Interested in attending our upcoming open trials for our U-17 Women’s Team?

Our trials are for girls born 2003,2004 and 2005.

Trials will take place on Saturday 11th & 18th January from 2-4pm at Sligo Rovers astro pitch.

Register below:

https://t.co/nrtEWUaQ2m?amp=1

Sligo Rovers are delighted to announce that Martin McManus has been appointed Head-Coach of our Women’s Under 17 team.

McManus was assistant to Darragh Healy in 2019, overseeing a fantastic season for the Bit O’Red Women’s team.

He will be joined on the sideline by Neal McKenna, who will take up the position of Assistant Head-Coach.

He has a wealth of experience working with youth teams, coaching a number of different age groups with Kilglass/Enniscrone United.

McManus is also a coach with Sligo Leitrim Youth and Schoolboys/Schoolgirls League.

Currently the Assistant Head Coach of the IT Sligo’s Women’s team, McManus also takes part in coaching during Sligo Rovers summer camps, and has been involved with numerous football programmes such as Football For All and the Primary School 5s Programme.

Speaking about the role, McManus said: “It’s a real honour for me to be named Head Coach of Sligo Rovers Women’s u17s. To say I’m excited about the season ahead would be an understatement. 

“I am looking forward to working with a lot of the girls from last season and getting to know the new girls that will come in this season. We had a great season during 2019 and myself, Neal and Hugh Cunningham are looking to build on previous success.”

McKenna joins McManus on the management team. He is the current Head Coach of Ballisodare United, coaching across all age groups, including the Under 12 girls.

He is assistant coach o the IT Sligo Men’s A team, and coaches the senior team at Summerhill College. McKenna coaches the Sligo/Leitrim girls Under 12 emerging talent team.

Speaking about the role, McKenna said: “I’m absolutely delighted with the opportunity to work with the Sligo Rovers Women’s u17s. 

“I am massively passionate about growing the women’s game in Sligo and want to add to the great work that has been done with the Rovers girls over the last two years. 

“There is more and more talk about women’s football in Ireland and myself and Martin’s job is the help the players develop both on and off the pitch and be the best they can be to establish Rovers as a real force in the women’s game for years to come, and hopefully we can build the women’s structure at the club and have an Under 19 team and senior team in the near future, with players availing of the scholarship programme at IT Sligo.”

Sligo Rovers FC are inviting applicants to express their interest in the role of Head Coach for the Women’s U17 team who will once again participate in the Só Hotels Women’s U17 National League in 2020.

In 2019, our Women’s Under 17 team enjoyed a hugely successful year under Head Coach Darragh Healy and his backroom team. Ballisodare man Healy has confirmed that he will not be staying on in the role next year.

The Rovers girls reached the semi-finals of both the league and cup competitions, and recorded some famous results along the way, with a number of international call-ups throughout the season.

The hard work and commitment of Head-Coach Darragh Healy and his coaching staff Martin McManus, Jason Quinn, Hugh Cunningham, Yvette Edwards and Stephen Travers is very much appreciated by all at the club and we would like to place on record our thanks to the coaches.

The position of Under-17 Women’s Head Coach is key to the ongoing development of our elite underage players and will play a significant role in their development. The position will be on a voluntary basis. The role will provide valuable experience for the successful candidate of working with an elite group of players.

Job Description

• Help club achieve its vision to ‘Build a brand that is associated with excellence on and off the pitch for women’s football, to be considered as an example of excellence and best practice, and one of the major developer of players within the country at underage, and eventually senior level’.
• To assemble squad through talent identification, including holding trials, for the beginning of the FAI Women’s U17 season in March 2020.
• The development and nurturing of a pool of elite players to facilitate their current and future success as individuals and as a team.
• Organise, plan and deliver a suitable player development programme in line with the FAI and Sligo Rovers coaching syllabus.
• Uphold the club’s code of conduct and implement club’s vision on and off the pitch.
• Set high standards for the players both on and off the pitch.
• Create and maintain appropriate communication with players / parents / clubs / leagues and any stakeholders relevant to the team
• To work with the media in any area regarding Sligo Rovers FC.
• Ensure the club adheres to FAI & Women’s National League rules and regulations and competition rules. . 
• To ensure that all delivery satisfies the clubs safeguarding and welfare procedures 
• The successful candidate will report to the Women’s Football committee within the club. The women’s committee includes members of the club management committee and is governed by the management committee of Sligo Rovers.

Job Specification:

The ideal candidate will have skills and experience in the following areas: 

Essential Criteria

• A current valid UEFA B Licence holder as a minimum.
• Successful candidate will be subjected to garda vetting clearance. 
• Up to date Safeguarding 1 / Child Welfare Certificate.
• An ability to produce verbal and written reports.
• Long-term commitment to working within a multi-disciplinary team.
• Access to both email and phone.
• Experience and enthusiasm for coaching and mentoring elite young players and coaches.

Desirable Criteria

• Administrative and organisational skills.
• Previous experience of coaching in female game.
• Coach mentoring experience.

