THE EVENINGS ARE closing in, the temperatures are dropping, but Peamount United’s Greenogue base is a hive of activity as winter makes its presence felt.
Located near the village of Newcastle and the Dublin-Kildare border, PRL Park teeters on the edge of a huge, grey industrial estate, built around the Baldonnel military airbase.
The various streets and lanes en route are like a maze on a dark, cold Monday night, with little sign of life.
Suddenly, there’s an abundance of it.
Hustle and bustle as parents drop enthusiastic kids off to training, their vehicles lining College Road as the carpark overflows. They jump out at the clubhouse, a cream two-story building complete with PEAMOUNT UNITED FC. 1983, and hurry down the underground tunnel, allowing them to safely get to the fenced-off pitches across the road.
Inside the clubhouse, the excitement and buzz is palpable.
This isn’t just any week at Peamount.
Preparations are in full flow for Saturday, when their marquee women’s team will lift the 2023 SSE Airtricity League Women’s Premier Division title they secured with a win over Wexford Youths last month.
“It’s a great day for Peamount, a great day for the underdog and a great day for women’s football,” long-time manager James O’Callaghan declared on 16 October.
Three weeks later, O’Callaghan cuts an extremely satisfied figure as he saunters up and down the clubhouse hallway. There’s dressing rooms on either side, with various players’ Ireland jerseys hanging on the walls, and a gym down the end. That room is in full use, with disagreements over music selections filtering into the corridor.
The most successful manager in the history of the women’s league with three titles (2019, 2020, 2023), O’Callaghan gives The 42 a warm welcome and shows his appreciation to all present at the media night.
It’s just before 7pm, with a pitch training session scheduled for 8pm. Karen Duggan, Erin McLaughlin, Lauryn O’Callaghan and Ellen Dolan are up for interview, but plenty of their team-mates are coming and going.
O’Callaghan and his staff greet them all one-by-one, with room for laughter and joking.
Duggan arrives with Avril Brierly, two of the ‘Terenure Crew,’ and within a few minutes, we’re shooting the breeze in one of the dressing rooms.
***
It’s far from the glamourous RTÉ studio Duggan has grown accustomed to for media duties, but she’s more comfortable than ever in these familiar surroundings.
Open, forthcoming and searingly honest, the skipper and former Ireland international gives a typically brilliant interview.
A huge amount of ground is covered throughout our 20 minutes; her love for Peamount and pride in her team shining through with each and every word she utters.
“I’ve aged significantly throughout the season,” she laughs. “But it was all worth it once the final whistle went in Wexford.
“We had to work so, so hard for this. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears — a lot of tears mostly — along the way.
“It was the most stressful year I’ve ever been involved in because of everything that’s gone on and the pressures that that’s brought now becoming a pro league. Obviously, for a club like us, it’s not the easiest to survive, never mind win. That has made it extra special for us.”
Only two teams in the 11-strong Women’s Premier Division are not affiliated with a League of Ireland men’s side: Peamount and DLR Waves. While pressure has mounted from higher-ups, Peamount refuse to bow.
Shamrock Rovers, in particular, ruffled some feathers with their much-vaunted return this season. Áine O’Gorman and Stephanie Roche were among a cohort of players who swapped Greenogue for Tallaght Stadium, and there were no shortage of other stumbling blocks as Peamount were doubted amidst a rocky off-season.
But they ultimately held firm and continue to lead the way in Irish women’s football.
“We’re very lucky with all that work goes in in the background, because that’s what has sustained Peamount throughout the last number of years,” Duggan explains.
“The work that’s gone in at underage [level] has always been there since I joined 12 or 13 years ago. That’s always been a hallmark of Peamount United, the focus that it puts on women’s football.”
What about the player departures and all of the outside noise, though? “There was more made of it because of the names that were involved, but this is something we’ve become very used to.
“It’s always been our top players who leave and that’s the way it works. So maybe the move towards a more professional league is a good thing. We obviously found it difficult. We felt like we needed more time before that was put upon the club. But at the end of the day, maybe it just protects the club, in a way, going forward.
“Just think of the names in the last few years: Claire Walsh, Niamh Farrelly, Eleanor Ryan Doyle, Amber Barrett… you can keep naming these people who played for Peamount and now have gone on to do amazing things internationally and in their respective professional clubs. We have to look at that as a positive thing, and we’re very proud of everyone who does that.
“There’s never any ill-feeling… and there wasn’t any ill-feeling towards any girl who left at the start of the season. That’s just football. What it meant was that we had to rebuild a little bit. We became an underdog, which we loved, to be honest. We thrived off it. There was potential that we could crumble, but we went the opposite way.”
“I know everyone says it, but we legitimately have a very tight group here,” the Kilkenny native adds.
“And this is something I’ve always felt at Peamount: everyone has each others’ backs on the pitch, but more so if I ever had a problem off the pitch, there’s people in the club I can turn to. Barbara [Ryan], who has been the kit woman for forever, she’s like our Mam.
