Ciaran Kilduff: LOI's young stars need the carrot of an Ireland call

Athlone Town boss Ciaran Kilduff has reiterated his belief that young Irish players in the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division deserve more senior international recognition.

Republic of Ireland head coach Eileen Gleeson names her squad for the Euro 2025 play-off semi-final against Georgia tomorrow morning.

During last year's UEFA Nations League, Gleeson called up the Peamount United quartet of Erin McLaughlin, Freya Healy, Ellen Dolan and Jess Fitzgerald. However as the Girls in Green went into the Euros qualifiers against England, Sweden and France, the inclusion of home-based players in her squads became less frequent, with Gleeson publicly sharing her concern that the step-up was too steep.

The remarkable impact made by Galway United's Julie-Ann Russell towards the end of the qualification campaign railed against that assertion, albeit she had over 50 caps to her name before returning to the squad for the games against England and France.

Kilduff described Russell as an inspiration, but stressed he wants to see more players get the call to help energise the league.

"I've been banging that drum since day dot," said Kilduff, who leads freshly crowned league champions Athlone into Sunday's Sports Direct Women's FAI Cup final against Shelbourne chasing a double.

"I've been in the men's game and I just didn't want us to repeat the same template and pattern that we had there where it was, if you were any good, you had to leave.

"The women's league is coming from a lower base. We do not need to repeat that.

"Soccer is the biggest sport in the world, it's the biggest sport in this country. I think we need to treat it as (that). I think the greatest moment for the league was seeing Julie-Ann playing in this country and then going