Ground Bishopstown Stadium Chairman Chris O'Mahony Arena/Stadium Bishopstown Stadium Capacity 2,000 | Ground Capacity 2000 Manager Frank Kelleher Founded 2011 | |
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Full name Cork City Women's Football Club Nickname(s) The Rebel Army, The Leesiders | ||
Cork City Women's Football Club (Irish: Cumann Peile Chathair Chorcaí na mBan) is an Irish women's association football team, based in Cork. The club play in a green strip with a red and white diamond on the shirt and white hoops on the socks. The current crest is a variant of the Cork coat of arms. The club was founded in 2011 as Cork Women's F.C., to take its place as one of seven teams in Ireland's inaugural Women's National League. In 2014 they affiliated with FORAS, the supporters' trust who own Cork City FC, and relaunched as Cork City Women's FC. The club play their games at Bishopstown Stadium.
Contents
2011–12
Cork Women’s F.C. was founded after the granting of a license to compete in the inaugural season of the Women’s National League by the Football Association of Ireland. The club played its games in the stadium of the Cork Institute of Technology for their debut year. A squad was assembled containing players such as Denise O'Sullivan, Marie Curtin, Ciara O’Connell and Clare Shine under the management of Dave Bell. The club had some mixed results on the field and Bell left by mutual agreement in early March 2012. Former Tralee Dynamos player Ronan Collins took the reins of the club until the end of the season. After a strong finish, the Leesiders came third behind Dublin duo Raheny United and Peamount United. Peamount won the competition outright and sealed a double that season by also winning the Cup.
2012–13
A new season brought a new manager as Maurice Farrell was appointed head coach. There was also much change in the playing staff as several players like Katie McCarthy, Marie Curtin and Sylvia Gee departed while a young team impressed in patches but was disrupted by injury, especially to Irish international Denise O’Sullivan. The club also moved to Turners Cross stadium for the following season. The injury problems and changes in playing staff resulted in a difficult season and the club finished second-bottom of the league.
2013–14
For the third season of existence, the club underwent a significant transition in players as effectively a new team was signed due to departures. Irish International Denise O'Sullivan was the highest profile departure – sealing a move to Scottish club Glasgow City after two seasons in Cork. The club also began tentative discussions with FORAS Trust which allowed the club to play home games at Bishopstown Stadium. A difficult season followed as the team failed to register a point and only scored two goals all season. At the end of the season, Maurice Farrell departed the club. Off the pitch, the club strengthened ties with COPE Foundation and the Cork Institute of Technology during the year.
2014–15
The club formally agreed to a merger with Cork City F.C. and FORAS Trust, to become Cork City W.F.C. for the upcoming season. The club continued to play matches at Bishopstown stadium. Former Gaynor Cup-winning manager for Cork, Charlie Lynch, was appointed manager of the club and assembled a squad with additions such as Irish U19 internationals Ciara McNamara and Shannon Carson. Despite an improvement on the field in performances, the club experienced some tight defeats and narrow draws – leading to another season without a single league win. The club controversially forfeited their final league fixture against Raheny United, failing to field a team. This deprived Raheny's Katie McCabe of an opportunity to claim the WNL Golden Boot.
2015–16
Charlie Lynch was appointed Head of Youth Development and former Bandon AFC manager Niall O'Regan appointed as manager for the 2015–16 season. With some new players, they secured their first win in two years against newly-formed Kilkenny United. In February 2016, Frank Kelleher was announced as the new manager, replacing Niall O'Regan.
Stadia
Cork City W.F.C. play their home games at Bishopstown Stadium in Curaheen. The Stadium was developed by former Cork City F.C. chairman Pat O'Donovan in 1994 as the new home for the club. However, due to the poor finances of the club the ground was sold to first the Football Association of Ireland who held onto the ground in the short term while the club was trying to resolve its financial problems. They later sold the ground to McCarthy Developments of Cork who while waiting for planning laws to be changed, have rented the ground to Cork City F.C. as a training and administrative base.
In Cork Women FC's debut season, games were staged at the Cork Institute of Technology Sports Stadium. The club then moved to Turners Cross for 2012–13 before moving on to Bishopstown Stadium.
2015–16 squad
As of 3 January 2016.Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Notable former players
Coaching staff
As of 25 August 2016 the technical staff reportedly included: