Eleanor Ryan Doyle celebrates her second goal against South Korea at the 2019 World University Games. Image: Tommy Dickson/INPHO Eleanor Ryan Doyle celebrates her second goal against South Korea at the 2019 World University Games. Image: Tommy Dickson/INPHO A LOT CAN happen in 10 years. Where is Ireland going, and what will life be like here in the year 2029? Welcome to Ireland 2029: Shaping Our Future, a podcast series from TheJournal.ie.
The pathways were very unclear, soccer-wise. You could play it at a regional level, but unless you were in with an international squad, in the underage ranks, you didn’t know where to go. Growing up, sports writer Emma Duffy of The42.ie was a keen soccer player with her local team in Cavan. But, like many of her peers, Duffy ended up committing to ladies Gaelic football toward the end of her underage playing career.
It’s a seven-year goal the Football Association of Ireland is also working toward on an Irish level, according to its 2019 Review and Analysis of Football Ireland. But for Ireland to reach a result at anywhere near that scale, a massive increase in investment would be needed. “It is a big buzz thing now, so now’s the time to do it. We’re just off the back of a massive World Cup. Just capitalise on it.” But, she says, a globally successful national league can’t just grow out of nothing:
Who would watch it?