Laura O'Sullivan
O'Sullivan in goal for Cardiff City against Lewes in 2016
Personal information
Date of birth (1991-08-23) 23 August 1991
Place of birth Wales
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Cardiff City
Number 1
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2017 Cardiff City
2017 Yeovil Town 0 (0)
2017–2018 Cyncoed Ladies
2018– Cardiff City 30 (0)
International career‡
2016– Wales 55 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 5 May 2020 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 01 May 2023

Laura O'Sullivan (born 23 August 1991) is a Welsh footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Cardiff City Ladies and the Wales national team.

She began her career with Cardiff City, making her debut after converting to playing as a goalkeeper in 2015. In 2016, she made her international debut for Wales in the Cyprus Women's Cup.

Club career

O'Sullivan was a latecomer to football; owing to difficulties finding transport, she rarely played as a teenager, and briefly gave up the game, a decision that she later stated she regretted. Having only taken up competitive football on a regular basis in 2011, she began her career as a defender, playing for Cardiff City, but switched to playing as a goalkeeper after covering the position on several occasions as the team struggled to find a regular keeper.[1]

She adopted the goalkeeping position full-time in December 2014, and after impressing for Cardiff's reserve side, broke into the club's first-team squad. In her first senior year, she established herself as the club's first-choice goalkeeper and was given the Coaches' Player of the Year award at the end of the 2014–15 season.[1][2]

O'Sullivan joined FA WSL 1 side Yeovil Town on 17 September 2017, alongside Welsh international teammate Hannah Miles.[3] However, she was released by the club without playing a game in November that year, and subsequently joined Cyncoed Ladies in the Women's Welsh Premier League.[4]

International career

O'Sullivan was called up to squad training camps on two occasions before being handed her debut for the Wales senior side by manager Jayne Ludlow on 2 March 2016, during a 2–2 draw with Finland in their opening group match of the 2016 Cyprus Women's Cup,[5] less than 18 months after converting to playing as a goalkeeper.[1] She played in Wales' two other group matches against Czech Republic and Poland as they were eliminated in the group stage.[1] In October 2017, she was named 2017 Welsh Footballer of the Year.[6][7] She kept five successive clean sheets during Wales's qualification campaign for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, including a Player of the Match award against England on 6 April 2018.[4]

Honours

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Matt Badcock (20 March 2016). "It's serious now for the Wales No.1". The Football League Paper. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  2. 1 2 Sian Matheson (18 June 2015). "The story of how a Cardiff carnival led to the creation of one of Wales' most successful women's football sides". WalesOnline. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  3. ↑ "Yeovil Town Ladies: Wales' Laura O'Sullivan & Hannah Miles sign for WSL 1 club". BBC Sport. 18 September 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  4. 1 2 Edwards, Luke (29 August 2018). "Wales goalkeeper Laura O'Sullivan marks unlikely rise to brink of World Cup - 'I go straight to training from the office'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  5. ↑ "Wales and Finland draw thriller in the Cyprus Women's Cup". Football Association of Wales. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  6. ↑ Wilf Frith (3 October 2017). "Laura O'Sullivan Wales Player Of The Year". She Kicks. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Chris Gunter: Reading defender beats Gareth Bale to Wales player of year award". BBC Sport. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
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