WNL season set for final day drama

This coming Sunday afternoon, at 2pm, the final three matches in the Bus Éireann FAI Women’s National League season will kick-off at Turner’s Cross, Morton Stadium, Santry and Tallaght Stadium.

At the upper echelons of the seven-team section – DLR Waves have completed their 18-game programme – Raheny United and Peamount United are vying to land the coveted title.

In the seasonal build-up Raheny were put forward as the likely league champions this term factoring in the enhanced motivation they had to dethrone their accomplished Dublin rivals who deservedly lifted the trophy in the inaugural 2011/12 season.

Sure enough, with the final day looming, Raheny, with 42 points on the board from 17 outings, are one point clear of Peamount in second position.

Raheny’s task this weekend is to overcome a third-placed Wexford Youths Women’s AFC outfit that has failed in its endeavours to win four of their last six league encounters – though the Slaneysiders have won two of their last three – and the Dubliners will be crowned champions no matter what Peamount do away to Cork Women’s FC.

However unlikely, any slip-up from Raheny will, most likely, mean Peamount will retain their title given the defending champions will be odds-on to account for Cork despite the Leesiders’ gradual improvement.

Either way, it promises to make for a fascinating afternoon in the Irish sporting calendar with the latest chapter in one of the most intriguing rivalries to develop in the country set to be penned.

Yet, this story, and all the on-field others that will emerge from the WNL this weekend, will be barely acknowledged, if at all, by the vast majority of the national press.

Ridiculously, the WNL story that drew most attention from sports editors in the country this season was that of the recent Cork and Waves match that was abandoned following a verbal altercation between referee Chrissie Buckley and Waves’ manager Larry Mahony.

Obviously, as a sports journalist of six years I can see the allure of such a story but is it a bigger deal than, say, a thrilling 3-3 draw, a game that has actually been completed?

Even though two seasons of the WNL have now come and are practically gone, never once has a match been shown live on any of the Irish TV stations while just two, the recent Raheny-Peamount contest and the November, 2011 clash between the sides, were broadcast live on radio and even then that was a local station in Dublin, Near FM, rather than a national broadcaster such as RTÉ.

Of course, the local press, for instance the Evening Echo and Life FM on Leeside has continuously followed the fortunes of Cork irrespective of whether results have been positive or negative and Dublin City FM are consistently championing the causes of the teams involved in the division, particularly those of the capital, have promoted the WNL but there is a general lethargy from the national print and broadcast media towards, not just the WNL, but women’s soccer in general.

TheScore.ie, ExtraTime.ie and The Daily Mail have, in contrast, admirably bucked the generally outdated trend too and paid much more than lip service to the WNL but if the FAI genuinely want their women’s domestic league to thrive they need every major media outlet on board, not just a handful irrespective of the high-quality coverage the aforementioned sources provide.

Some will argue the product is not worthy of extended and competitive coverage on a national level.

However, that is pure and utter rubbish. Let’s be honest, if the Airtricity League Premier Division is worthy of regular national print and broadcast coverage then surely the WNL, and even the FAI Umbro Women’s Challenge Cup final, an annual showpiece featuring some of the other best club sides on the island, are equally fit for such coverage.

If the FAI are serious about the promotion of players, teams and clubs in women’s soccer from across the country, and thus far they have not done a whole lot to prove their intentions, then they have to force the hands of the national media, particularly RTÉ who merely produce a mini Monday round-up of the WNL, into building the profile of the sport.