Future focus: Offaly 17-year-old the latest beneficiary as Gleeson favours youth

EILEEN GLEESON HAD already made no secret of her commitment to blooding youth throughout her reign as interim head coach of the Ireland women’s national team.

The morning after Stephen Kenny’s departure from the helm of their male counterparts, Gleeson announced her squad for their final Uefa Nations League doubler-header against Hungary and Northern Ireland.

Speaking at the subsequent press conference, the FAI Head of Girls and Women’s football paid tribute to her outgoing colleague.

“The football landscape changes very quickly and a sporting career has a finite time, so you have to keep transitioning young players through,” Gleeson said at one point.

“You have to try to get them experience, Stephen did it and we’re trying to do it.

“That is the legacy.

“That’s the nature of football.”

Peamount United teenager Ellen Dolan was the headline inclusion in Gleeson’s 26-strong squad. The 17-year-old striker earns her first senior call-up after an impressive season with the domestic league champions.

It was a Thursday to remember for Dolan, the Offaly native later named SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division Player of the Month for October/November. She excelled through the latter half of the season for James O’Callaghan’s Peas, finishing with seven goals.

“I just came in trying to learn as much as I could at the start of the season and try and get gametime as it comes,” she told The 42 earlier this month.

“It’s hard to not score when you have such a class team around you!”

Advertisement

Dolan spoke of team-mates like Karen Duggan, Niamh Reid Burke and Erin McLaughlin winning senior Irish caps, and now she’s within touching distance of one herself.

Dolan scored seven goals for Peamount this season.

What a journey it’s been for the Fifth Year student, a dream few months hitting new heights.

Dolan calls Mucklagh, a small village outside Tullamore, home. Her soccer journey began on the green of her estate before she graduated from playing with the boys to underage girls teams at her local club. There, she and current Peamount team-mate Becky Watkins inspired All-Ireland wins, while they also played Gaelic football for Shamrocks.

Dolan jokes that she was never tough enough for camogie, but the soccer dream soon took over and all roads led to Greenogue. She joined the Peamount U16s briefly during Covid, quickly jumped to one season a-piece with the U17 and U19 National League sides, before making her senior breakthrough earlier in 2023.

A whirlwind, to say the least. Student by day, footballer by night.

“I have a few teachers at me just to keep the head down,” Dolan laughed with this writer.

“Ah sure I do my homework on the way up in the car!

“It’s tough, but the teachers help me as much as they can. I’ll just keep my head down, keep doing as best I can with football and stuff, win as much as I can with Peamount, I haven’t really thought about college or anything yet… next year.”

It’s all about next week for now, Dolan and co. due to report into camp tomorrow for Hungary at home (Friday) and Northern Ireland away (next Tuesday).

Exposure, experience and opportunity await as her development continues.

Dolan’s clubmate Erin McLaughlin is the other home-based player. The 20-year-old was handed her first international start by Gleeson as Ireland secured Nations League promotion last month.

18-year-old Jessie Stapleton is among the returnees in the wake of her West Ham debut.

Abbie Larkin, who is the same age as Stapleton, is expected to keep adding to her caps, among others.

“Jessie, Abbie, Ellen, they are the future,” Gleeson said this week. “They’re the players we want to see in [Euro] 2025 and in the next World Cup. It’s nice for us to be able to give them the exposure during this campaign as well.”

Eileen Gleeson with Amber Barrett.

Amber Barrett is the big name absentee, while Megan Campbell and Claire O’Riordan are among those to also miss out as competition intensifies and Gleeson favours youth.

Ruesha Littlejohn returns, but other players like Niamh Fahey, Leanne Kiernan and Jess Ziu were not included “due to still being on return to play procedures at their respective clubs following long-term injuries,” as per an FAI release.

Barrett’s omission is striking, with Dolan ultimately getting the nod ahead of the World Cup qualification hero despite her goalscoring exploits at Standard Liege.

“These are always difficult decisions and there are a lot of factors that go into it,” Gleeson concluded on Thursday, confirming as much.

“Amber is not selected for this squad. We are bringing young players through. We have got a wider talent pool and we have to make decisions that unfortunately some will be disappointed with.

“One of the legacy pieces from the World Cup, moving forward towards Euro 2025 and the World Cup in 2027, is that we transition young players through and that’s what we’re doing here.”

The future is now, it seems.