Dundalk City Ladies Football Club was an Irish association football club based in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is hal ...

, County Louth. During the early 2000s they were the "sister club" of

Dundalk F.C. Dundalk Football Club ( ; ga, Cumann Peile Dhún Dealgan) is a professional association football club that competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top tier of football in the Republic of Ireland. The club is based in Dundalk ...

However, after winning the 2005

FAI Women's Cup The Football Association of Ireland Women's Cup is the senior cup competition for women's association football in the Republic of Ireland. It is commonly known as the Women's FAI Cup, the WFAI Cup, or prior to 2001, the Ladies FAI Cup or the LFAI ...

and qualifying for the

2006–07 UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Cup 2006–07 was the sixth edition of the UEFA Women's Cup football club tournament (since rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League). 43 teams from 42 football associations took part, starting with the first qualifying roun ...

, the club split into two separate teams. Dundalk City was re-established as an independent club while

Dundalk W.F.C. Dundalk Women's Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Dundalk, County Louth. They are the women's team of Dundalk F.C. They currently play in the Dublin Women's Soccer League. They represented the Republic of Ireland in th ...

became affiliated to the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

club and went on to compete in the UEFA Women's Cup.

History

Early years

The club was originally formed in 1988 as Castletown Celtic Girls F.C. and they were initially based in the Fatima district of

. They were named after

Castletown River The Castletown River () is a river which flows through the town of Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland. It rises near Newtownhamilton, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, and is known as the Creggan River in its upper reaches. Its two main tribut ...

. Their first manager was Niall Gallagher who later served as club chairman. Between 1988 and 1994 they played in the Dundalk League and from 1996 they also began to enter teams in the North Eastern League. In 1999 the club was relaunched as Dundalk City, they joined the

Dublin Women's Soccer League The Dublin Women's Soccer League was a women's association football league featuring teams from the Republic of Ireland. While the majority of the participating clubs were based in the Greater Dublin Area, the DWSL had regularly included teams f ...

and they effectively became the "sister club" of

while still remaining a separate entity. The new name was partly chosen to reflect Dundalk's ambitions to gain

city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, city status ...

but also to distinguish the ladies team from the men's team. Under this arrangement, Dundalk City adopted the same club colours and club crest as the men's team and also began to play home games at

Oriel Park Oriel Park is a UEFA Category 2 football stadium located on the Carrickmacross Road in Dundalk, Ireland. The stadium is the home ground of Dundalk Football Club and is owned and operated by the club on land that has been leased from the Casey ...

. In 2000 City won both a DWSL Intermediate League title and the DWSL Intermediate Cup. They also subsequently gained promotion to the DWSL Premier Division.

Cup success

In 2003 City appointed Tommy Tasker as the team coach. Tasker was a former goalkeeper with Shelbourne,

St James's Gate St. James's Gate, located off the south quays of Dublin, on James's Street, was the western entrance to the city during the Middle Ages. During this time the gate was the traditional starting point for the Camino pilgrimage from Dublin to Santiag ...

Glenavon Glenavon Football Club is a Northern Irish semi-professional football club that competes in the NIFL Premiership. Founded in 1889, the club hails from Lurgan and plays its home matches at Mourneview Park. Club colours are blue and white. Ga ...

and

Monaghan United Monaghan United F.C. ( ga, Cumann Peile Mhuineacháin Aontaithe) is an Irish association football club based in Monaghan currently playing in the Ulster Senior League. The club joined the League of Ireland in 1983 and subsequently went on to pl ...

. Tasker would subsequently turn City into a successful cup team. In October 2003 with a squad that included

Grace Murray Grace Murray (born 26 May 1989) is an Irish international footballer who plays for Shelbourne Ladies of the Women's National League (WNL). She made her debut for the Republic of Ireland women's national football team in February 2008. Clu ...

, City won the

DWSL Premier Cup The Dublin Women's Soccer League was a women's association football league featuring teams from the Republic of Ireland. While the majority of the participating clubs were based in the Greater Dublin Area, the DWSL had regularly included teams ...

, beating a St James's Gate team featuring

Katie Taylor Katie Taylor (born 2 July 1986) is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She is a two-weight world champion and the current undisputed lightweight champion, having held the WBA title since 2017; the IBF title since 2018; and the ...

. City defeated Gate in the final 3–2 after extra time. The final was played at the home of

Bluebell United Bluebell, Bluebells, or Bluebelle may refer to: Plants * genus ''Hyacinthoides'' ** Common bluebell ('' H. non-scripta'') ** Spanish bluebell ('' H. hispanica'') ** Italian bluebell ('' H. italica'') * genus ''Muscari'' (perhaps more commonly kn ...

and City were presented with the trophy by future

Republic of Ireland women's national football team ) , Association = Women's Football Association of Ireland , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Vera Pauw , Captain = Katie McCabe , Most caps = Emma Byrne (134) , Top scorer = Ol ...

manager

Susan Ronan Susan "Sue" Ronan (born 21 February 1964) is an Irish football coach and former player, who managed the Republic of Ireland women's national football team from 2010 until 2016. Ronan represented Welsox and Shelbourne at club level, and made h ...

. In 2004 City reached the final of the

, but lost 4–1 to UCD. In 2005 City played in both the DWSL Premier Cup and FAI Women's Cup finals. In the former they lost 2–0 to UCD, however in the latter they defeated

Peamount United Peamount United Football Club () is an Irish association football club based in Newcastle, South Dublin. The club is best known for its senior women's team who in 2011–12 became founder members and inaugural champions of the Women's National ...

1–0. The all-important goal was scored by Sonia Hoey in the 16th minute. In the FAI Women's Cup final Katie Taylor once again featured for City's opponents. Both the FAI Women's Cup finals that City played in were staged at

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...

as part of double headers with the men's

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

finals.

Split

In 2006 a split developed within Dundalk City over a plan for the club to fully merge with

This effectively saw the emergence of two separate women's teams. Dundalk City, with Tommy Tasker as their coach, remained independent while

became affiliated with the

club. After winning the 2005

, Dundalk City had qualified for the

. However following complications that resulted from the split, it was Dundalk W.F.C. that went on to represent the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

in this competition. In subsequent seasons the two rival clubs both entered teams in the FAI Women's Cup and the

. In June 2007

Stephanie Roche Stephanie Roche (born 13 June 1989) is an Irish footballer who plays as a striker for Shamrock Rovers of Dublin and the Republic of Ireland women's national football team. Her October 2013 goal in the Women's National League (WNL) for Peamoun ...

joined Dundalk City after having struck up a friendship with

. Roche scored twice on her debut for Dundalk City in a 5–2 win over Benfica.

Notable former players

Republic of Ireland women's internationals

* Sonya Hughes * Gillian McDonnell *

Goalscorers

* Sonia Hoey – scored 10 goals in a 13–0 win against

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) ( ga, Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Cre ...

in a

2005 Dublin Women's Soccer League The 2005 Dublin Women's Soccer League was the 12th season of the women's association football league featuring teams mainly from the Greater Dublin Area. Newly promoted Dublin City University lost all twelve games. This included a 13–0 away d ...

game.

Honours

**''Winners'': 2005: 1 **''Runners-up'': 2004: 1 *

**''Winners'': 2003: 1 **''Runners-up'':

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

: 1 * DWSL Intermediate Cup **''Winners'': 2000: 1 * DWSL Intermediate League **''Winners'': 2000: 1

References

{{reflist Association football clubs in County Louth Association football clubs established in 1988 1988 establishments in Ireland Women's association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland Dublin Women's Soccer League teams Dundalk F.C.