“People like that, they’re the reason why a lot of people stayed as well. People talk about the girls that leave, but there was a lot of girls who were contacted by other clubs and chose to stay here, and that’s because of the atmosphere and the care that we’re given off the pitch.”
In an interview with Off The Ball this week, O’Callaghan said he “must have had 200 coffees last November and December trying to get people to stay”.
Presumably, Erin McLaughlin was one of his many targets.
The rising Ireland international has enjoyed a breakthrough 2023, but it all could have unfolded elsewhere.
“I did definitely have a few offers and a few chats here and there,” the Donegal attacker explains in the next dressing room, “but my mind never went off Peamount. Having conversations with people at home, my family and stuff, the advice they gave me is play where you’re happiest. I think that was always gonna be Peamount for me in the end.”
“I came down here last season because I started college in Maynooth,” she adds, after her belated first day of teaching placement — international duty called — in her third year of primary school education.
“Peamount has always been a club that I wanted to play for. You see them on TV, you see them on social media, they’re always top of the women’s game so I think anybody coming down to Dublin to look for a football team, Peamount was always going to be one of their first choices.
“I loved every minute of last year, and coming into this season, I just knew I wanted to play here. It felt like home and being part of this group has been so special.”
That’s something each of the four players speak glowingly about, and you can honestly feel it at the club.
For Lauryn O’Callaghan, that care and family-feel is what separates Peamount from the rest.
And it has elevated to another level this season.
“I was watching a video with Ronan O’Gara actually a few months ago,” she recalls. “He spoke about the people in a team: if you don’t have people around that care about you, the team won’t go anywhere. And I think that really encompasses who we are this season.
“You can have all the coaches, you can have the best tactics, but if you don’t care about the person that’s playing next to you, you’re not going to want to run back for them, you’re not going to want to attack for them and you’re not going to want to play for the team.
“To come across another captain like Karen would be very rare because she’s completely selfless. The belief and trust that we all had in Karen was so effortless, it just came very naturally. And the same with her, she cares about us all so much. And that’s something, in my experience, that I haven’t really experienced in any other season with a captain.
“I think that really helped us this year. Same with the management, the backroom staff, everybody; the effort that they put in was amazing.”
“That care was a big difference,” she adds. “That genuine belief that we will win it. The belief that you have in the players around you in the dressing room, that they’re working so hard for you, there’s no fakeness to it. It was so raw and real. All of our values, all of our work ethic was completely in sync from the start of the season.”
Lauryn is James’ daughter. She’s spoken about that dynamic time and time again in the past but reiterates that “it’s fine, it’s very normal”. She jokes that The 42 should ask her mother about football chat inevitably overspilling into home life, but insists it’s all good.
“This year winning the league, it’s a different kind of feeling when you have your Dad there when things are going well,” she smiles. “When things are not going well, it’s not great.
“But I’m really proud of him this year because a lot of people wrote him off at the start of this season and he could have… it was easy for him to leave, I’m delighted for him.”
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The foundations were built in pre-season.
Pre-pre- season even, with running programmes sent out and plans in place to be fitter, faster and stronger than before.
“Our pre-season was the best ever,” full-back O’Callaghan stresses.
“We were running hills in Phoenix Park, we were doing 1k tests, the training intensity was really high. I’m not just saying that because we won, ask any of the girls. I remember us looking at each other being like, ‘This is really good.’ It wasn’t like that before.
“When you have time to reflect, you only realise how strong our mindset was before the season started. There’s a lot of external factors that could have easily influenced us in a negative way with the media, with players leaving, with new teams coming into league. People underestimate how strong our collective mindset was at that time. We had our own internal bubble where we just focused internally together, and maintained that every week.”
Yet still, uncertainty reigned for Duggan early on.
“I know we said before the season, ‘We still want to challenge, we want to do this, that and the other,’ but because there was so much of a transition, wanting it and knowing if it could be achieved were two very different things.”
They kept their heads down and upped the number of sessions per week.
The commitment was next level.
Resilience and heart. Blood, sweat and tears, as Duggan said.
“I’m sure Karen feels the most relieved out of all of us,” McLaughlin laughs when that’s put to her.
“I think she deserves that because the effort and commitment that she’s put into this team always, but especially this year has just been next to none, and to have her as captain has just been unreal.
“All the drama of pre-season and everything going on; people writing us off; coming in as underdogs; the injuries we had; losing Kate Mooney to Lewes… when you take everything into consideration and you look at how hard we worked for it, it’s just unreal that we actually crossed the line in the end.”
They didn’t have to look far for motivation, that’s for sure.
Not just the present doubts, but past failures. Scars of 2021, in particular.
Opening night was away to Athlone Town, and Peamount saw the Midlanders as an example to follow as they outworked so many teams last year.
Duggan remembers the chat in the dressing room as clear as day: “No matter what, we come off the pitch and make sure that we haven’t been outworked this season.”
They went 1-0 down, but came back to win 3-1.
“Although it was the first game of the season, it was a turning point for us as a squad, because we didn’t know what to expect. Coming off the pitch, there was a massive, massive buzz there and we wanted to keep it going.”
Their bright start instilled belief, and that just grew and grew.
