Sligo Rovers can confirm that Gemma McGuinness has signed ahead of our first season in the Women’s National League.

The Donegal native returns to football having spent the last two years living in Vietnam.

McGuinness, who played her underage football with Greencastle, is a right-sided midfielder who has played underage football with Ireland.

The 26-year-old played international football at Under 15, under 17 and under 19s.

She played alongside Rovers’ Lauren Boles and Emma Hansberry during her time as an underage international.

McGuinness took a break from football before returning when she attended university. 

She played for Team Ireland at the 2019 Summer Universiade when at Ulster University and played for Northern Ireland at the 2019 Turkish Cup.

Having played for Derry City for three years before departing for Vietnam, McGuinness has plenty of experience playing football at an elite level.

She was training with Derry after she returned home at Christmas, until a call came in from Boles to see if she would be interested in coming to Rovers.

“The first day I came down I was like ‘yeah definitely, this is for me’,” she said.

“The drive isn’t too bad, I don’t mind it. The quality of the training is worth the drive.”

There are a number of Donegal players in Steve Feeney’s side, so McGuinness and her team-mates will at least be able to share lifts.

McGuinness is a performance nutritionist, and works with Davey Nutrition, which is run by Sligo native Daniel Davey.

There are a lot of advantages to signing for Sligo Rovers for McGuinness.

“It’s relatively close to home, it’s a chance to play in the Women’s National League for the first time, and the training sessions have been superb.

“It’s been brilliant. Even the first day I went down, I wasn’t sure if I was signing for Derry this season or what I was doing, I’ve never played in the Women’s National League so it’s a big opportunity for me. The first day I went to training I knew it was right. 

“It’s so well-organised. Steve always says the right thing at the right time, you can tell he puts a lot of thought into what he says. Getting back and seeing the girls having not seen them since u17. It’s good.

“I’ve been involved with football for years and I’ve never played WNL. It’s somewhat close to home, I don’t have to travel too far. To be involved in the first team is definitely an honour.”

Sligo Rovers held the club’s Annual General Meeting last night in a virtual event attended by members.

Over 75 members were present as the 2021 committee presented reports from the chairman, secretary and treasurer.

A moment of reflection was taken to remember all those associated with Sligo Rovers who had passed in the last 12 months.

Manager Liam Buckley addressed the meeting and gave an update on the 2022 squad including the five new signings. He said this season will be even more difficult than the last but he looks forward to facing the challenge with the squad.

Secretary Brendan Lacken went through the minutes of last year’s meeting. In his report he paid tribute to Shane Crossan and volunteer Michael Mulvaney in their role as Covid-19 officers and club doctor Philip Murphy in how they assisted the club during the last two years of the pandemic.

He also acknowledged the success of the men’s first-team in manager Liam Buckley and players securing back-to-back European qualifications.

Last year’s AGM saw secretary Lacken point to a future of the club having a WNL senior side and he said the readiness in which this has happened has been a hugely welcome development.

He thanked the club’s women’s committee which helped to reach this step. Manager Steve Feeney was unable to attend due to training taking place on Tuesday evening so he penned this letter to supporters.

Chairman Tommy Higgins then addressed the meeting, thanking his committee, the club’s staff and everyone associated with the club in coming through the previous 12 months.

He spoke about the importance of implementing the Masterplan unveiled last summer and said this would be added to later in the meeting.

“Sligo Rovers is a community-based club owned by the fans. I love this model and it is evident that the supporters also like the model as they continue to support the club faithfully year in, year out.

“However, this competitor financial muscle is proving a challenge and we have to focus on the future. The masterplan can be the solution.  It is an ambitious plan, but Sligo Rovers is an ambitious club and we owe it to our supporters to provide a platform for the club for the next 50 plus years.”

Treasurer David Rowe then made his financial presentation. A surplus was recorded for the year as he said it was another successful financial year, aided by more than €250,000 in fundraising, significant Covid-19 supports and European qualification.

As these supports now end, he stressed the true impact of Covid-19 will now come. Rising costs in the League of Ireland, and within the club through running eight teams, has led to a budget increase and these challenges must be met.

He, along with chairman Higgins, confirmed the management committee had approved the appointment of Rhatigan Architects for large scale drawing with a view to the Bit O’ Red being able to apply for planning permission in the summer for The Showgrounds redevelopment. The target is to be able to apply for public funding in the future.

