Saoirse Noonan

Saoirse Noonan (born 13 July 1999) is an Irish dual code footballer from Cork.

In association football she plays for Durham of the English FA Women's Championship.

She represents the Republic of Ireland at senior level, having also represented Ireland at youth level.

Noonan joined Cork City and made her first Women's National League (WNL) appearances in the 2015–16 season.

In a promising debut campaign, she showed "flashes of brilliance" and won the WNL Player of the Month award for November/December 2015.

Noonan is a former Republic of Ireland youth national team captain and was named under-17 International Player of the Year in 2016.

She won her first senior cap in August 2016 and was recalled to the senior squad in November 2020.

In Gaelic football Noonan has a long association with the Nemo Rangers club and she won All-Ireland medals with Cork at under-14, under-16, and minor level.

In 2017 she was named Women's National League (WNL) Young Player of the Year and helped Cork City win their first major trophy, defeating UCD Waves 1–0 in the FAI Women's Cup final at the Aviva Stadium.

Although her appearances were sometimes restricted by her Gaelic football commitments, she became Cork City's all-time record goal scorer.

In 2017 Noonan was named the WNL Young Player of the Season, and helped rapidly-improving Cork City win their first major trophy by beating UCD Waves 1–0 in the final of the FAI Women's Cup at the Aviva Stadium.

From 2018 until 2020 she also played ladies' Gaelic football at senior level for the Cork county ladies' football team, competing in the Ladies' National Football League and All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship.

As a soccer player Noonan is a forward or playmaking midfielder.

She played for her home town club Cork City from joining them at 16 years old until moving to Shelbourne in 2021.

As a prolific full-forward she debuted with the senior Cork team in June 2018 and quickly earned a reputation as a high-scoring "super sub".

Ahead of her appearance in Cork's 2018 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship final defeat by Dublin at Croke Park, Cork coach Ephie Fitzgerald said of Noonan: "I firmly believe that Saoirse could be the face of ladies football for the next 10 years".

Noonan has attracted notice for her unusual success in balancing the demands of two sports at the elite level.

In 2018, Noonan missed her kick as Cork City lost the final of the WNL Shield to Wexford Youths on a penalty shootout.

Noonan's schedule became "beyond hectic" in 2018.

In addition to playing and training with Cork City, she sat her Leaving Certificate exams, started playing for Cork's senior inter county Gaelic football team, and began writing a weekly column on The42.ie website.

She was unhappy to be dropped for one Cork City match during this period but was restored to the team for their next fixture, in which she scored.

In the final match of the league season against Peamount United, she suffered a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament which did not require surgery but ruled her out for around five months.

By 2019 Noonan was perceived as one of the most talented players in the WNL.

Cork City finished fifth of eight teams to equal their best performance, but Noonan – the club's all-time record goal scorer – was sometimes unavailable due to her Gaelic football commitments.

In November 2020 the Republic of Ireland soccer manager Vera Pauw said of Noonan: "Playing two sports and just being so natural and so clinical about it is amazing".

In 2021 Noonan decided to pause her Gaelic football career again to focus on soccer.

Noonan is from the Grange area of Cork and began playing soccer on the boys' teams which her older brother Eóin played on.

She was initially unhappy to be banned from boys' soccer but later enjoyed playing for Douglas Hall's female teams.

As a young player Noonan's idol was her future Cork City teammate Clare Shine.

The start of the 2020 season was delayed until August by the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland.

Noonan used the time off to set up a one-to-one coaching business and to work hard at improving her own fitness.

She started the season in good form and was praised by Cork City's coach Ronan Collins after she won the September 2020 Player of the Month award: "Saoirse has loads of ability and talent, but sometimes we forget how young she is as she only turned 21 recently. During lockdown she put a lot of effort into herself and that is bearing fruits now."

On 8 November 2020 Noonan's name was trending on Twitter in Ireland, after she scored both goals in Cork City's 2–0 FAI Women's Cup semi-final win over Treaty United, one day after she scored the decisive goal in Cork gaelic footballers' 1–14 to 0–14 win over Kerry.

The following month she played in the 2020 FAI Women's Cup Final, which Cork lost 6–0 to Peamount United.

Noonan's continued good form made her a transfer target for professional foreign clubs including Víkingur FC, Aston Villa and London City Lionesses.

On 11 February 2021 Noonan joined Shelbourne.

In doing so she decided to pause her Gaelic football career again to focus on soccer, signing for a club in Dublin to make a clean break.

Noonan was Shels' top scorer with 12 goals as the club won the 2021 WNL title on the last day of the season.

She also played in the 2021 FAI Women's Cup Final, but Shelbourne were beaten 3–1 by Wexford Youths.

On the final day of the January 2022 transfer window, Noonan agreed to join FA Women's Championship club Durham WFC.