The tale of a non-league women’s footballer often brings up difficulties with injuries, paying to play, boggy pitches and the dedication needed to rise through the youth ranks. Heidi O’Reilly has overcome all of these hurdles, but not without a few bumps along the way.
Heidi O’Reilly joined South Yorkshire giants Sheffield Wednesday Ladies at the age-of-7, working her way to becoming a prominent figure in the first-team, with a career-defining injury and controversial move to Sheffield United taking place along the way.
The 19-year-old attacking-midfielder notched over a decade of service to the club, but all of that was once at stake after sustaining an injury that led to medical professionals telling her that there was a chance she ‘won’t even be able to run’, let alone return to the grass.
A move to pastures new has seen O’Reilly take a different route with her career, ending her long stint with the Owlesses to join YP Academy.
Family & Early Career
Much of Heidi O’Reilly’s passion for the game comes down to her early introductions to football, courtesy of her grandmother and mum, who both worked as the kitwomen at Sheffield Wednesday’s men’s team.
“I went down to work with my granny, as the kit woman, helping her out, and I saw all the boys playing in summer camp, so I wanted to join in,” she says. “Then when it got to the start of the next season, I think I was about seven, I signed for Wednesday Ladies under 9’s.”
It didn’t take O’Reilly long to find her favourite Sheffield Wednesday’s men’s player, and that was veteran midfielder Barry Bannan, a huge icon among Wednesdayites and someone that Heidi would later mould her playing style to recreate.
“I think I was about, I’d say nine or 10 when I first met him [Barry Bannan]. Obviously, I sort of looked at him. He was just one of my favourite players. I didn’t really speak to him. Just kind of got my picture and kept going,” she says.
“But I think the more I started to go down to work with my mum and grandma, and go to summer camps, I used to see him more. He would ask how my season is going and stuff like that.”
It is evident, after only minutes of talking to O’Reilly, that her mum has played an integral part in her football career, and nobody has had such an impact off the grass as her
“I think my mum played a big part in me playing football because she saw that I wanted to play with all the lads, and obviously I didn’t have any football kit or boots. She saw that I enjoyed it that much so she went out and bought me them.
“At the time when I first started playing, she didn’t drive. I used to get buses and stuff to play, and that made her push herself to pass her driving test quicker just so she could get me around the country to play football.
“I doubt I’d be playing football without my family.
“My family’s so based around football just in general. Their work is football, they watch football, like, everything about them is football. So I think it wouldn’t make sense if I didn’t play.”
The support that O’Reilly had both on-and-off the pitch set her up for success, earning a call up to Sheffield United’s academy at the age-of-10, a move that she was sceptical about until her mum had her say.
“She helped me get around, and then told me to go to the academy as well. I didn’t want to leave like my friends and stuff, but she influenced me by saying “it’s better for you personally”, like it was a case of picking your friends or choosing a career realistically.”
Returning to Wednesday Ladies at 13-years-old, O’Reilly continued to impress at junior level, notably piquing the interest of club chairman Dave Higgins, who had bookmarked the midfielder to be a top player at senior level in the future.
A year ago today my baby girl had #acl surgery. Was told 18mths recovery! Smashed it in 7! Continues to amaze me! Enjoy presentation tonight @heidi_x10 @swlfc #aclrecovery pic.twitter.com/DtgcOwTa1V
— Kimberley (@mrskimmorrison) May 20, 2023
Injury Woes
O’Reilly’s career in the two years after Sheffield United saw her thrive, but on the brink of her first senior call-up, her football career was brought to a shuddering halt.
Injuries are part-and-parcel of a footballing career, but some can decipher whether someone can make it professional.
At 15-years-old, Heidi O’Reilly suffered an injury to her ACL, MCL and meniscus, as well as a fractured kneecap, all at once. She suggested that it put a ‘dent’ in her career, and it saw her sidelined for a year-and-a-half.
“I thought, just before the injury, I was playing the best I’ve ever played. The injury was the worst feeling I’ve ever had. So we went to the hospital and they kind of got my hopes up saying it was soft tissue damage. It would put me out for about three weeks.
“And then we got the results for my MRI scan. It said a minimum 18 months of recovery, and I was absolutely gutted. I thought that football was out the window completely. They said people with that sort of injury tend to not go back at a high level. So I wasn’t really optimistic about going back to where I came from.
“I was so close to turning 16, which is obviously the age that I can play in senior football. I think if I played a lot earlier than I did, I’d have been seen by other teams or I’d have been able to develop a bit quicker than now.”
Aside from her progress on the pitch, the injury had a significant impact on her social life, with the blow often leaving her isolated away from her friends.
“Most of my friends were from football, and a lot of the social parts of my life were obviously football. So not being able to train and play means I wasn’t able to see everybody. So I kind of felt a bit left out from everything.
“But then even in my everyday life, just going to different places with my friends and stuff, I wasn’t able to do it. So I kind of just sat at home by myself.”
Once again, her family was crucial in her rehabilitation, with her mum’s job at Sheffield Wednesday men’s side helping her to state-of-the-art treatment alongside the professional team.
“I went down and saw Chris Bailey, who is the physio for Sheffield Wednesday’s men’s team. I saw a lot of the physios down there that would help me, alongside the ones at the hospital. But the days that I didn’t want to get up actually go to physio, my mum would either drag me up and say you’re going or she’d ring my physio and ask for sessions for me to do at home because she didn’t like looking at me just sitting there.
“After the injury, I had a lot of doubts, of obviously just playing football again. I didn’t think I was able to, and at points I didn’t want to, and my physio from the hospital said at one point that if I didn’t recover as strongly as I needed to, I won’t even be able to run, never mind playing football. But I think once I started rehab, and started pushing myself, I think I knew I was able to go back to the same point.”
Achieving the Dream
Despite the set-backs to her career, Heidi O’Reilly managed to achieve her dream of becoming a first-team regular at Sheffield Wednesday Ladies, claiming the number 10 after her aforementioned footballing hero, Barry Bannan.
She also joined up with the Sheffield Wednesday Community Programme Women’s team, which gave her the opportunity to captain the side at Hillsborough Stadium last season in a varsity clash with Sheffield United Community team.
“It felt good knowing it was the ground I’ve loved and visited since I was very little, and I think with having some of my family there to watch me, and playing alongside all my friends, I thought that playing at Hillsborough was really the best experience.”
During the 2024/25 season, O’Reilly made the move to SHWGL side YP Academy, a club that endured a successful opening campaign in their existence. The attacking-midfielder will be hoping that she can go one step further next season with YP and help achieve their first promotion as a club.
