Aislinn Meaney (born 24 October 1998) is an Irish

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

er, who plays for

Galway United Galway United Football Club () is an Irish professional football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Premier Division following promotion from the First Division in 2023. They were founded as Galway Rovers F.C. during the ...

. She has previously played for multiple Irish league teams, and multiple

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

teams in the United States. She has played for the

Republic of Ireland women's national football team The Republic of Ireland women's national football team () represents the Republic of Ireland in competitions such as the FIFA Women's World Cup and the UEFA Women's Championship. The team played in their first World Cup at the 2023 FIFA Women' ...

Personal life

Meaney is from

Ennis Ennis ( , meaning 'island' or 'river meadow') is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in Cou ...

. As a youngster, she played

Ladies' Gaelic football Ladies' Gaelic football () is an Irish team sport for women. It is the women's equivalent of Gaelic football. Ladies' football is organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a round ball toward ...

for Clare U14, with whom she won the 2012 All-Ireland title for her age group. She studied arts at

NUI Galway The University of Galway () is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) () from 1908 to 1997 and as ...

, and played for their

varsity team A varsity team is the highest-level team in a sport or activity representing an educational institution. Varsity teams train to compete against each other during an athletic season or in periodic matches against rival institutions. At high schools ...

from 2017 until 2019. In 2019, she transferred her studies to the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public university, public research university in Akron, Ohio, United States. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM fields, STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advance ...

in the US.

Club career

As a youngster, Meaney played for Lifford Ladies, making her senior debut at the age of 16. In 2017, she joined

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. Meaney was the 2018 Women's National League Player of the Month for May 2018, and was named in the league's Team of the Season. She was on the shortlist for the Player of the Season award. In 2019, Meaney signed for American

Akron Zips The Akron Zips are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, United States. The Zips compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division I, Division I level as a memb ...

women's soccer team; Meaney and

Lucia Lobato Lucia may refer to: Arts and culture * ''Lucía'', a 1968 Cuban film by Humberto Solás * Lucia (film), ''Lucia'' (film), a 2013 Indian Kannada-language film ** Enakkul Oruvan (2015 film), ''Enakkul Oruvan'' (2015 film), its 2015 Tamil-languag ...

were the first Irishwomen to play for the Zips. She made 19 appearances in her first season at the club. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, she was unable to play in the US and returned to Ireland. Ahead of the 2021 Women's National League, Meaney left Galway. She played for Akron Zips in 2021, and later returned to Galway in June 2021. In 2022, Meaney joined

Treaty United Treaty United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Limerick. The club was founded in 2020 following the demise of Limerick F.C. and began playing in the League of Ireland Women's Premier Division in 2020 followed by th ...

. That year, she also played for

IUP Crimson Hawks The Indiana University of Pennsylvania Crimson Hawks, commonly known as the IUP Crimson Hawks and formerly called the IUP Indians, are the varsity athletic teams that represent Indiana University of Pennsylvania, which is located in Indiana, Penn ...

women's college soccer team, where she played in all 17 matches. In July 2023, Meaney signed for

International career

Meaney played for

Republic of Ireland women's national under-17 football team Republic of Ireland women's national under-17 football team represents Republic of Ireland in international youth football competitions. FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The team has qualified in 2010 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship Previo ...

, and was part of the Irish under-17 team that beat

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

2–0 in a

2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualification The 2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualifying competition was a women's under-17 football competition played in 2014 and 2015 to determine the seven teams joining Iceland, who qualified automatically as hosts, in the 2015 UEFA Women's Und ...

match. She made four appearances in that qualification tournament, and was also in the Republic of Ireland squad for the

2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The 2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship was the eighth edition of the UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, the annual European youth association football, football competition contested by the women's under-17 national teams of the member assoc ...

in Iceland. Meaney made her debut for the senior side in a 2018 friendly match against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. She also played in a 2018 match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. As of 2019, she had made two appearances for the senior team. She also played for the Irish Universities Team in the women's football tournament at the

2019 Summer Universiade The 2019 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXX Summer Universiade () and also known as Naples 2019, or Napoli 2019, was held in Naples, Italy, between 3 and 14 July 2019. It was initially scheduled for Brasília, Brazil in July 201 ...

; they finished fourth in the tournament.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meaney, Aislinn Republic of Ireland women's international footballers 1998 births Living people League of Ireland Women's Premier Division players Alumni of the University of Galway University of Akron alumni Association footballers from County Clare Sportspeople from Ennis Competitors at the 2019 Summer Universiade Galway W.F.C. players Akron Zips women's soccer players Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Women's association football midfielders Women's association football forwards Republic of Ireland women's youth international footballers IUP Crimson Hawks 21st-century Irish sportswomen