Rowe said the cost of this will be met by the club, while another larger six-figure sum will be needed again for more detail designs. He noted it was a big step for the club to commit such a large amount of money in this first instance through its own resources on the back of transfer money received in recent months.

The club’s auditors Mulhern Leonard & Associates were approved for the coming year.

CEO Colin Feehily delivered his report, thanking players, staff, volunteers, academy coaches and players and all that were part of the Bit O’ Red in the 12 months.

Assistant secretary Mark Cummins gave a more detailed update on the Masterplan, the appointment of Rhatigan Architects and ongoing work at The Showgrounds.

The election of the club’s management committee for 2022 then took place. Six members stood down as per the constitution of the club, with four re-elected unopposed. Licencing officer Stephen Gilroy and media officer Rory Houston did not seek re-election this year.

Kathy Burke and Conor Rushe were nominated for the committee and replaced the two outgoing members. Tributes were paid to the two outgoing committee members for their contribution to the club over a period of years.

The meeting was concluded following AOB questioning. The meeting was covered extensively by local media with more details available in those publications.

The 2022 management committee met for the first time after the AGM. The appointments of officers were made with no change from 2021.

Chairman: Tommy Higgins

Vice-chairman: Andy Dodd

Secretary: Brendan Lacken

Treasurer: David Rowe

Assistant Secretary: Mark Cummins

Management Committee: Marie Casserly, Paddy Houze, Marcus White, Michael Clancy, Michael Toolan, Conor Rushe, Kathy Burke, Martin Heraghty, Anthony Quinn, Roddy Murphy, Martin McDonald.

Nando Pijnaker has joined Sligo Rovers on loan from Portuguese side Rio Ave for the 2022 campaign, the Bit O’ Red are delighted to announce.

The New Zealand defender, capped at senior level and part of their Olympics team in 2021, has joined Rovers on a season-long loan move subject to international clearance.

The left-sided centre half turns 23 later this month and has previously played with Swiss outfit Grasshopper and a loan spell with Danish outfit Helsingor from his parent club Rio Ave.

Pijnaker was born in the Netherlands but moved to New Zealand as a child. He started all four matches in the Olympics campaign and has also won four senior caps, including three in recent months.

Pijnaker said: “It’s fantastic to be here. It’s a move that appealed to me and my main motivation is to play matches and help the team. I know the season is 36 games plus Cup football and European games so I know a chance will come at some point and I will take it.

“I spoke with the manager a couple of times and I was impressed by what he said. He had been speaking with my agent and I felt this was a good opportunity to go to a team playing European football at a good standard as well.”

The 6ft 3in defender said he was aware of the club after following the career of Ryan De Vries as well as talking to a friend at Shelbourne for more information on the League of Ireland.

“The manager spoke about how he likes to play and I think it will suit me as a defender. I like to think I’ve got many aspects to my game but playing out from the back is one of them. My main job is defending and I’m really looking to show what I can do here. I trained with my team-mates for the first time this morning, I’m ready to play and be part of what looks like a really good club.

“Ireland as a country is quite similar to New Zealand in many aspects. I think I’ll be able to adjust and I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone and playing in front of the supporters in The Showgrounds.”

Manager Liam Buckley said: “We’re very pleased to bring in Nando. He’s done well with his country in the Olympics last year. Rio Ave are keen for him to get game time at this stage of his career so we’re delighted to have him with us this season. Nando has a lot of what you want from a defender in terms of his height, strength, his tackling and also his distribution as well. He’s coming into a new league but we feel he can do well here.

“We do have Garry Buckley, Shane Blaney, Robbie McCourt can slot in there and young Peter Maguire is coming through, but with the loss of John Mahon it was important to bring in another defender at centre-half.

“He’s come in with a good level of fitness and we’ll integrate him into the group. He’ll be ready to play from the off and it’s great to have him training with us today. I’ve no doubt he’ll be contributing over the course of the year and I can see by the conversations we’ve had that he is extremely keen to make an impact with us.”  

Sligo Rovers will play a pre-season friendly at home on Tuesday night as Finn Harps visit The Showgrounds.

The match kicks-off at 7.30pm and will have reduced admission prices of €10 and €5.

All supporters welcome.