Mia Dodd is about to embark on her first full season at Shamrock Rovers. For the 23 year old midfielder the goal is clear, ‘we’d love to be the first group to bring silverware to the women’s side.’
Dodd spoke to Tom Maher from The Halfway Line about her start in football, pre-season training in Phoenix Park and her centre midfield heroes.
Mia Dodd recalls football at ‘three or four years old’
The first club Mia Dodd joined was Shelbourne when she was just 12 years old. But the canny Rovers midfielder tells me that her story in football began far earlier than that,
“I kind of joined football when I was really young” Dodd explained.
“I think I was around three or four at the time, in my area, it was like football was kind of the main sport. So I kind of started playing out my own hand! Kind of!” Dodd clarified with a smile.
“My older cousin, I would have been with him a lot and he was going training so I kind of just wanted to go with him. And then I ended up just coming home after being with him and just telling my dad I joined the football team and it kind of all kicked off from there.”
Now the box to box midfielder is embarking on her eighth season in Ireland’s top flight. That means pre-season is well underway and Dodd and her team mates were spotted in the famous Phoenix Park recently, being put through their paces,
“Yeah, it was tough over the weekend” Dodd said with a rye grin.
“I think we were in three days in a row and that was the last day. So it was tough on the legs, but I think that it will really stand to us coming to the start of the season in a couple of weeks.
“[Going to Phoenix Park] that was down to James [O’Callaghan]. James kind of scheduled it and had it in the preseason schedule from the minute it was sent out.
“So we’d all seen the Phoenix Park and we’re all wondering what are we going to be doing in this one?” Dodd laughed.
Putting the work in ✊ pic.twitter.com/ISZyRELLFG
— Shamrock Rovers Women (@RoversWomen) January 26, 2026
Mia Dodd says Rovers are ‘gelling together’ under James O’Callaghan
This season Shamrock Rovers have a new head coach, James O’Callaghan, three time winner of the league in charge of Peamount United. Dodd explained how she has found life so far under new leadership,
“Yeah, I think everything’s going really well” Dodd explained.
“Obviously, it’s new management. Everything’s new at the minute, there’s a couple of new faces in and around.
“So the past couple of weeks, we’ve all kind of just been gelling together, getting to know each other better, but I’m really looking forward to James’ plans, like he has a good plan set in place, and we’re all really buying into it, and can’t wait to get going.”
Since Shamrock Rovers re-entered the League of Ireland Women’s Premier Division in 2022, they have been no strangers to causing a stir in the transfer market. This summer was no different, The Halfway Line asked Dodd if the busy window is exciting as a player,
“Yeah, 100%” Dodd answered.
“Like, you look at the players that he’s [James O’Callaghan’s] bringing in already, obviously, the likes of Ellen [Molloy] we know how good she is across the league.
“She’s proved herself over the past couple of seasons. Now you have the likes of Sadhbh Doyle coming in, Therese Kinnevey, Amanda Budden, Lauryn O’Callaghan.
“They’re all quality players, and they’ve showed that quality over the past couple years, so it’s exciting to have all them back in and obviously they’re going to add a lot to the team.”
‘I think if I score inside the box, it’s kind of like, what’s going on?’ jokes Dodd
The type of midfielder player Dodd is, she is unafraid to have a crack from distance, and one performance last term particularly caught the eye in that respect.
In a 7-1 demolition of Waterford last term Dodd scored a Sofascore perfect 10, one of just four outfield players to do so in the league in 2025. That day she scored two screamers and nabbed an assist for good measure,
“I think probably most of my goals are scored from outside the box. I think if I score inside the box, it’s kind of like, what’s going on?!” Dodd laughed.
“It’s kind of just trying to lean over, get my knee over the ball and hope for the best, nine times out of 10 usually it’s going over a bar, thankfully that day it didn’t.”
