Cardiff City Women’s winger Gillian Keenan said, “it’s a great opportunity,” as she hopes her side can win the Adran Premier League to achieve Champions League football.
Keenan, who studied for a postgraduate degree in sports communication and digital media at the University of Gloucestershire in 2024/25, managed an impressive seven goals in as many games to start this season with her side now sitting in third.
UCL football is the reward for a first placed finish, and Cardiff sit just three points behind the well-backed Wrexham, with Keenan recognising the chance her side have this season.
“It’s a great opportunity,” she stated. “It’s a very competitive league, especially up towards the top with the likes of Wrexham. So obviously you want to do your best, you want to win the league.
“And that obviously leads then to Champions League, so hopefully we can continue to try and push and achieve that.”
The 26-year-old originally plied her trade in her native Republic of Ireland with Kilkenny United and Peaumont United, before joining Treaty United and subsequently Athlone Town. After winning the club’s first league title in 2024, Keenan then returned to Treaty for another spell.
“It was good to see some familiar faces. The assistant manager was my Uni coach when I was at the University of Limerick. So I was already familiar with him as well. And the manager, Sean Byrne, had been my manager with Treaty the previous time around. I can’t remember how long he was with me for, but I was familiar with him as well.
“So it was nice to get back playing in Limerick where the club is based. And the supporters and that were great to be back playing in front of as well.”
Keenan joined Cardiff this summer as their second signing of the window, and has thrived in blue since. During her time in Gloucestershire, however, Keenan was tasked with balancing her studies and football career – something the Irish attacker believes she was successful at: “Luckily for me, I kind of took a break from playing club football at the time to focus on my degree, and I just played Uni football,” she said.
“That made it a little bit easier, because normally I’d put football first, but obviously doing a postgraduate degree, there’s a lot more to it. So I kind of focused on that, getting my education, and I enjoyed playing with my Uni team at the same time.
“We did very well in that we won the league that year, won the cup as well, just unfortunately lost in Varsity which is a bit of a sore one to take. But aside from that, I think I handle it pretty well.”
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