Jessica Gleeson (born 23 October 1993) is an Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a defender for Women's National League club

DLR Waves Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown Waves, also referred to as DLR Waves, is a women-only Irish association football club based in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. It was originally founded in 2012. DLR Waves field several teams; the senior League of Ireland t ...

. She previously played for Wexford Youths and Shelbourne. Since making her debut in 2015 she has been a member of the Republic of Ireland women's national team. Her younger brother Austin Gleeson has represented the

Waterford county hurling team The Waterford county hurling team represents County Waterford, Waterford in hurling and is governed by Waterford GAA, the County board (Gaelic games), county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual ...

Club career

Gleeson was born 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 ...

and played youth soccer for local clubs Villa AFC and Tramore AFC. She joined Wexford Youths for the inaugural Women's National League (WNL) season in 2011–12. In 2014–15 Wexford Youths won the WNL for the first time, and Gleeson represented the club in the

2015–16 UEFA Women's Champions League The 2015–16 UEFA Women's Champions League was the 15th edition of the European women's club football championship organised by UEFA, and the 7th edition since being rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League. The final was played at the Ma ...

. Ahead of the 2018 WNL season, Gleeson accepted an offer to join Wexford Youths' WNL rivals Shelbourne FC. She had considered moving a year earlier, but decided to spend one more season at Wexford out of loyalty to the team's coach. Gleeson considered quitting soccer in favour of

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 ...

after losing her place in the Shelbourne team during the 2020 season, but she was persuaded to join

instead. Gleeson made her DLR Waves debut at the beginning of the 2021 Women's National League season. Following a successful first year at the club she was appointed club captain ahead of the 2022 season. As of 2024 she is still with DLR Waves and remains the club captain.

International career

Youth

In 2010, Gleeson was a key player in the Republic of Ireland U-17 squad who were runners-up in the

2010 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The 2010 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship football tournament took place between 8 April and 26 June. Germany was the defending champion. Spain won the final on penalties 4–1 against the Republic of Ireland. Spain, Ireland and third placed Ger ...

and quarter-finalists in the

2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup women's football tournament was the second such tournament, and was held in Trinidad and Tobago from 5 to 25 September 2010. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all six confederations, took part in ...

. While enrolled at

Waterford Institute of Technology The Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT; ) was an Institutes of technology in the Republic of Ireland, institute of technology, located in Waterford, Ireland. The institute had six constituent schools and offered programmes in business, engi ...

, Gleeson represented Ireland at the

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Summer Universiades.

Senior

Gleeson received her first Republic of Ireland national team call-up for the 2013 Cyprus Cup. In May 2015, Gleeson was called up to the senior national team again for a friendly in 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 ...

. After the match had been arranged, it was discovered to be outside FIFA's designated dates for international matches, so several of Ireland's first-choice players were not released by their clubs. Gleeson started Ireland's 3–0 defeat to win a debut

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

, but was

substituted Substitution may refer to: Arts and media *Substitution (poetry), a variation in poetic scansion *Substitution (theatre), an acting methodology Music *Chord substitution, swapping one chord for a related one within a chord progression *Tritone ...

at half time after being concussed by

Abby Wambach Mary Abigail Wambach (born June 2, 1980) is an American retired Association football, soccer player, coach, and member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. A six-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award, Wambach was a regular on ...

. Eight months later Gleeson collected a second cap, making a substitute appearance in another friendly defeat by the United States in San Diego. She retained her place in the squad for the 2016 Cyprus Cup and played in the opening 2–0 defeat by

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 ...

, before succumbing to a foot injury which ruled her out of the remaining fixtures. On 12 April 2016 she made a competitive appearance as a 68th-minute substitute for

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 ...

in Ireland's 3–0

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying The UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying competition was a women's football competition that determined the 15 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Netherlands in the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 final tournament. A total of 46 UEFA member nat ...

defeat by

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

La Ciudad del Fútbol () is a football training facility opened in 2003, serving as the headquarters of the Royal Spanish Football Federation as well as the official training centre of the Spanish football team. It is located in the municipality of Las Rozas de Madr ...

Las Rozas de Madrid Las Rozas de Madrid (, or simply, Las Rozas ) is a municipality in the autonomous community of Madrid, Spain, with an area of 59 km² (22¾ sq. mi.). The municipality is served by three Renfe railway stations– Las Rozas, Pinar de Las ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gleeson, Jessica 1993 births Living people Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Women's association football defenders League of Ireland Women's Premier Division players Wexford Youths W.F.C. players DLR Waves players Shelbourne F.C. (women) players Republic of Ireland women's international footballers Association footballers from County Waterford Alumni of Waterford Institute of Technology Association footballers from Waterford (city) Republic of Ireland women's youth international footballers 21st-century Irish sportswomen