Sara Lawlor (born 11 November 1987) is an Irish international

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 played for Peamount United of the Women's National League (WNL). She made her debut for the

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' ...

in February 2012. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, Lawlor was the WNL Player of the Season in both 2011–12 and 2012–13.

Club career

Lawlor played her first match for Peamount United in January 2000 and featured in the club's

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 ...

final defeat by

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 ...

in 2005. She remained with the club for the inaugural 2011–12 Women's National League season, helping Peamount United win the title. She contributed 15 goals to Peamount's success, formed a "devastating" striking partnership with

Stephanie Roche Stephanie Zambra (; born 13 June 1989) is an Irish retired footballer who played 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) ...

and was named Player of the Year at the inaugural end of season awards ceremony. In

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Peamount lost their league title to

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 ...

but the campaign was a personal triumph for Lawlor. The top goalscorer with 28 goals, she won a second consecutive Player of the Year award.

International career

At the girls' football tournament at the 2003

European Youth Olympic Festival The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) is a biennial multi-sport event for youth (14 to 18 years old) athletes from the 50 member countries of the association of European Olympic Committees. The festival has a summer edition, held for the fi ...

, Lawlor scored in the third place play-off shootout as Ireland beat

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on penalties after a 1–1 draw at

Stade Sébastien Charléty Stade Sébastien-Charléty (; ), also known as Stade Charléty or Charléty, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, France. Comprising a running track and a football field, the stadium is a 20,000-seat stat ...

in Paris. Lawlor was one of three nominees for the 2005 Under-19 Women's International Player of the Year, won by

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 ...

. After noting her impressive form in the nascent Women's National League, national team coach Susan Ronan called Lawlor up to the senior

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. ...

squad for the first time ahead of the

2012 Algarve Cup The 2012 Algarve Cup was the nineteenth edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational Women's association football, women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It began on 29 February and ended on 7 March 2012. Format The twelve invited ...

. Lawlor made her debut in Ireland's opening match at the tournament, a 1–0 defeat by

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. She also represented Ireland at the

2013 Summer Universiade The 2013 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXVII Summer Universiade (; ), was held in the city of Kazan, Russia, the most northerly city ever to host a Summer Universiade. Over 10,400 university athletes from 162 countries participated ...

in July. In October 2013, Lawlor withdrew from the national squad with a knee injury.

References

External links

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Sara Lawlor
at

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 ...

(FAI) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawlor, Sara 1987 births Living people Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers Association footballers from Dublin (city) Peamount United F.C. players League of Ireland Women's Premier Division players Quinnipiac Bobcats women's soccer players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Republic of Ireland expatriate women's association footballers Irish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Dublin Women's Soccer League players Women's association football forwards Republic of Ireland women's youth international footballers 21st-century Irish sportswomen