It is a measure of Dodd’s extremely high standards that in continuing to discuss that match, Dodd tells me where she would improve on her 10/10 performance,
“I think it was more I didn’t start off as well in the game as I’d hoped to” Dodd recalled.
“Like, obviously, as I grew into the game and got more confidence, I started to strike the ball a bit more and thankfully two of them went in.
“I obviously missed a peno in that game and missed a chance near the end but after the game, I was grateful to get the two goals in the end.”
Mia Dodd on ‘box to box’ midfield greats
When considering the type of player that Dodd has most modelled her game on, Dodd mentioned two Liverpool midfielders, past and present,
“Growing up I would have, if you’re looking at the Premier League types, I grew up a big Liverpool supporter. So I would have watched Stephen Gerrard a lot” Dodd said.
“And obviously the way he was like, box to box, had a good strike, that is kind of the way I probably tried to develop my game around.
“But I think when you’re looking at the women’s game, if you’re looking at the likes of Denise Sullivan: box to box, hard working player, I would kind of watch their game and try to replicate her in some kind of way.”
‘There is a pathway’ to the Ireland squad for League of Ireland talent says Dodd
Recently we have seen players in the League of Ireland like Maria Reynolds and Kelly Brady in her time at Athlone town break into the Ireland squad. The Halfway Line asked about Dodd’s ambitions and if she believes there is currently a pathway for players in the league to make the national team,
“I think everyone in the league always has the hopes of representing their country at the end of the day” Dodd explained.
“I’ve watched really close friends of mine do it, and it’s always something I’ve dreamed of. But I feel like as the years have went on, there is a pathway there that you can actually get into the squad.
“And obviously you’ve seen it. Obviously Ellen [Molloy] would have been in a couple of times. Then you had Maria [Reynolds] in recently, Kelly Brady being in getting a move to England from it as well.
“So like you can see, there is a pathway there, and there is a pathway I’d love to go on, but obviously it hasn’t happened yet. But it’s not something that I’ve given up on just yet.”
‘I’ve got my enjoyment back’ in football says Mia Dodd
Football can be a fickle sport, at times it raises up while at others it knocks you down. Dodd spoke eloquently about her own experience within the game when asked about her personal goals for the season,
“I think this season, it’s more like getting more minutes under my belt” Dodd said.
“I think when I made the move back to Shelbourne it kind of took away from my minutes of what I had been getting in the previous year.
“So it kind of like took my enjoyment away from the game. But since going to Rovers in the summer, I felt like I’ve got the enjoyment back.
“And I kicked on more near the end of the season, it was kind of one of them where I was raging the season had came to an end” she said with a smile.
“It kind of gives me the urge to get back playing and get back to the level that I was at previously.”
Dodd opened up about leaving Bohemians and how she found herself playing football again,
“I took a little break to myself when I left Bohs [Bohemians] in May. And then Steph, Stephanie Roche contacted me around June or July. I had a little think, then I was like, it’s something new, it’s something fresh.
“And obviously football wasn’t something I really wanted to let go of. Like, I think I just needed to step away for for a couple of weeks.
“But thankfully, Steph did contact me, and it was something I kind of grabbed and have pushed on with and [I’m] thankful for her now in the end.”
Dodd focused on bringing silverware to the women’s side at Rovers
No club has won the men’s League of Ireland more than Shamrock Rovers’ 10 titles. However the women’s side is trophyless since reforming in 2022 and that is something Dodd is keen to change,
“I think always at the start of the season, your goal is to come out with silverware” affirms Dodd.
“I think, like, obviously, Rovers is a big club, and it’s a club that’s very successful on the men’s side. So we’d all love to be the first group to bring that to the women’s side.
“Bringing silverware would be kind of a main goal for us this year, and obviously to finish higher in the league than what we have. And obviously everyone wants to get to the Cup final, so that’s all we’d be aiming for as well.”
Shamrock Rovers will kick off the new season away to Cork City on 14th March 2026.