Abilities / Skills / Knowledge: 

• Has the leadership ability to inspire a team to play to their maximum potential.
• Ability to communicate and implement club’s philosophy as head coach.
• Empathy with young players with an ability to inspire.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to build meaningful, strong strategic relationships with players, staff and officials.
• Understanding of learning, development and high performance with a proven ability to create optimum and challenging learning environments for players.
• Strong existing relationships within the Women’s football in North-West.
• Must be available for games / training at weekends and evenings.

To apply for this position please email your CV with a cover letter to Jane Nugent, Secretary, Women’s Football Committee, Sligo Rovers FC at sligoroverswomen@gmail.com by 5pm on Thursday, 5th December 2019.

Three Sligo Rovers players have been called into the Republic of Ireland Women’s Under 17 squad for a double header against Belgium.

Manorhamilton’s Muireann Devaney, Swinford’s Emer O’Neill and Grange’s Sarah Kiernan have all been named in the squad that will travel to Brussels from August 8th until August 14th for the double header friendly.

It is the first time that Sarah Kiernan has been called into a Republic of Ireland squad.

Emer O’Neill had been named in the stand-by list, but received the news that she had been called into the squad shortly after the initial announcement.

Rovers endured a tough day on Saturday as they were defeated 5-2 by Cork City Women at MacSharry Park. Both of Rovers goals were scored by Muireann Devaney.

Head-coach Darragh Healy said: “It’s great for the girls to get recognition. Emer and Muireann have been called up before and have played at that level but it’s the first time for Sarah and it’s great. It’s well deserved for the three of them. It’s great experience for them and the three of them are well capable of playing at that level and doing well for themselves.

“It just shows that the players are here. You can worry about results but results will be up and down, so long as the girls are playing well, that’s all that matters. If you can get a few of them up to international level that’s what matters. What’s important is that we’re improving players.

“These call-ups are all down to the individuals but of course as their coach you like to see them moved up to international level. It’s down to the girls, they are doing well.

“Today was a bit of a blip but we’re having a good season. We still have to play Limerick, Galway and Wexford. We got a good result last week, not so good today but if we can put a couple of results together we can make the semi-finals.”

Muireann Devaney said: “It’s a great honour when you’re called to put on the green jersey. When you have friends coming with you from Sligo Rovers it makes it that bit more fun.

“When I’ve been in squads before they’ve been for development tournaments, so it’s a greater honour this time that it’s competitive football. It’s where you want to be at this time of the year. Everybody at Sligo Rovers have helped to make it happen.

“My family have been great. Every time they get that email they come home from work with a smile on their face. It’s all down to them with all their hard work bringing me to training and matches, they never say no.

“It’s always a help when you’re going away with people you know and you’re not counting on making new friends. When you know each other you look out for one another when you’re playing.

“Today was disappointing but I’m really enjoying my time at Sligo Rovers. Darragh and all the staff do everything they can to help us and make us as good as they can. Anything we want they say yes. It’s brilliant.”

Sarah Kiernan said: “I couldn’t believe it. It’s my first time. I went to the Under 16 trials last year but sadly didn’t make it to the next trial. It was a big shock to us all. We were extremely shocked, couldn’t believe it.

“My Mum was ecstatic, sadly my Dad passed away last year but we know he would be jumping for joy. He would be very proud.

“Cliffoney/Grange is where I come from and Benbulben is where I started playing football and a lot of it is down to them. It’s great for the club too, they have Seamas Keogh coming through too.

“It will be a help that Muireann and Emer are there. I won’t know many people going so it’s great to know them.

“Playing for Sligo Rovers is great this year. The training is fantastic and we’re doing well. Sadly we lost today but sure we’ll get on with it.”

Emer O’Neill said: “I was shocked when I got the call up. I’ve been in squads before but I was really honoured. Every day you get to play for your country is a good one. I’m really excited and really happy to get the call-up.

“I was on stand-by so I really wasn’t sure if I would be travelling or not. So I was really delighted when I did get the call-up.

“My family are really proud, like they are the whole time. To represent the country is huge and any opportunity I get I will take it.

“I’m loving playing for Sligo Rovers. It’s part of the reason I got called up because training is so good, playing at a high level helps when you’re involved in international squads.”

With the first phase of games completed in the Só Hotels Under 17 Women’s National League, it has been confirmed that Sligo Rovers will now be competing in League section, having finished in the top half of Group 1. 

The Bit O’Red now go into the League section with Shelbourne and Galway WFC who also finished in the top half of Group 1 and they will be joined by Limerick, Wexford Youths and Cork City. 

Teams will play each other once during this series of games. 

The Shield group, containing teams who finished in the bottom half of the two groups within the league, will be made up of Athlone Town, Peamount United, Donegal League, Bohemian, Greystones United and DLR Waves. 

The Rovers girls, sponsored by David McConville Orthodontics, are enjoying a fantastic season so far. 

The team is based at IT Sligo, where they train and play their home games.

Fixtures for phase two of the Só Hotels U17 Women’s National League have been announced and Rovers will face Shelbourne in the first game this Saturday at the AUL.

