Clodagh Finn: Here’s to the first female footballers who led the way

Casting light on the early female footballers whose popularity in their own lifetimes challenges the idea that interest in women’s soccer is recent

Doing us all proud: Republic of Ireland's Louise Quinn after the final whistle of the Fifa Women's World Cup 2023, Group B match at the Sydney Football Stadium, Australia. Picture: Isabel Infantes/PA

IRISH soccer great Anne O’Brien said she started playing football as soon as she could walk, at the age of just two.

That early passion paid off in spades. When she was 17, the girl from Inchicore in Dublin made history when she became the first female player from Ireland to play professionally in Europe.