AS Ireland battled with Covid-19 in 2020, Waterford began their plan to break down a barrier and join the women’s game.
And that will become a reality today when the Blues play their first home game at the RSC in the Women’s Premier Division against Shelbourne.
Gary Hunt’s outfit lost 2-0 on their debut last week against Treaty United — but he acknowledged the club have ambitions to develop fast.
He told SunSport: “Expectations are low on the outside but we have expectations within the group.
“I worked with Wexford Youths women about ten years ago in the women’s game and have been with my local club Tramore.
“But when this job came up, what appealed to me is that you could see things were being done right.”
And that all started in late 2020 when the Blues decided that they would look to enter a women’s team in the Premier Division this year.
Blues academy manager Mike Geoghegan said: “We had a five-year plan for women’s senior football.
“We went into the Under-17s in 2021 and gave it two years there, went to Under-19s in 2023 and the plan is progressing properly.
“We always knew that we’d have to develop locally and bring the girls with us. That was the only way to do it.
“We are based in the SETU Arena and the point was to have equality, bring that into the club, bring that into the academy. We didn’t want to be a boys-only academy.
“We wanted to offer opportunities for young players.”
A presentation was made to the FAI in December 2020, with the club accepted into the Under-17 league the following March.
Their first game was played in June 2021 — and their pitch for inclusion was obvious.
Geoghegan points out: “We have a population catchment area of 500,000 within an hour and ten minutes of our training base.”
With Wexford an hour away and Cork City and Cobh Ramblers close to two hours away, it was also an area underserved by top-level women’s football.
Progress has been made too with their Under-17s finishing second last term while the Under-19s reached the Shield semi-final.
And the new first team gives all those in the academy a point to aim at.
Geoghegan added: “I wouldn’t have seen a point of doing Under-17s and 19s if there wasn’t a senior team.
“I’m not being smart but why are you bringing in a better standard of football if you’re going to tell them to then go back to grassroots as adults.
“They deserve the same opportunities as the lads.”
ANOTHER GOAL
The reality is that the pathway from girls’ academy football to senior football is currently a more well-trodden path than from the boys’ academies into top-flight teams.
That is also evident at the Blues where Hunt’s first squad included 13 who had come through the academy.
And Hunt pointed out how the team were already inspiring others even before today’s clash with FAI Cup holders Shelbourne.
He said: “What we are doing on the ground and in the community, we’re going into schools . . .
“We went to the first school and got calls from five or six schools the next day asking can we get the girls down.
“There is an appetite for female role models in young girls. I think for us, it will definitely have a knock-on effect.
“A lot of the schools we went to have tickets and they will be there.
“That part of it is huge in the long-term.
“It’s about trying to inspire them to play, improve and hopefully come to our academy and become first-team players.”
