Dundalk Women's Football Club is an Irish association football club based in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...

. They are the women's team of

Dundalk F.C. Dundalk Football Club ( ) is a professional football club that competes in the League of Ireland First Division. It was founded in 1903 as Dundalk G.N.R., the works-team of the Great Northern Railway. It is based in Dundalk, County Louth and ...

They currently play in 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 ...

. They represented the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

in 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 (soccer), football club tournament (since rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League). 43 teams from 42 football associations took part, starting with the fi ...

. An earlier Dundalk F.C. women's team also competed in the

Ladies League of Ireland The League of Ireland Women's Premier Division (; sponsor name SSE Airtricity League Women's Premier Division) is a professional women's association football league in Ireland, organised by the League of Ireland, which began play in the 2023 ...

during the 1970s.

History

Club history

The first Dundalk ladies team were the only team outside of England to be involved with the establishment of the

Women's Football Association The Women's Football Association (WFA) was the governing body of women's football in England. It was formed in 1969 and was disbanded in 1993, as responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the game of women's football in England passed to t ...

(WFA) as a founding member. It is unclear exactly how the Dundalk ladies team came to be involved with the WFA; Patricia Gregory, a WFA founder member, surmised they may have become involved through an advertisement in the paper for a challenge match.

Ladies League of Ireland

The first Dundalk ladies team represented Ireland against England ( Corinthian Nomads) in an international on 10 May 1970, which took place at the Prestatyn Raceway, in North Wales. The game was won by the Corinthians 7–1, they played on the Raceway as women's football was still banned from association-affiliated grounds in Wales. 4,000 people attended the game, the Welsh officials were so impressed by the Dundalk side they were invited back to play Wales at Prestatyn in June the same year. In

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

when the FAI/ WFAI first organised a women's national league known as the

, Dundalk were among its twelve founder members. Like Dundalk, other founder members included several teams associated with clubs in the men's

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

. These included

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club is an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. They hail from Ballybofey, County Donegal and play their ho ...

, Cork Celtic,

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

and

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

Split

In December 2005 Dundalk City L.F.C. won the

FAI Women's Cup The Football Association of Ireland Women's Cup is the senior cup competition for women's association football in 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 Cup. Organised ...

and as a result qualified for the

. However, 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 L.F.C. was re-established as an independent club while Dundalk W.F.C. became affiliated with the

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

in the UEFA Women's Cup. The two rival clubs both subsequently entered teams in the FAI Women's Cup and the

Dundalk in Europe

Dundalk W.F.C. competed in Group 1 of the

Squad

Final table

Notable former players

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
women's internationals

* Gillian McDonnell * Paula Brennan (née Gorham) played eleven times for Ireland.

References

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