They are home to Cork City on Saturday August 3rd.

Head-coach Darragh Healy said: “It’s great to qualify for the top section and this shows how well the girls have done over the last ten games to do so.

“Our first 5 or 6 games we did very well and had a lot of points on the board going into the last few games.”

“You want to be competing against the better teams and testing yourself each week we play and this will definitely be the case against all the teams we will encounter from now on.

“We qualified at the expense of some well established teams like Peamount so this shows how well it has gone.

“Hopefully we can qualify for the semi final stages and be competing from that side of things. We know we can compete with any team in the country on our day so we are optimistic particularly with a cup semi final to come also.

“We’re delighted with how all the girls have done and especially this time of year with holidays and one or two injuries there has been loads of rotation but every player has contributed and done well, and we will need every player to contribute going forward to the end of the season also”.

Meanwhile, the Bit O’Red are through to the semi-finals of the Só Hotels Under 17 WNL Cup after they beat Donegal League 5-0 at IT Sligo last Wednesday night.

Muireann Devaney scored a brace, while Alva Munnelly, Aife Haran and Ava Keane were also on the scoresheet.

Healy added: ” A cup run would be great. We’ve beaten Bohemians and Donegal to date and have Galway WFC in the semi final. We are one game away from a cup final so it would be brilliant to get to the final and have a day out so hopefully with a bit of luck we’ll get there”.

Open Trials for our Under 17 Women’s Team for 2019 will take place in IT Sligo on Friday, 4th January and Friday, 11th January 2018. A third invite only session will take place on Friday, 18th January 2018.

All sessions will take place at 8:00pm for 90 minutes and all female players, born in 2002 & 2003, are invited to attend.

All players interesting in being involved with this squad are requested to complete the registration form ahead of the trials. This can be completed online here: Registration Form

The club will be once again be based in the excellent facilities of IT Sligo for both training and games for the coming seasons (March – October ’19).

Local business David McConville Orthodontics will continue as the main sponsor of our U17 Women’s Team until the end of the 2019 season.

Sligo Rovers FC are inviting applicants to express their interest in a number of roles for the Women’s U17 team who will once again participate in the Continental Tyres Women’s U17 National League in 2019.

Through our Women’s Football section, our goal is to be competing at the highest level of women’s football. We will provide a performance centre strategy that encompasses the club wide philosophy for players to develop within a comprehensive and professionalised environment.

The positions will be on a voluntary basis. The role will provide valuable experience for the successful candidate of working with an elite group of players.

• Assistant Coach
• Goalkeeper Coach
• Strength & Conditioning Coach
• Video Analyst
• Physiotherapist

Trials will be held in early January with training commencing in Mid January and running until the end of the season in October 2019.

The ideal candidate will have skills and experience in the following areas:

Essential Criteria

• Long-term commitment to working within a multi-disciplinary team.
• Access to both email and phone.
• Experience and enthusiasm for coaching and mentoring elite young players and coaches.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to build meaningful, strong strategic relationships with players, staff and officials.
• Must be available for games / training at weekends and evenings.
• Successful candidate will be subjected to garda vetting clearance.

Desirable Criteria

• Up to date Safeguarding 1 / Child Welfare Certificate. (Will be required prior to commencing role)
• A valid National C / D Licence holder for coaching roles
• Organisational skills.
• Previous experience of coaching in female game.

To apply for any of these positions please email your CV with a cover letter to Breifne Earley, Secretary, Women’s Football Committee, Sligo Rovers FC at sligoroverswomen@gmail.com by Sunday, 16th December 2018.

Shortlisting will apply and candidates will be called for interview shortly after the closing date.

Sligo Rovers are thrilled to announce that Darragh Healy has been appointed head-coach of our Under 17 Women’s National League team.

The Ballisodare native takes over from Damon Kearney who guided the Bit O’Red girls to a fourth place finish in their group in 2018, which was the league’s first year.

Darragh brings with him a wealth of experience, thanks to his involvement in football in the community. He is a member of the coaching staff with the Rovers Under 19s, and is head coach of the Rovers primary school programme, which involves visiting schools, coaching and delivering workshops.

He is the current head-coach of IT Sligo women’s team, and is also assistant coach of the IT Sligo men’s A team. He also coaches four teams at the Ursuline College.

Darragh is head-coach with his home town club Ballisodare United, delivering workshops to fellow coaches and coaching the various academy age groups.

Speaking to sligorovers.com Healy said: “I’m delighted to be taking over as head coach of the Women’s Under 17 team. It’s a great opportunity for me to work with the best female team and players in the region. I feel that it is a really exciting time to be involved in the female game in Sligo and there’s no doubt that the future is very bright.

“I have been involved with Sligo Rovers in recent years and followed the women’s under 17 team’s progress last year. I will be looking to build on the fantastic foundations that have been put in place by the committee and coaches from last season.

“There is a fantastic pool of talent within the region, and the fact that several players received international call-ups just shows you the potential that is here.

“This is a new challenge for me and it’s one I’m really looking forward to. I would like to thank the Sligo Rovers Women’s Committee for the opportunity.”