NIAMH FARRELLY came home with the plan to go away again.
But she decided that not travelling too far is the right move for now.
Farrelly, 25, switched to Galway United this season from Peamount United, who she joined last year after four years away in Scotland, Italy and England.
Peas meant a return ‘home’. Farrelly grew up in Lucan and joined Peamount as a kid, making her first-team debut when she was just 16.
But Galway boss Phil Trill had been on to her last summer when she weighed up her options and he approached her again in the close season.
Farrelly told SunSport: “I’d lived abroad for four years previously and I kind of wanted to move back away from home.
“I grew up at Peamount and I still have a lot of respect for them.
“I wouldn’t be where I am now. But I just wanted a different challenge.
“I chatted with Phil last year but the timing wasn’t right.
“He spoke to me again when the season was done and I decided it was a good move.
“I’m enjoying it all — apart from the weather.”
The fact Galway, who host Shamrock Rovers at Eamonn Deacy Park today, are serious title challengers having won back-to-back Avenir All-Island Cups was another selling point.
Yet it is a club Farrelly never thought she would be joining when she first left Ireland in 2021.
She said: “Certainly not! It’s funny how the world works.
“The league is definitely more competitive than when I moved away, the talent is more spread out.
“That is probably due to more girls playing football in general.
“We used to be travelling to play teams with Peamount and you’d be thinking, ‘We’ll batter these’. You can’t think that now, every team takes points off everyone. That’s brilliant.”
The four-times capped Ireland star’s return has allowed her to complete her Sports Management degree in DCU, having put it on hold in 2021 when she had the chance to join Glasgow City.
And she admitted that the experiences abroad have whetted her appetite to spread her wings again if there is an opportunity in the future.
Farrelly said: “I moved to Scotland in January 2021 with Glasgow City.
“We’d played them the previous year in the Champions League, losing on penalties.
“At the time, it wasn’t in my mind to go abroad because I was studying. But I felt it was too good an opportunity.
“It was difficult at first with Covid but we won the league. I was there for a year and a half.
“Then Parma came in for me and it was a chance to go to Serie A.
“I’d studied Italian for the Leaving Cert so it was like everything aligned.
“I loved my two years there, it was a completely different experience, different coaches, different style of play, a different lifestyle.
“After that I joined London City. To go to the Championship was a great opportunity but I didn’t play as many games as I’d have liked.
“I was injured in pre-season and then just didn’t really get in.
“At the end of the season, my mind was on coming home, getting my degree and getting playing again.”
Still, going abroad once more is an ambition.
She added: “I’d definitely do it again. But right now I’m tunnel vision on Galway and my degree and doing well this season.”
TODAY’S FIXTURES: Treaty United v Cork City (3pm), Waterford v DLR Waves (3pm), Shelbourne v Peamount (4pm), Galway United v Shamrock Rovers (5pm), Wexford Youths v Sligo Rovers (6pm), Athlone Town v Bohemians (7.30pm).
