Jessica Gargan

Jessica Gargan (born 10 March 1997) is an Irish association footballer who plays as a defender for Women's National League club Shelbourne FC. Since making her debut in August 2019 she has been a member of the Republic of Ireland women's national team. Gargan is predominantly a right-back but can also play further forward as a winger.[2] She spent four years playing college soccer in the United States with Quinnipiac Bobcats and has also represented Peamount United.

Jess Gargan
Personal information
Full name Jessica Gargan
Date of birth (1997-03-10) 10 March 1997
Place of birth Dublin, Ireland
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)[1]
Position(s) Defender / Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Shelbourne
Number 2
Youth career
Swords Rovers
2010–2013 Shelbourne
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2018 Quinnipiac Bobcats 70 (7)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2015 Peamount United
2019– Shelbourne
National team‡
2019– Republic of Ireland 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15:27, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

Club career

Gargan was born and raised in Dublin and played youth football for Swords Rovers.[1] She then spent three years in the youth system of Shelbourne FC.[3] Gargan signed for Peamount United in 2013[1] and made her first Women's National League (WNL) appearances for the club in 2014–15.[4]

In 2015 she accepted an offer to play four years of college soccer for the Quinnipiac University "Bobcats". In her freshman season, Gargan appeared in all 17 matches (16 starts) and scored four goals. She was named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) All-Rookie Team. As a sophomore in 2016, she was named to the MAAC All-Tournament Team. In 2018 she completed her college career with a total of seven goals in 70 appearances.[1]

Ahead of the 2019 WNL season, Gargan accepted an offer to re-join Shelbourne FC who now competed at WNL level.[3]

International career

Youth

Gargan represented Ireland at schoolgirl level while she attended St. Finian's Community College, Swords.[5] In August 2013, she scored four times for the Republic of Ireland women's national under-17 football team in their 12–1 2014 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualification win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in Ulyanovsk, Russia.[6] She scored again in a 4–0 win over hosts Romania in the elite round at Mogoșoaia on 5 October 2013,[7] but Ireland finished second behind Spain and were eliminated.

Gargan was part of the Republic of Ireland women's national under-19 football team which qualified for the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship finals for the first time in 2014.[8] Seen as an athletic midfielder, she secured her place in the squad with a goal against Sweden in a pre-tournament fixture at La Manga at La Manga Club Football Stadium.[9] Ireland lost 4–0 to the Netherlands in the semi-final, for whom Vivianne Miedema scored a hat-trick.[10]

Just after completing her studies at Quinnipiac University, Gargan represented Ireland at the 2019 Summer Universiade.[11]

Senior

In August 2019 she won her first senior cap, starting a 3–0 friendly defeat by the United States at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.[12] She was complimented on her performance by Ireland's interim manager Tom O'Connor: "Niamh Farrelly and Jess Gargan were excellent, they didn't look out of sync at all".[13] A competitive debut followed in the opening UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifier against Montenegro, a 2–0 win at Tallaght Stadium on 3 September 2019.[14]

References
  1. "7 Jess Gargan". Quinnipiac Bobcats. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  2. "Jessica Gargan". Shelbourne F.C. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  3. "Jess Gargan signs for Shels". Shelbourne F.C. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  4. "Jessica Gargan". Extratime.com. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  5. "Republic of Ireland to host Bob Docherty Cup". FAI Schools. 6 April 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  6. "Republic of Ireland 12-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina". UEFA. 6 August 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  7. "Romania 0-4 Republic of Ireland". UEFA. 5 October 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  8. McGuinnes, Grainne (24 July 2014). "Meet Ireland's newest soccer stars as they prepare for Euro semi-final". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  9. Fallon, John (23 July 2014). "Dunne living the dream as Irish girls chase Euro glory in Oslo". Irish Independent. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  10. "Ireland women bow out of Under-19 European Championships". The Irish Times. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  11. "Match Report Irl v Bra 3:0" (PDF). 2019 Summer Universiade. 2 July 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  12. @FAIreland (4 August 2019). "UPDATE | Excellent clearance in the box on 29' from @shelsfc defender Jess Gargan who is making her debut for #IRLWNT #COYGIG" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  13. "World champions USA prove too strong for Ireland as victory tour kicks off". Irish Independent. 4 August 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  14. Dollery, Paul (17 September 2019). "Ireland targeting record-breaking Tallaght turn-out for next month's Euro qualifier". The42.ie. TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
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