As she hinted she would last week, Carla Ward has left captain Katie McCabe out of her Ireland squad for two friendlies against the United States in Denver and Cincinnati later this month. Aoife Mannion will also miss the trip, but there are recalls for Wexford’s Ellen Molloy and Crystal Palace’s Hayley Nolan, neither having featured in a Ward squad before.
Heather Payne, Leanne Kiernan, Tara O’Hanlon, Jamie Finn, Lily Agg and Jess Ziu are all still recovering from varying degrees of injury, so were not considered, while Shelbourne’s Aoibheann Clancy is absent due to a family bereavement.
Ward had described McCabe as being “on the verge of burnout” after a gruelling season with Arsenal, which ran all the way to the end of May with their Champions League victory over Barcelona. She is, then, excused from duty this time around, as is Manchester United’s Mannion whose injury record means her workload has to be carefully managed.
Nolan won all three of her caps during Vera Pauw’s time in charge but after being included in Eileen Gleeson’s first three squads she has been overlooked since. She missed the first half of Palace’s season, which ended in relegation from the WSL, with a shoulder injury she picked up in pre-season, but was an ever-present for them in defence on her return.
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Molloy also made her senior debut under Pauw, as a 16-year-old back in 2020, but an ACL injury interrupted her progress. She had a brief spell with Sheffield United in the English Championship before returning to Wexford in January, her form since outstanding.
Izzy Atkinson has also been included, a day after she was released by Palace. She is one of three ‘unattached’ players in the squad, along with goalkeeper Grace Moloney and defender Megan Campbell.
Even with a full squad, these games would have been formidable enough prospects, the States top of the world rankings. The nations last met in an April 2023 double-header in Austin and St Louis, when Pauw was Irish manager, Ireland losing 2-0 and 1-0.
US head coach Emma Hayes is a close friend of Ward who likened the former Chelsea manager to “a big sister” who has offered her support and guidance throughout her coaching career. After Ward left the Aston Villa job a year ago, Hayes added her to the States’ backroom team for the Olympic Games, where they won gold, Ward working for her as a scout analysing opponents.
“These games are an opportunity for us to work together on a number of things – both on and off the pitch – as we build towards the Nations League play-off against Belgium in October,” said Ward. “We will be coming up against the best team in women’s football, so we will have a plan for those games but it’s also important that we make the most out of this camp as a whole.”
“When these games were first proposed to us we knew that we would be without certain players, but that opens the door for others to step up. We are building, camp by camp, so we are looking forward to getting together again and putting in some extra work that will stand to us moving forward.”
These are Ireland’s last scheduled fixtures before they take on Belgium in September, Ward’s side having finished runners-up to Slovenia in their group.
Ireland squad: Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Grace Moloney (unattached), Sophie Whitehouse (Charlton Athletic); Jessie Stapleton (West Ham), Anna Patten (Aston Villa), Caitlin Hayes (Brighton), Hayley Nolan (Crystal Palace), Chloe Mustaki (Bristol City), Megan Campbell (unattached); Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Megan Connolly (Lazio), Tyler Toland (Blackburn Rovers), Ruesha Littlejohn (Shamrock Rovers), Marissa Sheva (Sunderland), Ellen Molloy (Wexford); Kyra Carusa (San Diego Wave), Abbie Larkin (Crystal Palace), Amber Barrett (Standard Liege), Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City), Emily Murphy (Newcastle United), Saoirse Noonan (Celtic), Erin Healy (Adelaide United), Izzy Atkinson (unattached).
Ireland fixtures
Thursday, June 26th
USA v Ireland
Commerce City, Colorado, 2am Irish time (RTÉ Player)
Sunday, June 29th
USA v Ireland, Cincinnati, 8pm Irish time (RTÉ2/RTÉ Player)
