Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown Waves, also referred to as DLR Waves, is a women-only Irish association football club based in

Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown () is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished in 1994. It is named after the former ...

. It was originally founded in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. DLR Waves field several teams; the senior League of Ireland team, the Under 19s LOI team and the Under 17s LOI team. The senior 1st team competes in the FAI Women's Cup and the League of Ireland Women's Premier Division. Between 2014 and 2018, the club played as UCD Waves, before returning to the name DLR Waves.

History

DLR Waves 2012 - 2013

The 2012–13 season saw DLR Waves join the Women's National League as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

. The club was formed with the support of the

Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council () is the local authority of the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. It is one of three local authorities that succeeded the former Dublin County Council on its abolition on 1 January 1994 a ...

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. 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.

UCD Waves 2014 - 2018

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.

DLR Waves 2019 - Present

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 The UCD Bowl, also known as the Belfield Bowl, is a rugby union and football stadium in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. It is the home ground of University College Dublin R.F.C. in the AIB All Ireland League and League of Ireland Premier ...

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, the only female manager in the 2023 women's premier division. DLR Waves finished the 2023 season in 8th position. In October 2023, DLR Waves launched a player academy with local clubs to provide a pathway from grassroots girls soccer into the underage DLR Waves teams. There are eight local clubs involved in the DLR Waves Partner Academy, these are; Shankill FC Girls, Enniskerry Youth Club AFC, Beechwood FC, United Girls Football Club, Park Celtic FC, Granada FC, Mount Merrion Youths FC Girls and Lakelands FC.

Honours

Senior Team

* Women's National League ** ''Runners-up'': 2014–15,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

: 2 * FAI Women's Cup ** ''Runners-up'': 2014, 2017: 2

Under 19s Team

* League Title ** ''Winners:'' 2022: 1

Players

Current squad

The current squad, as of the January 2024, includes:

Notable current or former players

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.

Coaching staff

Management team

As of 2024, the manager of DLR Waves is Laura Heffernan, the wider coaching team for the senior team and underage teams are listed in the table below.

Former managers

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

Historic league standings

The historic league standings from 2012 to 2023 are summarised in the table below.

Supporters

DLR Waves has a small unofficial supporters group, established in late 2022, which attend games and decorate the ground with the club colours. Similar to most League of Ireland supporters groups, the DLR Waves fans produce stickers to promote the club throughout Dublin. The DLR Waves Supporters Logo consists of the UCD Water Tower and two women footballers. The water tower is visible from the

. The Dublin derby game for DLR Waves fans and players is fixtures against Bohemians F.C.

References

External links

DLR Waves on Facebook

DLR Waves on Twitter

DLR Waves on Instagram

DLR Waves Supporters Page on Instagram
{{Women's National League (Ireland) Women's association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland Association football clubs in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown Women's National League (Ireland) teams Association football clubs established in 2012 2012 establishments in Ireland