WHEN IT COMES to profiling young, up-and-coming sportspeople, it’s often easier to talk to those around them than the subject themselves.
They can be quiet and shy; understandably lacking in media experience and more often than not, confidence. Others may lean too far the other way.
Lia O’Leary strikes a perfect balance.
The Republic of Ireland and Shelbourne teenage star is a little nervous at first, but settles in nicely as she gets comfortable with her surroundings in a coffee shop around the corner from Tolka Park.
She offers expansive answers, helpful facts and colourful anecdotes, breaking away from the usual one-word responses and clichés, and comes across as a grounded, level-headed, pleasant kid.
Not only can the talented footballer walk the walk on the pitch, she can talk the talk off it.
As background information is confirmed, O’Leary points out: “I turned 16 just a few weeks ago. Apparently I’m Shels’ youngest female player. I’m the youngest in the squad this year, and apparently I’m the youngest-ever girl to play for Shels.
“But I don’t know.”
Now one of the youngest to score a senior goal for the Reds, there’s plenty she does know.
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Football couldn’t be avoided in the O’Leary household.
Lia’s father, Willie, was a very good player himself, lining out for Bohemians, for one, and later managing Portmarnock FC. Her mother, Gill, also played a bit, while her younger brother, Cian, is a rising star at Shelbourne too.
“Ever since I could walk… I was like two or three when I started kicking a ball around,” Kinsealy native O’Leary smiles.
“It was football and gymnastics for a while. I was doing gymnastics when I was very young as well, and then I joined Portmarnock Nippers Academy and went from there.”
Also a talented athlete — she still runs with school, competing across 1500m, 800m and 200m in the days surrounding our meeting — it was a natural gravitation towards focusing on the beautiful game. That’s where the real enjoyment lay.
She has clearly benefited hugely from the crossover of sports, as well as playing with boys for a good chunk of her younger years. O’Leary spent most of her early underage days with the boys, and at 11 or 12, made the move to Shels.
Long before that, though, herself and Cian, who’s 13 and also represents the Reds at League of Ireland level, grew up playing together.
“The rivalry is really good,” she grins. “It’s good to have someone to train with as well – especially in the lockdowns, we did a lot together, which I think, stood to us.
“Football is just huge in our house, there’s always a match on the TV. Myself and my brother are Liverpool fans, my Dad is a West Ham fan because apparently it was the first match he saw in colour and they were playing, but he’s a Liverpool fan as well. He says he supports them for us, but they’re better to watch!”
“My parents do a lot of hard work behind the scenes, bringing us everywhere,” she later adds. “They’re both obviously on the road all the time and we both really appreciate that.”
Another special mention must also go to the family’s dog, a spoiled Cavachon named Bailey.
O’Leary, a Transition Year student at Portmarnock Community School, is predominantly a winger; her lightning speed and goal-scoring ability, in particular, catching the eye.
What a moment for 16-year-old Lia O’Leary and her first goal for the Reds! https://t.co/IOxE85M56Z
— Shelbourne FC (@shelsfc) May 28, 2022
She’s done it on the biggest stages for the Ireland U16 and U17s in recent weeks and months, and likewise, in this, her debut Women’s National League [WNL] season.
It has been a whirlwind so far, but this is only the beginning.
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“Playing for Ireland and wearing the jersey is just unbelievable,” O’Leary beams. “It’s so cool. Scoring is just a bonus in itself. There’s no better feeling than scoring a goal, in general, but then for Ireland, it means more. It’s unreal. The feeling of your team-mates supporting you as well is just great.”
What must have scoring her first hat-trick for her country been like last month? It came in the U16s’ 8-0 win over hosts Malta at a Uefa Development Tournament, the perfect way to round off her involvement at that grade.
Everyone was so happy for her, she recalls, and that made it even better. She’s now the proud owner of the match ball, signed by everyone involved, and it takes pride of place in her bedroom.
She remembers attending women’s games in Tallaght Stadium and men’s ones in the Aviva; meeting the players and being drawn to their affinity with, and appreciation for, the fans. But she never envisaged being in the position she finds herself in now.
“When I was younger, I went to watch loads of Ireland matches and stuff but I never actually thought I’d be wearing an Ireland jersey and I think that makes it even better, that I never expected any of this… and I take nothing for granted.
