This one was, by a distance, the sweetest.

Not through last-day drama because a 10-match winning sequence regained the crown they’d relinquished to Shelbourne with two games to spare, but the external inhibitors.

The FAI’s leanings towards men’s clubs leading the way was evidenced in 2015 when Raheny United were subsumed into Shelbourne.

Galway FC’s demise last year led to Galway United stepping in and, most notably, Shamrock Rovers ended their eight-year hiatus from senior women’s football just as professional contracts were being permitted.

“We want to come in and change the game here,” came the rallying call from Rovers, all the more credible given the claim was uttered by Peamount’s former director of football.

Jason Carey being headhunted by the Hoops was the precursor to Rovers raiding Greenogue for five Peamount players, including captain Áine O’Gorman and Stephanie Roche.

Double-holders Shelbourne were similarly ravaged in the recruitment drive but the fear centred on Peamount drifting towards obscurity.

That’s what schoolboy clubs have bemoaned amid the FAI applying closed shop criteria to national leagues, excluding the very sector which helped produce a generation of current male internationals Ireland manager Stephen Kenny brackets as exceptional.

Peamount were encouraged to dilute their identity too, previously holding talks with Rovers over a merger when intimations were they could get left behind.

Not only have the club, 40 years in existence and who own their own ground since 1986, have survived within the changing market but thrived.

A visit to the club’s facility this week ahead of their trophy-lift after Saturday’s final game against Sligo Rovers demonstrates how they emerged from the challenge.

There’s a warm feeling to the place, a community spirit fused with a determination to overcome obstacles.

Grants from the Government and FAI are measly, placing the onus on volunteers to scramble in meeting the running costs that have veered well into six-figures territory.

On that Saturday night three weeks ago, they waited until their guests from the Underdogs show completed filming before retaking ownership of the clubhouse.

They could rejoice into the night and the access to Champions League exposure it again grants next season.

Club captain Karen Duggan resisted the urge to join the migration to Rovers.

As shown by her decision to quit the Ireland team as a regular at 27, the Kilkenny woman is of independent mind and doesn’t follow the fashion.

She had learnt from that mistake of fleeing with Eileen Gleeson to UCD Waves in 2015.

“People might dismiss Peamount as a small club but as a football club, it’s very good and gives us everything we need,” she says.

“This time last year we had gone on a really good run of form. There were times midseason we were in a rut but we dragged ourselves out of it and I was really excited for this season.

“We didn’t know what was to come but I had my mind 100% made up that I was staying. I had left once before and to be honest I regretted it.

“Peamount is my club, the place I’ve had the most success but more importantly the people in this club are like my Dublin family. I will never leave again.”

No matter if an exodus decimates her beloved Peas?

“Nope. Some of my really close friends from the team left and there was no ill-feeling. They had their reasons for going but equally I had mine for staying.

“A lot was to do with football and the fact we had some really exciting talent coming through but more down to the people in the club who make it.

“They have given me lots over the years and I wanted to give something back. Hopefully I’ve done that by staying.

“Other clubs can offer things that Peamount can’t but we have plenty of different things not monetary valued. The development you get from the club and the support, on and off the pitch, is immense.”

As manager James O’Callaghan tried to stem the tide 12 months ago, Duggan’s retention succeeded in, to borrow that phrase, changing the game.

“There were about another 10 players who could have left, in terms of being tapped up by other clubs, but Karen was the most sought-after player in the league from all the teams,” he said.

“She is passionate about the club. Coming from a GAA background, she loves the family vibe here. And, being such a senior figure and such a role model, she really helped me trying to get the other players to Stay. It made it a lot easier.”

O’Callaghan doesn’t begrudge his players accepting paid contracts but Peamount didn’t stand still either.

“We lost players yearly, many to the UK, but last time was different with Rovers coming in and high-profile players leaving,” he admits.

“It’s great they can get paid and I wished them luck. Not many clubs are able to give pro contracts, apart from Rovers really.

“Most are giving matchday expenses, that type of thing, With a lot of work by the committee in getting sponsorship, we were never able to do that until this year, which was massive.”

Peamount’s triumph against adversity is best characterised by Duggan. “We’re all aware of the FAI’s preference for men’s clubs in the women’s league but there’s a proud tradition here. Too much work has gone in at underage level and in the background for that to wilt away.”

Szmodics and Moran make case for caps but will Coleman follow McClean into retirement?

AN understandable sense of anticlimax descended this month’s final Ireland games of the year against Netherlands and New Zealand, but tomorrow’s squad announcement could be intriguing.

In what will be Stephen Kenny’s last big reveal before the FAI release him, the outgoing boss could help his successor by blooding newcomers.

Screaming for inclusion are the uncapped duo of Sammie Szmodics and Andrew Moran at Blackburn Rovers. Together they tormented Norwich City and Shane Duffy last Sunday, with Szmodics bringing his season’s tally to nine goals. For different reasons, personal and injury, they weren’t involved in the October matches but these are ideal for participation.

In contrast to 2021 when third place in the group was at stake against Luxembourg and last year with last spot in the Nations League pool to be avoided against Armenia, a result against the Dutch at the home of Ajax on Saturday won’t change the table. Back-to-back defeats to Greece condemned Ireland to a fourth-placed finish in their Euro ’24 table.

Even the prospect of a playoff route arising from results elsewhere is virtually toast.

That backdrop doesn’t diminish the nuances of the squad. Séamus Coleman may be eager to get chosen, after playing the second Everton U21 game of his comeback plan last night.

The New Zealand friendly in Dublin on Tuesday week marks the end of James McClean’s Ireland career, but will his friend also use the occasion to sign off at the older age of 35?

Robbie’s Tel Aviv return one to watch

With the first search for an Ireland manager since 2018 now imminent, how Robbie Keane handles his disrupted first job in Israel will be carefully monitored.

Maccabi Tel Aviv will play their first game tomorrow since war erupted in the country, but the ongoing hostilities means their “home” Conference League group stage game against Ukrainian side Zorya will be played in the neutral venue of the Polish city of Lublin.

This week was the first time the Ireland legend got to work with his squad in-person as himself and his assistant, former teammate Rory Delap, were first moved into a saferoom and then flown out of Israel once the Hamas invasion on October 7 ignited tensions in the Middle East.

Keane, in his first standalone permanent job, had overseen an unbeaten league start before the interruption.

He had also overcome Breiablik, conquerors of Shamrock Rovers, in their European campaign.

A 2-0 defeat against Gent in their final game hasn’t diverted them out of contention for reaching the knockout stages.

That would really propel him into the conversation of who will succeed the person who discarded him, Stephen Kenny.

Email: john.fallon@examiner.ie