Bohs benefit from girl power

BOHEMIAN FC’s girls’ section is in a hurry after going from 0 to 60 in just a few short months.

After Athlone Town, Bohemians – founded in 1890 – is the second oldest club in the League of Ireland.

Despite that, before last year, Bohs had never fielded an underage female team.

That run ended last April in Ringsend when 12 girls aged between six and 11 took part in two friendlies against Cambridge YC.

Since then, they have accelerated their growth to the point that they are now fielding six teams.

Bohs Youth Director Conor Emerson said: "We are delighted to have developed such a thriving girls section in such a short space of time.

“The group of volunteers who have stepped in to bring this about have done an amazing job. Their expertise and energy are a big addition to our club.

“We are particularly excited about our new Under-17 League of Ireland girls’ team and see it as the pathway towards a Bohemian FC women's senior team.”

There are now almost 60 girls with the club and on Tuesday January 22 they came together at the Oscar Traynor Coaching & Development Centre, the regular training base for the club’s under-14, under-16 and youths teams.

The under-14s were previously with Kilmore Celtic and came under the Bohs umbrella last summer to try to ensure there was a pathway to the FAI’s new Under-17 Women’s National League.

Kilmore’s All-Ireland winning under-15 side had previously broken up after losing players to clubs in the new national league.

Club coaches were determined that would not happen again but, with Kilmore not having the required facilities, they moved en bloc to Bohs with two older sides quickly formed.

In December, Bohs received the welcome news that they have been accepted into the league for the 2019 season.

Girls coordinator Frank Darby said: “It is great credit to Bohs that they took on the mammoth task of establishing a girls’ section while other much wealthier League of Ireland clubs have neglected to do so.

“We had 23 girls on the Emerging Talent Programme in the summer, our League of Ireland team has three under-16 internationals, we have a lot of up-and-coming coaches and the whole girls section is absolutely flying.”

While the League of Ireland team will play on the Oscar Traynor Road, the remaining teams host their fixtures in Inspire Fitness, Cabra.

That is also the training base for the under-9, under-10 and under-13 teams. The under-13s is the newest addition and played their first Metropolitan Girls League fixture against Swords Manor on Sunday February 3.