Saturday was a goodbye to the 2025 SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division season but it also marked a final farewell to some of the league's all-time greats.
On this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast, Shelbourne's Rachel Graham and her former Republic of Ireland team-mate Méabh De Búrca paid tribute to the likes of Áine O'Gorman, Karen Duggan, Rianna Jarrett and Kylie Murphy who are among those who will be moving onto new chapters in their lives.
But the duo also picked their Women's LOI Team of the Season, with Graham taking on the goalkeeper and midfield, while former Galway cup winner De Búrca focused on the back four and forward line.
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Goalkeeper: Megan Plaschko (Athlone Town)
"She's had 12 clean sheets. When we (Shelbourne) played them in Tolka, which was a big game, a title decider, she showed up with Player of the Match.
"She was excellent and that's what you need from your keeper. If you want to win anything, you need your keeper to be winning games for you and not costing you games and she's been excellent all year. I imagine she's going to be one of the first names they're going to want to keep." RG
Right back: Aoibheann Costello (Galway United)
"She's very versatile. She's played across the back line throughout the year as well as midfield and even ending up in attacking positions too.
"But she's so versatile and I think she's been Galway's most consistent player as well this season in my opinion and at 21, she took over the captaincy role, the vice-captain role from Lynsey McKey when she was absent from the team at times this season and 21 it's incredible to see what kind of future she has ahead of her. She has such potential." MDB
Centre backs: Kayleigh Shine and Natalie McNally (both Athlone Town)
"This was probably the toughest spot really to pick. I thought Pearl Slattery as well stood out for Shelbourne throughout the season but I'd say I've had her in every Team of the Season for the last few years, so it might be a chance to give others a go.
"Kayleigh Shine is one of the few locals there for Athlone this season and I think it's really important to have that link too, that although they did recruit well, that they have that link to local as well and she chipped in with a goal there lately too, as well as McNally beside her.
"At 26, (McNally) is in the prime of her career and I think the two of them really settled in and formed a great partnership too and Athlone's only loss, against Peamount there two weeks ago, I think it's no surprise that none of Athlone's starting back four are on the pitch when they conceded that late goal." MDB
Left back: Shauna Brennan (Athlone Town)
"She's a very neat player. She kind of links up well out from the back and makes them play out easily and I think her link-up play with Madie Gibson on the left was one of the great elements to Athlone's play this season." MDB
Central midfield: Hannah Waesch (Athlone Town) and Aoibheann Clancy (Shelbourne)
"I actually think (Hannah Waesch) has been the best player in the league in any position. She's excellent. She has come in this year, she can score goals, she's defensive, she can get up and down the pitch. She really is a top quality player and like I said about the keeper, I imagine she's definitely one that they're definitely going to want to keep.
"Beside her I've put Aoibheann Clancy in. She's just been so good for us. Obviously had such a tough personal time throughout the year and still managed to stay strong and play on.
"She's been excellent. She came from Wexford this year and it took her no time to settle in. Like Hannah, she's up and down the pitch and an athlete, and she was called in to Carla (Ward's Ireland) squad.
"I'm not sure she in the (next) squad now but I imagine she'll be on the extended list." RG
Right wing: Roisin Molloy (Athlone Town)
"She has been excellent, up and down (the flank). She really caused us a lot of trouble in that game in Athlone and even in their Champions League games, she was excellent as well." RG
Left wing: Katie Lawlee (Treaty United)
"She's a really good young player coming through. A player that can run at players, dribble at players, go by players and they're hard to come by as well, so Katie Lawlee from Treaty has gone on my left wing." RG
Forwards: MacKenzie Anthony (Shelbourne) and Kelly Brady (Athlone Town)
"I was particularly impressed by Mackenzie Anthony, and if we were looking at the goalscoring, the golden boot, maybe in a different metric if we were to see who's more efficent at scoring goals, I was calculating it out and actually Mackenzie Anthony averaged a goal every 76 minutes she played this season, whereas Kelly Brady averaged a goal every 98 minutes.
"Obviously, Kelly Brady gets that golden boot but Mackenzie Anthony was definitely the most efficient across the league this year.
"But I think the two of them together would be frightening if we saw them two in action for any team. But they've both been very impressive." MDB
Watch Republic of Ireland v Armenia in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to live radio commentary on an extended Game On programme on RTÉ 2fm.