“Getting the first call for Ireland was just unreal. You just have to keep working harder now to get back into squads over the years. It’s unreal. From where I was to now is just unbelievable, and I’ll never forget that.”
That first call-up arrived just last July; to Tom Elmes’ U16s for a double-header against England. The Covid-19 pandemic robbed her of her U15 schoolgirls’ experience, but she was then fast-tracked onto the green shoots’ conveyor belt.
Playing a year above her age grade, she excelled and soon found her feet in international football. But the rug was suddenly pulled from under her. A broken collarbone sidelined O’Leary for “the longest eight weeks of my life”. She can poke fun at the misfortune now.
“I had to get an ambulance with Ciara Grant to the hospital,” she laughs. “That was just a minor setback, I believe that helped me, I was hungrier coming back in.”
Now with the U17s, she hit the ground running, and scored her first international goal in her first game back. It arrived in a 3-1 friendly defeat to Portugal last September, with more significant results and goals following.
Shels’ Lia O’Leary has Ireland U17s 1-0 up against Norway! #RedsTogether | #DublinsFinest
— Shelbourne FC (@shelsfc) October 15, 2021
pic.twitter.com/XlPKDa5DNd
A clean sweep of wins over Bulgaria, Hungary and then Norway — “just unreal,” O’Leary recalls, “that day itself was so good” — saw Ireland top their first-round qualifying group in their bid to reach this summer’s U17 European Championships.
James Scott’s side certainly rode the crest of a wave and hit impressive heights, but their qualification dream fell agonisingly short in the Elite Round on these shores in March.
They bowed out after defeats to Iceland and Finland, and a draw with Slovakia; the disappointment still lingering for O’Leary and co..
“It just didn’t go our way,” she frowns. “But it was a great experience as well. Just playing in Tallaght itself was unbelievable. It’s obviously where the senior team play, and good crowds came in to support us. I think the whole year itself was a really successful year, and a really good learning year for all of us.
“Seven of us are still eligible next year, so I think we’ll bring what we learned this year to try step it up next year and get to the Euros finals.”
Always about the team, and the team behind the team, never just about her, O’Leary has a word for each and every one of the coaches involved in each set-up. Particularly for U16 coach Megan Smyth Lynch, also a team-mate at Shelbourne.
She strikes you as a dream to coach; hungry to learn and grow, absorbing each and every nugget of information out there like a sponge. It’s clear she thrives in the international environment, with herself and some of her underage team-mates invited up to Vera Pauw’s home-based training sessions.
“It’s just an unbelievable insight into what it’s like when you get up there,” she notes.
“Everyone’s so talented so I think that pushes me to be better as well. It’s really good challenging myself every week in training and stuff. The home-based sessions, seeing how Vera runs things is really cool to see. Every coach is different.
“It’s a great experience. It’s just great being in that and on the radar for something that big. And it shows the pathway is there too.”
She can count herself lucky. It pretty much always has been.
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O’Leary made her Shelbourne senior debut in the final minutes of the Reds’ 1-0 defeat at DLR Waves in April. The nod from Noel King was unexpected, the game in the melting pot and the clock running down.
“I was very nervous coming on, but once I was on, I was fine. I was really excited,” she smiles. A good first touch, do the simple things right and settle in. She hasn’t looked back since, her minutes building slowly but surely and the goals starting to come.
She juggles senior duty with U19s, part of a group that came up through the ranks together, making the step-up from the Academy to training with the WNL side aged just 14.
“Obviously it was very nerve-wracking going in. The older girls were really welcoming, but having the younger girls there as well and having our own group is really good. It makes you even more comfortable going in, that you’re not the only young person going in.
“At the start, obviously, it’s very intense coming up. There’s a big step-up, but the more you train with them, the easier it gets, and the more confidence you gain, the easier it gets as well. It’s difficult at the start but once you get going, it’s absolutely fine. You get more confident, and the girls are so supportive as well.
“They’re so encouraging on and off the pitch, and having the experienced players on the team is amazing because they help guide you through matches.”
She can’t say enough good things about the Tolka Park outfit, and about King and his staff. “Noel always gives the younger players a chance, which I really like,” she notes at one point. “He has a lot of faith in us. When a coach has faith in you like that, it gives you a confidence boost.”
