Aoibheann Clancy (born 31 October 2003) is an Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Shelbourne in the Women's National League (WNL) and the Republic of Ireland women's national team.

Club career

Clancy is from

Kilbehenny Kilbehenny (), also Kilbeheny, is a village in County Limerick, Ireland, on the R639 regional road. It is situated on the County Cork border and is within of the County Tipperary border. The village is east of Mitchelstown, the nearest to ...

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

. At youth level, 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 Galtee Gaels, and

Camogie Camogie ( ; ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game "hurling" (which is played by men only), it is organised ...

for St. Fanahan's. In youth soccer, she was active in the Tipperary Schoolboys/girls Southern & District League (TSSDL) for both Kilburn Celtic and Tipperary Town, before she joined the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

of local Women's National League club Limerick WFC.

Wexford Youths

Ahead of the delayed 2020 Women's National League season, Clancy joined Wexford Youths. In September 2020 she made her first start for her new club as Wexford inflicted a first defeat of the season on champions Peamount United. Impressed Wexford coach Tom Elmes declared Clancy "one of the stand-out performances". Clancy's strong form continued into the 2021 Women's National League season. She was "instrumental" in the 2021 FAI Women's Cup Final, as Wexford Youths defeated Shelbourne 3–1. At the 2021 WNL Awards, she was named in the Team of the Season and beat fellow nominees Ellen Molloy and Jessie Stapleton to the Young Player of the Year.

International career

Youth

Clancy represented Ireland at schoolgirl level while she attended Presentation School, Thurles. She was named Player of the Match as Ireland beat England in the final of the 2017 John Read Cup. She was also vice-

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the team which retained the trophy the following year. She progressed to the

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 by 2021 was playing for Dave Connell's

Republic of Ireland women's national under-19 football team The Republic of Ireland women's national under-19 football team represents Ireland at the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship and the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. History UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The Irish team has qualified for the ...

. She made a single appearance during the calendar year.

Senior

Clancy's first senior call-up was for a friendly game against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on 21 September 2021 at

Tallaght Stadium Tallaght Stadium () is an List of association football stadiums in the Republic of Ireland, association football stadium in Ireland based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club Shamrock Rovers F.C., Shamrock Rovers originally announced details of ...

. The national team coach

Vera Pauw Vera Pauw (; born 18 January 1963) is a Dutch Women's association football, football coach and former player who is the manager of the United Arab Emirates women's national football team, United Arab Emirates women's national team. She has manage ...

had been impressed by her good form with her club and in home-based training sessions. Clancy won her first senior

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

on 14 November 2022, as a 62nd-minute substitute for Denise O'Sullivan in a 4–0 friendly win over

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

staged in

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the re ...

, Spain.

International appearances

Playing style

Clancy is a versatile

box-to-box midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, whose "quick feet and awareness allow her to operate superbly between the lines".

Personal life

In 2022 Clancy began studying

biomedical sciences Biomedical sciences are a set of sciences applying portions of natural science or formal science, or both, to develop knowledge, interventions, or technology that are of use in healthcare or public health. Such disciplines as medical microbio ...

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clancy, Aoibheann 2003 births Living people Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers Women's association football midfielders Wexford Youths W.F.C. players Association footballers from County Limerick Republic of Ireland women's youth international footballers Limerick W.F.C. players People associated with University College Dublin Galtee Gaels Gaelic footballers 21st-century Irish sportswomen