Carol Breen (born 21 January 1986) is an Irish

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er and former

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 has played for the Republic of Ireland women's national football team and the Ireland national Australian rules football team. At club Australian rules football level, she most recently played for Randwick City Saints, and at club association football level, Breen last played for Wexford Youths.

Association football career

Breen played as a defender. Breen represented Republic of Ireland under-17s in the football event at the 2003 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival. She played for the Republic of Ireland under-19s from 2004 to 2005, and was in the squad for UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying matches. At the time, she was playing for Benfica. Breen later quit association football, and went backpacking in Australia. Whilst there she played

and

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

. She later lived in Canada, before returning to Ireland in 2014. She re-signed for local association football club Benfica in

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

. Breen signed for Wexford Youths for the 2014–15 Women's National League season. In March 2015, Breen made her debut for the Republic of Ireland women's national football team in the 2015 Istria Cup, and also played in Ireland's match against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

at the same tournament. She had previously been called up to the squad for a winter training camp in La Manga. In 2015, she played for Wexford Youths in the UEFA Women's Champions League; she scored four goals in a qualifying group stage match against Cardiff Met. She was also part of the Wexford Youths team that won the 2015 FAI Women's Cup, the first time that Wexford Youths had won the tournament. She was named in the Women's National League Team of the Season for the 2014–15 season. In January 2016, Breen was not selected in the Ireland squad for matches against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, as she was preparing to emigrate to Australia. Breen returned to Australia later that year.

Australian rules career

Breen played for UTS Shamrocks, and in 2016, she won the AFL Sydney Women's Division One Best and Fairest award. In 2018, she made 11 appearances for the Nor-West Jets, and she made 14 appearances for UTS Australian Football Club in 2019. In 2020, Breen made 10 appearances for Randwick City Saints. Breen was part of the Ireland national Australian rules football team that won the 2017 Australian Football International Cup. She won the " best on ground" award in the final.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breen, Carol Republic of Ireland women's international footballers 1986 births Living people Women's association football forwards Irish female players of Australian rules football Wexford Youths W.F.C. players League of Ireland Women's Premier Division players Benfica W.S.C. players Irish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's youth international footballers Sportspeople from Waterford (city) 21st-century Irish sportswomen