Shels, in general, has done that for her through the years, the togetherness at the club evident from the outside looking in, and the rewards being reaped of the strong underage structures.
“It’s going in a really good direction at the moment,” O’Leary nods. “I think the goal for all the coaches is to get everyone developing and enjoying it, and when you see girls come off the pitch with a smile on their face, you know you’re doing something right.
“They’re all enjoying it. It’s really good. Last week, I had a load of the girls come up to me and I was like… it’s amazing to see that you can be a role model for someone, a younger girl like that.
“It’s mad. It’s obviously brilliant that they think of me as a role model like that. Against Treaty, my former club, Portmarnock girls came up to watch us play. It’s really nice to see, and I think it’s mad…
“I was only there a few years ago I was like that with Rachel [Graham], Pearl [Slattery] and Noelle [Murray], so playing with them now is just unbelievable.”
Katie McCabe. Stephanie Roche. Megan Smyth Lynch.
They all get a mention in that regard. The latter in particular. “Megan’s probably one of my biggest role models. It’s really cool to see how you can do both, playing and coaching. She’s so nice and approachable, and she’s helped me with a lot.”
Speaking of Ireland captain McCabe, the pair’s careers are already starting to intertwine ever so slightly.
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Touch with the right, finish with the left. Quality.
O’Leary’s first Shelbourne goal last weekend wrapped up a 4-0 win over Cork City at Turner’s Cross, as the reigning champions extended their lead at the top of the table.
She joined McCabe as one of the youngest goal-scorers in WNL history; the duo, and O’Leary’s close friend and team-mate Joy Ralph, all rattling the net aged just 16.
McCabe was in the exact same position a few short years back, the former Shelbourne left winger now one of the top players after a remarkable rise at Arsenal.
O’Leary watches her and the other Irish players week on week in the Women’s Super League and further afield, rhyming them and their overseas clubs all off.
“It’s really good to see the pathway, you can go anywhere,” she notes. “Women’s football is getting bigger now – the crowds are starting to get bigger at women’s games, and it can only get better, I think.
“The pathway is definitely there. Seeing all the players at Shels that were your team-mates going over, it’s just unbelievable to see them step up over there.”
The good feeling around Irish women’s football, in general, is palpable at the minute.
And O’Leary is honoured to be part of it all.
“We were actually in Malta when the Sweden game was on,” she smiles. “We watched the whole game, seeing that result was just unbelievable. Sweden are one of the top nations in the world, so the fact that Ireland got such a good result just shows that we’re getting better and better.
“The squad is really talented, that result was amazing, and just Ireland, as a country, it shows we’re getting better and better.”
She won’t shy away from her own ambitions, either.
“My main goal is to go professional, and I’d love to play in the Super League in England and study over there as well. I don’t like to stress too much about that yet, I just take it as it comes. The main goal is to go professional one day. Seeing how far Katie McCabe and all has gotten, that’s quite inspiring as well.”
O’Leary certainly won’t get too carried away just yet though. She’s well aware of how important education is, and is determined to balance her football with school and studies.
Understandably, she missed quite a lot of school this year through international duty, but study time in camp kept her up to date. The fact that she’s in Transition Year also helps.
Her week is Shelbourne training Monday, Wednesday, Friday; games at the weekend; and DBSports — a full-time football academy with links to overseas clubs and “a really good insight into what it’s like to go professional” — on a Tuesday, with her own additional work in between. It’s all go.
“Planning’s very important,” she nods, “to plan my week and where I can fit in different things. I don’t like to delay things, I like to get my [school] work done so it’s not hanging over me. Obviously that’s hard as well with training, but I just try to get a good balance with both.”
Football will take centre stage through the summer, as the WNL title race heats up.
Shelbourne are well in control at the top, despite more and more teams coming into the mix as the league moves away from the traditional two- or three-horse race.
“The league is so strong now and so competitive,” O’Leary nods. “Just being around the squad every week is really exciting; watching the games, playing in the games, it’s just unbelievable.
“We don’t take anything for granted. Every match is big in the Women’s National League, and it makes it so much more exciting for the title race, and just playing. It’s really, really good.”
A big, big summer lies ahead, so, for O’Leary and co..
She’ll keep the head down and work hard, that’s for sure.
Above all else, though, Lia O’Leary will enjoy the journey.
