Ballincollig’s Éabha O'Mahony 'could not have have asked for a better home' than Shelbourne
Shelbourne's Éabha O'Mahony knocks the ball past Cork City's Ciara McNamara during the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier league game at Turner's Cross. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Tolka Park might not be the most natural of habitats for a Cork soccer player, but to Éabha O'Mahony it is home.
The defender joined Shelbourne at the start of the year after a spell in the United States while she was in college, and now the Ballincollig native is fighting for silverware on multiple fronts in one of the most storied teams in Irish women’s football.
“There’s really nice girls and there’s a great team – I couldn’t have asked for a better team environment so I’m happy out,” O’Mahony said about the move.
The Republic of Ireland international has slowly been making a name for herself after coming through at Cork City and moving to the United States to play for Boston College Eagles and Texas Longhorns.
“It is different if you go to one of the top dogs so at Texas we came 16th in the country last year,” she talked about the system in America.
“We had two games a week last year. How it would work is that we would have two games a week, a Thursday and Sunday game.
"There would be a few weeks were we would have one game a week. Our training load would be much lighter due to the amount of volume of our games.
“We had the best strength and conditioning coaches and physios there. The best medical equipment was there to monitor our load and we had the Catapult GPS sport bras so that also helped monitor our load.
"So I think that it has definitely progressed in terms of technology and stuff over the last few years.
This primed O’Mahony for a big move, and that led to a transfer to Shelbourne, who are desperate to get back to winning ways in the Women’s Premier Division after a push for a hat-trick of titles was ended by Peamount United last season.
Eoin Wearen was brought in and tasked with taking back the throne, and he is working with a stacked squad that includes various Republic of Ireland senior and underage internationals, as well as multiple serial winners in the Women’s Premier Division.
O’Mahony is in the middle of all of this and the defender is thriving in the environment created by the coach at Tolka Park.
“Even taking to the likes of Jess (Gargan) and Pearl (Slattery) they have so much knowledge and good advice to give,” she said.
"We could put on two starting XIs and they would be as good as each other. I think that is really good for Eoin because he knows his starting XI is no reflection on who is playing well and who is not.
"It is the way the game is going. He can have so much trust in his bench. It is a stacked team which is good, but it is only good if you can get the results at the end of the day.”
What matters is winning the league and returning Shelbourne to the top of the Irish domestic game. There’s hurt in that dressing room after they were denied a double-double last season, with Athlone Town beating them in the Women’s FAI Cup final.
The team from the midlands used that as a springboard to challenge for the league this year, and Shelbourne are being pushed to their limits in the race to bring home the trophy in November.
O’Mahony has to deal with the pressure that the challenge brings, while also lining out in two domestic cup competitions.
“It’s kind of nice to have that pressure – the worse kind of pressure is that you have to win a game because you haven’t won all season,” she said.
“It is nice to be the big dog and to go into games and know that all this team wants to do is beat us because it gives you a sense of pride.
"And the fans in the club are phenomenal anyway. There’s a big sense of loyalty to the club and you really do want to die for the crest on the front which is really nice.
"I don’t think I’ve experienced that before. It is really nice.
"Again, pressure is there but it is what we want to do and we are happy out with it.”
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