Women’s World Cup: Denise O’Sullivan and Cork City honoured by FAI
Republic of Ireland women's players, who are current or former SSE Airtricity League of Ireland players, back row, from left, Chloe Mustaki, previously of Shelbourne; Áine O'Gorman, currently of Shamrock Rovers; Ciara Grant, previously of Shelbourne; Amber Barrett, previously of Peamount United; Jamie Finn, previously of Shelbourne; and Louise Quinn, previously of Peamount United; with, front row, Denise O'Sullivan, previously of Cork City; Abbie Larkin, currently of Shamrock Rovers; Izzy Atkinson, previously of Shelbourne; Heather Payne, previously of Peamount Untied; Katie McCabe, previously of Shelbourne; and Claire O'Riordan, previously of Wexford Youths, ahead of the start of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
THE Women’s Premier Division, formerly the Women’s National League, has laid the foundation of the Irish team that will compete at the World Cup this summer, and the FAI made sure to honour that.
12 players were gathered for a photoshoot that showed them in the jerseys of their first professional clubs, with Denise O’Sullivan wearing a Cork City FC jersey.
The midfielder played for them when they were Cork Women’s FC during the 2011-12 season.
O’Sullivan was just a teenager when the club played their first ever game, and Peamount United were the opposition at CIT; which is now MTU.
The Cork Women’s FC team boasted a number of Republic of Ireland internationals, a group that included Marie Curtin and Susan Donovan.
Valerie Mulcahy, who would win ten All-Ireland medals in Cork in ladies Gaelic football, was also a member of the squad.
O’Sullivan, alongside Emma Farmer, were named in the Team of the Season for their work with Cork Women FC that year.
They helped the club earn 20 points and that was enough for a third place finish, with Peamount United the first ever champions of the WNL.
The photoshoot that was done by the FAI in Australia and O’Sullivan, who is an Irish centurion, wore the current Cork City jersey.
The picture also included Amber Barrett, Chloe Mustaki, Katie McCabe, Aine O’Gorman, and Abbie Larkin.
There were twelve players in total and they represented Shelbourne, Peamount United, Shamrock Rovers, Wexford Youths, and Cork City.
The Hoops’ have O’Gorman and Larkin on their books, and they will become the first ever active League of Ireland players to feature at a World Cup this summer.
The caption of the image that was posted on Twitter was ‘The League that Takes You There’ and the slogan has been seen on a number of billboards across Cork city.
This was done between training sessions at the Irish team’s base in Brisbane.
The team are still acclimatising to the conditions as they flew out to Australia after their 3-0 defeat to France at Tallaght Stadium last Thursday.
The Girls in Green played in front of a sold out crowd and started well, but their plans were scuppered over an injury to captain McCabe.
Les Bleues scored twice at the end of the first half through Maëlle Lakrar and Eugénie Le Sommer got one from close range.
Lakrar wrapped up the win after the break, and the game wound down with both teams trying to save themselves for the World Cup.
Ireland have one game left to play before they take on Australia and that is a behind closed doors friendly with Colombia in Meakin Park.
That will be followed by the opening game of the World Cup, against Australia, with kick-off set for 11:00am (Irish time) on July 20th.
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