McGovern and Gray win SWPL Player of the Month awards for May

Kathleen McGovern and Cara Gray have collected the May 2025 Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL) Player of the Month awards, supported by Park’s Motor Group.

Kathleen McGovern makes it back-to-back player of the month awards, whilst also completing her season hat trick, making it three in total to round off a remarkable year for the title winning striker. Kathleen contributed a crucial five goals and an assist in May to take her season tally to an impressive 31 goals across the League and Sky Sports Cup.

McGovern kicked off her magnificent May with a brace in the Edinburgh derby, helping kickstart Hibernian’s unbeaten final month. This performance also earned her a deserved spot in the SWPL Team of the Week. Kathleen followed this with another crucial goal in the top of the table stalemate with Glasgow City, helping solidify Hibernian’s position at the top of the table.

The striker followed this up with yet another brace in Hibernian’s 4-2 victory over Celtic at Meadowbank, ensuring Hibernian were in the driving seat coming into the final game title decider with Rangers. The tightly contested final day clash was edged by Hibs, with McGovern providing an excellent assist late in the game to seal the title for the Leith side for the first time since 2007. These standout performances also warranted a first senior Scotland call-up for McGovern, rounding off an excellent season for the forward.

In the ScottishPower Women’s Premier League 2, Cara Gray wins the award for the first time in her career. The youngster has impressed in her first full season of SWPL football, helping Kilmarnock to a solid second place finish. The Glasgow City loanee scored in all three games in May, including an impressive hat-trick against Livingston.

As Kilmarnock continued to battle for the title and promotion to SWPL 1, the Ayrshire side started the month with a closely contested 2-2 draw against fellow promotion rivals, Boroughmuir Thistle, where Cara grabbed the opening goal of the game. Cara then earned herself the Star Player award in the second Team of the Week of May after an emphatic hat-trick away to Livingston. All three of the young forward’s goals in the game were of the highest calibre, including a curled right footed effort from outside the box. However, this was topped by her May Goal of the Month nomination when she extended her side’s lead in the game with a superb volley into the top corner.

Killie rounded off their season with a 5-2 victory in the Ayrshire derby, where Cara scored yet another goal, taking her season tally up to a striking 22 goals. This May Player of the Month award deservedly recognises her amazing breakthrough season in SWPL 2.

The other nominees for the May 2025 SWPL award were Georgia Carter (Montrose), Nikol Kozlova (Glasgow City), and Katie Wilkinson (Rangers), and for the SWPL 2 award were Fiona Gibson (Boroughmuir Thistle), and Keira Ritchie (Hamilton Academical).