Eimear Lafferty dreaming of cup glory with Sligo Rovers

Like all capable defenders, Eimear Lafferty has a good sense of timing.

The Donegal woman had a period away from the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division after spells with Peamount United and DLR Waves.

The Covid-19 pandemic led her back to her home town of Inishowen, with a susequent stint at Derry City in the Women's Premiership keeping her sharp, before Lafferty - returning to Dublin for work purposes - linked up with the Clontarf GAA footballers.

In August, Sligo Rovers boss Steve Feeney brought the 27-year-old into his squad as the Bit O'Red looked to kick on in the second half of the season.

There was also a quiet confidence they could do something in the Sports Direct FAI Cup.

A week after coming on board, Lafferty lined up in the first round of the cup against Bonagee United, an amateur club from Donegal that she knew well. Sligo won 11-0, and Lafferty was up and running.

"Sligo have a great setup, the girls were all really welcoming," she says. "I think he [Feeney] was maybe looking to add a few girls at that stage you know? So he brought myself and Keeva [Flynn] in, a goalkeeper, to just kind of build a squad to finish the season off strong.

"I'm from Donegal, Inishowen. There's quite a few Inishowen girls here. There’s the Loughrey sisters [Jodie and Keri] and Paula McGrory so we’ve quite a big Inishowen representation.

"I knew a few of the [Bonagee] girls from football growing up. It was funny to play with Donegal girls against Donegal girls for the first game. Bonagee, I think they've done quite well in their league. They’ll be looking to push on in the next few years as well."

Lafferty works in tech recruitment and is based in Dublin. Sometimes she drives up to Inishowen after training; on other occasions she'll