Kylie Murphy: We can't stop pushing the league

It's just 11 years since the belated formation of the Women's National League and Kylie Murphy - player of the season last year - was there at the start.

The Wexford attacker remembers an initial rush of energy that accompanied the formation of the league, the first national women's league to gain any traction since the somewhat archaic sounding Ladies League of Ireland of the 1980s.

In Murphy's view, the promotion of the league slackened badly for a few years before its recent revival as part of the rising tide across women's sport generally at the beginning of the new decade.

She says its essential that the momentum is maintained.

"Not to be complaining but at the start, there were so many aspirations and hopes and dreams that the women's national league was going to be this, that and the other. It started well. And then it took a dip," Murphy told RTÉ Sport at the LOI/WNL launch.

"And it kind of stopped and there was no progression. But in the last two years, it has come on in leaps and bounds. And that's why I'm focused on why we can't stop [pushing the league].

"Because 10 years ago, we were going to do this, that and the other and it just never happened. Right now, the FAI and the WNL, we've taken the first steps. So, let's keep moving forward."

Murphy, now 33, gazes across at the burgeoning WSL across the water, now screened live on Sky Sports, and wonders whether its possible to conjure a similar environment here.

"Girls are getting really good coaching, good management, playing on the best pitches in Ireland. A lot of our internationals are going pro. And being in a full-time environment, that's only going to do wonders for our national team. My only hope is can we do that in Ireland?

"Can we push the league here? I sit