IN ANOTHER MAJOR switch-up between ladies football powerhouse counties, Cork star Róisín Phelan has transferred to Dublin outfit St Brigid’s.
The42 recently reported that 2017 Footballer of the Year Noelle Healy had joined reigning All-Ireland club champions Mourneabbey — coincidentally from St Brigid’s.
And now, Rebel full-back Phelan’s move from Aghada to the Dubliners — Healy’s home club — has also been rubber-stamped.
The transfer was first approved by Aghada and the Cork LGFA county board before getting the green light in the capital. It was logged on the LGFA portal of transfers and permits approved last month.
The 24-year-old has established herself as one of the best defenders in the country of late, winning five All-Ireland medals and five Division 1 league honours since first coming into the Cork set-up, headed by Eamonn Ryan, in the summer of 2012.
Now operating under Ephie Fitzgerald, Phelan became the Leesider’s longest-serving defender following the recent retirement of Bríd Stack. She has been absent in the 2019 Lidl Ladies National Football League thus far though.
A fully-qualified dentist, it’s understood that work has brought her to the capital. Phelan completed a five-year degree in UCC and had previously been working between Tullamore and Carlow since graduating last May.
In a hugely successful career to date, 2018 All-Star Phelan has also tasted All-Ireland club glory with Aghada. She was Player of the Match in December 2017 as they claimed a historic first All-Ireland junior club football title after beating Monaghan side Corduff.
Fellow Cork native Christine Keohane has also linked up with St Brigid’s from 2016 and 2017 All-Ireland junior and intermediate beaten finalists Kinsale.
St Brigid’s continue to chase a first-ever Dublin senior championship title. They suffered more heartbreak in last September’s final at the hands of Foxrock-Cabinteely, adding their 2018 defeat to two more decider losses to the same opposition in 2015 and 2016.
Two-time All-Star winning goalkeeper Ciara Trant and defender Deirdre Murphy are among those to have lined out for Mick Bohan’s Sky Blues over the past few years.
St Brigid’s are in Division 1B of the league, and conceded their first game to Thomas Davis on Sunday.
Subscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here:
