Galway Football Club was an Irish association football club based in

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

. It is the women's section of the

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 ...

club

Galway United Galway United Football Club () is an Irish professional football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Premier Division following promotion from the First Division in 2023. They were founded as Galway Rovers F.C. during the ...

. Since 2013–14 the club played in the Women's National League (WNL) and did so as Galway WFC until 2022. Throughout its existence the club has been closely associated with both the Galway Ladies League and the

Galway Football Association The Galway Football Association is the governing body for association football in County Galway. It is responsible for organizing and managing the Galway & District League, Eamonn Deacy Park, and Galway W.F.C. Affiliated leagues * Galway & Di ...

. The WNL team had its origins in the Galway Ladies League representative team that won the 2007

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 then 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

2008–09 UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Cup 2008–09 is the eighth edition of the UEFA Women's Cup football (soccer), football club tournament (since rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League), the most important trophy in European club football. The first qualifyi ...

. The Galway Ladies League and its member clubs, such as Salthill Devon, Galway Bohemians, Corrib Celtic, Colga F.C. and

NUI Galway The University of Galway () is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) () from 1908 to 1997 and as ...

, served as a feeder system for Galway WFC.

History

2000s

During the 2000s, representative teams of women's leagues began to enter the

. In 2006 a team representing the Galway Ladies League were semi-finalists, losing after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

and penalties to UCD. A team representing the

Mayo Ladies League The Mayo Women's Football League is a women's association football league featuring teams from County Mayo. It is the sister league of the Mayo Association Football League Mayo Association Football League is an association football league th ...

subsequently defeated UCD in the final. In 2007 the Galway Ladies League reached the final with a team that included

Niamh Fahey Niamh Fahey ( ; born 13 October 1987) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or centre-back for Women's Super League club Liverpool, which she captains, and formerly the Republic of Ireland national team. She ...

Méabh De Búrca Méabh De Búrca (born 11 August 1988) is an Irish former footballer who plays for the Republic of Ireland women's national football team and Women's National League club Galway. At club level she previously played in America for Boston Aztec, ...

and

Julie-Ann Russell Julie-Ann Russell (born 28 March 1991) is an Irish retired footballer who played for Women's National League club Galway United W.F.C. In 2014, Russell was voted both FAI Senior Women's International Player of the Year and the Women's Nati ...

. All three were also playing for Salthill Devon. On 14 October 2007 at

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish language, Irish: ''Páirc Chnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a Association football, football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., ...

, Galway defeated a

Raheny United Raheny United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Raheny, Dublin. Raheny United was founded in 1994 following the amalgamation of Raheny Boys and Dunseedy United. In 2017–18 their senior men's team compete in the Prem ...

team that included Niamh Reid Burke and

Olivia O'Toole Olivia Christina O'Toole (born 25 February 1971) is an Irish former association footballer who played as a forward. She made her debut for the Republic of Ireland national team in 1991 and captained the team before retiring in 2009. O'Toole's ...

. Fahey's

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

in the 75th minute gave the ''Galway Girls'' a 1–0 win. In 2008 Galway were FAI Women's Cup semi-finalists, losing 2–1 to Peamount United. In 2009 they were beaten 3–2 in the second round by St. Catherine's.

2008–09 UEFA Women's Cup

As a result of winning the 2007

, Galway qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland in the

. They were drawn in Group A9 along with

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Universitet Vitebsk Universitet Vitebsk is a Belarusian women's football club from Vitebsk (Vitsyebsk). The holder of the club is, like the name suggests, the local university. The club is most known for its women's team, that won the Belarusian Premier League several ...

and SFK Sarajevo. The competition format saw Galway travel to

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

in September 2008 to play in a mini-tournament to decide who would progress to the next round. With a squad that included

and

, Galway finished second after beating the pre-tournament favourites, Universitet Vitebsk.

Women's National League

In June 2013 the

Football Association of Ireland The Football Association of Ireland (FAI; ) is the governing body for association football in the Republic of Ireland. Organisation The FAI has an executive committee of five members under the president, who receive expenses, as well as a p ...

announced Galway 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 ...

for the upcoming 2013–14 Women's National League season.

Republic of Ireland women's national football team The Republic of Ireland women's national football team () represents the Republic of Ireland in competitions such as the FIFA Women's World Cup and the UEFA Women's Championship. The team played in their first World Cup at the 2023 FIFA Women' ...

manager Susan Ronan welcomed the addition of Galway for helping make the league more national. The 2013–14 Galway WNL squad included several veterans of the

campaign including Susie Cunningham, Melissa Casserly and Becky Walsh. Former

manager Don O'Riordan was appointed manager of the women's club in June 2014, replacing Nigel Keady who had overseen the first season.

Galway United

In September 2022 Galway WFC announced that it would "reluctantly" withdraw from the following season's Women's National League: "We hope that other individuals or entities will take up the mantle to continue the tradition of senior and underage women's football in Galway in 2023." The local

club

released a statement on 5 October 2022 confirming that they would take over the running of Galway's women's teams for 2023. Phil Trill, who had been Alan Murphy's assistant with Galway WFC in 2022, was appointed as the new head coach. He hoped to secure the bulk of the existing playing squad for the following season.

Notable players

women's internationals

Honours

**''Winners'': 2007: 1

References

External links

* *
WNL page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galway W.F.C.

Women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

Women's association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland Association football clubs in County Galway Association football clubs in Galway (city) Women's National League (Ireland) teams