The English Women’s Super League season is poised to kick off this weekend. The first match will see reigning champions Chelsea squaring off against Aston Villa on Friday evening. Following their summer holiday, Eileen Gleeson, the coach for the foreign-based Republic of Ireland players, will see her full squad return to competitive play. As the Euro 2025 play-off games against Georgia approach, Gleeson is fervently hoping that the players remain healthy and achieve substantial game-time.
Amid rumours of potential transfers for several integral players, including Katie McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan over the summer, it transpired that only three out of the 30 players that Gleeson has selected have actually started the season with new clubs. These players are Megan Connolly who has moved from Bristol City to Lazio, Jessie Stapleton who has been loaned from West Ham to Sunderland and Erin McLaughlin transferred from Peamount United to Portsmouth.
McCabe was earlier marked by Chelsea for a transfer, while rumours speculated that O’Sullivan was coveted by Manchester United as her contract with North Carolina Courage neared its end. However, McCabe is now set to spend nearly ten years at Arsenal as she decided against a move, while O’Sullivan committed to a fresh two-year contract with Courage, an agreement that saw her become the team’s top earner.
Three of Gleeson’s Merseyside players, which includes Everton’s Courtney Brosnan along with Niamh Fahey and Leanne Kiernan from Liverpool, have had their contracts renewed without any hitches.
However, the summer brought mixed fortunes for West Ham’s Jess Ziu. In June, she sealed a new contract with her club. Tragically, in August, a preseason friendly resulted in her suffering her second anterior cruciate ligament injury in under two years. This marked a tough setback for the 22-year-old Dubliner, who was just finding her stride in Gleeson’s team by playing in the previous four games.
Ziu may not make an appearance in the upcoming season, yet she forms part of the 15 players from the Republic of Ireland who are currently employed by WSL clubs. This is an increase from the beginning of the previous season. The count did momentarily reach 15 when Ireland secured Anna Patten from Aston Villa and Manchester City signed Tara O’Hanlon, a young player from Peamount. However, the count reduced again when Megan Campbell shifted from Everton to London City Lionesses and Stapleton moved to Reading on loan.
Following the demotion of Bristol City, Connolly found a fresh journey in Serie A when Chloe Mustaki was still recuperating from her latest injuries in the previous season. In contrast, the promotion of Crystal Palace from the Championship ushered Hayley Nolan, Izzy Atkinson, and Abbie Larkin into the WSL. After having played for West Ham in the top flight, Atkinson made a return following her move to London earlier in the year.
Despite the three players admiring the club’s ambition when it signed 10 players over the summer, which included eight international seniors, they may question the effects of these changes on their game time in the new season. With some luck, they will have as important roles as they did in their previous successful campaign, with Nolan having played every moment of every match in her eager hopes to gain more senior caps.
However, there is a typical concern: being a WSL club player is great, but not if you’re routinely benched or, worse, not picked for the squad. Being overlooked could adversely impact your international chances. Therefore, the decisions of McLaughlin to Portsmouth and Ellen Molloy to Sheffield United, both Championship teams, during the summer, may have raised a few brows. After all, they are held in high esteem. But they can expect guaranteed playtime in the first team and then potentially progress to more prestigious clubs.
Struggling to secure playing opportunities at Manchester City are teenagers O’Hanlon and Eve O’Carroll, as they are part of a team featuring many of women’s football’s biggest stars. O’Carroll, an under-17 player, at least managed to appear on City’s bench during Wednesday’s Champions League encounter with Paris FC. Meanwhile, O’Hanlon, who was introduced to senior football by Vera Pauw in 2023, is being gradually reintroduced to active play by the club following a hamstring injure suffered last year.
On another note, Saoirse Noonan has made an outstanding start at Celtic following her transfer from Durham, with her three-goal performance against Finland’s KuPS in their Champions League qualifying match being a particular highlight.
Keep an eye on Standard Liege – they’ve acquired three Irish players to their roster, with Aoife Colvill relocating from Glasgow City over the summer to join forces with Amber Barrett and Claire O’Riordan.
In addition, there is a significant Irish presence in the English Championship and Scotland, as well as overseas players like Connolly in Italy, Diane Caldwell in Switzerland, and the US-based O’Sullivan, Kyra Carusa, Marissa Sheva and Emily Murphy. Gathering information on all these players will certainly earn Gleeson a significant amount of air miles.
Irish players in the WSL include Katie McCabe from Arsenal, Anna Patten from Aston Villa and Crystal Palace’s trio of Hayley Nolan, Izzy Atkinson and Abbie Larkin. There are also Courtney Brosnan and Heather Payne of Everton, Niamh Fahey and Leanne Kiernan from Liverpool, Aoife Mannion from Manchester United, and from Manchester City, Tara O’Hanlon and Eve O’Carroll. West Ham’s roster features Jess Ziu, Megan Walsh and Jessie Stapleton who is currently on loan at Sunderland.