Fight ’til the very end became a mantra. Duggan uses words like “dogged” and “bullish,” and that they were. Relentless on and off the pitch.
They dealt with setbacks accordingly, with Ellen Dolan, Jess Fitzgerald, Freya Healy and Mia McGonnell among the youngsters from the schoolgirls’ system stepping up to the plate. “Ridiculously talented,” Duggan beams.
Dolan is under the photography spotlight in the opposite dressing room, so The 42 grabs her for a quick word.
She’s just 17. Hails from Offaly, a small village called Mucklagh outside Tullamore. She joined the Peamount underage ranks during Covid, spending fleeting stints with the U16s, U17s and U19s before making her senior breakthrough this season.
A talented Gaelic footballer too, Dolan is living the dream while in Fifth Year of school.
“Ah sure I do my homework on the way up in the car,” she smiles.
Dolan ultimately sealed the title success with a brace against Wexford, but she’s taking it all in her stride. “A lot of them have senior caps for Ireland. I just came in trying to learn as much as I could at the start of the season and try and get game time as it comes.
“It’s hard to not score when you have such a class team around you, they’re all just working so hard. They don’t get the credit doing all the defending they do: Chloe [Moloney] and Jetta [Berrill] all season, they don’t get as much credit as they should, they’ve been unreal. Lauryn and Deabháile [Beirne] too.”
What about the club as a whole? What does Peamount mean to you?
“It’s amazing. I was nervous obviously at first but everyone makes you feel so at home, no matter what. Even if you haven’t even played yet, you feel happy being here.
“There’s so many lovely people around like Dennis [Cummins], Katie [Thompson], Elaine [Harrington] and all, they all make you feel good. All the senior players as well, obviously looking after you.”
O’Callaghan has been around a little longer than Dolan, but the same applies as our conversation winds up next door.
“I’ve been here since I was 13, I’m 24 now. I haven’t left obviously for good reasons, because I thoroughly enjoy being here. We’re unique to other clubs, we’re not affiliated with a men’s League of Ireland team. Obviously there’s pros and cons to that.
“But we’ve proved that we’ve won the league without major funding, without the backing of finance for men’s teams, we’ve done it ourselves. We have great facilities, we can train at a high standard. We’ve proven it: we’ve won the league. We’ve stopped a lot of noise in the media by doing that.
“You have teams coming out and saying how amazing they are at playing out from the back or how amazing their facilities are or whatever, but it means absolutely nothing when you don’t have good people around you that are all in the same mindset of wanting to do what’s best and genuinely care about you. I think that’s what Peamount is, it really encompasses who we are.”
“When you mention Peamount to somebody that might not follow football, they immediately think of women’s football,” she adds. “That’s the culture that has been set from people here years ago as well.
“Obviously, things are going to change next year, we do need funding from the FAI, we need better support in place. The football speaks for itself, we’re at a really high standard and we’ve proven that.”
There’s no doubt that further investment is needed, particularly with Champions League football on the agenda next year.
With that, O’Callaghan must dash. She’s cutting it fine for training, despite prior permission, and she doesn’t want to miss a beat.
As she runs for the tunnel, James makes a joke about her being on the last legs.
“I had to do an interview,” she shouts back, and off she goes into the darkness.
***
The final destination for The 42 on the whistle-stop tour of Greenogue is the portacabin out the back.
As O’Callaghan follows his players to the grass, an invitation is extended for a cup of tea and biscuits — Chocolate Digestives and Jaffa Cakes, if you’re wondering.
Kit woman Barbara is the hostess and entertainer. “This is where the magic happens,” she grins, with the team’s green home and blue away strips hanging up drying within.
There are several packets of green and black balloons on the table, which Barbara will work into an arch for Saturday’s title party.
All involved are delighted they can plan accordingly and enjoy the occasion. It’s safe to talk about the night out without fear of jinxing it all.
It goes without saying, they’re targetting a win against Sligo Rovers after last weekend’s defeat away to Galway United. But the outpouring of relief came in Wexford when they got the job done, and they’re hoping for pure, unbridled joy today.
It’s a celebration for one and all, with family, friends, members, volunteers and underage teams all set to attend. In fact, admission is free, with donations to Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland and Peamount Healthcare.
“It’s not just celebrating the team, it’s all of the club members who’ve had to put in a lot of work this season just to keep us above ground,” as Duggan remarked earlier in the evening. “I’m really looking forward to being able to have a proper opportunity to thank them.”
As the tea is finished after no shortage of stories, Barbara revisits a yarn that has been doing the rounds in recent weeks. O’Callaghan has told it on several occasions too.
When the bus landed back after they were confirmed as champions in Wexford last month, the early clubhouse celebrations were delayed with their upstairs’ space occupied by the TG4 Underdogs squad.
The irony certainly wasn’t lost on Peamount after their unforgettable 2023.
They’ll make full use of it tonight.
Underdogs in their own right.
No Peamount, no party, as they say around Greenogue.
- SSE Airtricity League Women’s Premier Division: Peamount United v Sligo Rovers, PRL Park, 4.30pm, live on TG4.
