragh Hamilton through injury and Lauren Wade who signed for Reading in the English Women's Superleague following an impressive European Championship.[3] Despite beating Cliftonville in the final game of the league season, Glentoran struggled to regain the fluidity that had brought success in previous seasons, with Cliftonville going on to win the first league title in their history.[4]
Having won the County Antrim Cup against Crusaders at the Danny Blanchflower stadium a few weeks earlier, Glentoran faced Sion Swifts in the Irish Cup Final on 5 November 2023. Glentoran captain Jessica Foy put the East Belfast side ahead with a free kick that dipped over the goalkeepers head, before Joely Andrews was played through to make the final score 2-0 to Glentoran.[5] Speaking after the game, Glentoran forward Kerry Beattie said that 'whilst we're pleased to retain these two trophies, after the success of the last few seasons we end this season disappointed'.
2023 Season
During the off-season the club expanded its support team to include a specialist strength and conditioning coach, nutritionist, head of media and match day coordinator.[6] On the field the club signed Northern Ireland internationals Demi Vance in defence and Emily Wilson in attack.[7] With days to go before the opening league game of the season, the club announced Northern Ireland U17 international goalkeeper Ellie Scott had also signed for Glentoran.[8] Glentoran started the season strongly and with Cliftonville's participation in the All Ireland final and UEFA Champions League, Glentoran move six points clear at the top of the Christmas over the summer month. Cliftonville were then defeated by their North Belfast rivals and when Glentoran beat their rivals Linfield at Midgley Park, the team from East Belfast moved 9 points clear at the top of the table. Glentoran could have won the league season outright with two games to spare had they beaten Cliftonville at home, but a 1-1 draw meant the league title was secured less than a week later at Seaview with a 0-3 win over Crusaders. Glentoran went on to finish an unbeaten league season at home to rivals Linfield in the final game of the season, two Demi Vance goals the difference on the night. And so Glentoran added another league title to their collection, with Northern Ireland Kerry Beattie winning the league's golden boot award with twenty eight goals in eighteen games.
European record
In UEFA competitions Glentoran went without a win in their first three attempts. In the 2009–10 Champions League qualifying round they won their first game 2–0 against Roma Calfa but failed to qualify from their group.
Titles
- Winners (10): 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2020, 2021, 2023
- Winners (11): 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
- Winners (1): 2019
Current squad
The squad for the 2023 season was announced on the club's website and is below.[9]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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References
- "The big questions ahead of the Women's Premiership" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- "Northern Ireland qualify for UEFA Women's Euro 2022 after 4-1 aggregate win over Ukraine". Sky Sports.
- "Return to full-time football with Reading simply too good an opportunity to turn down, says Northern Ireland star Lauren Wade". 7 August 2022 – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
- "Cliftonville Ladies seal their place in history books with first ever Women's Premiership title success". 26 October 2022 – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
- "Glentoran Women see off Sion Swifts to win fourth consecutive Electric Ireland Irish Cup". The Irish News. 6 November 2022.
- "Squad News | Glentoran FC". www.glentoran.com.
- "Vance joins NI team-mate Wilson at Glentoran" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- "Glentoran Women: New Signing Ellie Scott | Glentoran FC". www.glentoran.com.
- "GLENTORAN WOMEN 2023 SEASON | Glentoran FC". www.glentoran.com.