The resumption of football in England after the Christmas break brought a happy sight on Sunday with the return to action of Republic of Ireland forward Rianna Jarrett for London City Lionesses in their FA Cup win over Portsmouth.
The Wexford woman has had the most brutal of injury problems over the last few years, including three ruptured ACLs, but she’s fought back yet again, this time coming on for the last 15 minutes of her team’s 1-0 win.
Also back in action is Aoife Mannion after her recovery from a cruciate ligament knee injury, the Manchester United defender playing the first half of a friendly against Birkirkara FC in Malta. The former England underage international is on Vera Pauw’s radar, the Irish manager revealing last month that she is considering calling Mannion up to her squad.
Meanwhile, Roma McLaughlin has signed a professional contract with Denmark’s Fortuna Hjørring after four successful years with Central Connecticut State University, the Donegal midfielder joining fellow international Kyra Carusa, who captains champions HB Køge, in the Danish league.
Also aiming for a place in Ireland’s World Cup squad is the multitalented Sarah Rowe, the Mayo native having starred for her county in Gaelic football before embarking on an Aussie Rules career with Collingwood.
Before all that Rowe was a gifted underage Irish football international, going on to make her senior debut in 2015. She has largely focused on the other codes since, but has now joined the A-League’s Melbourne Victory for the AFLW off-season, having been contracted to Collingwood for the campaign ahead.
Asked by Australian media if she had hopes of making Ireland’s World Cup squad, she said: “One can dream. Step one was getting back to playing soccer again, step two was getting signed to a club, which is Victory, step three is getting into the (Ireland) squad and then performing week in, week out.”
Pauw can only bring 23 players to Australia. The list of contenders for inclusion in her squad grows ever longer.
