Carla Ward already has to make do without Courtney Brosnan, Megan Connolly and Leanne Kiernan for the Nations League playoff against Belgium, so you’d imagine that while she was sitting in the stands in Tallaght on Sunday, watching the FAI Cup final, she might have been keeping a nervous eye on the welfare of her available players while they were in action for their clubs.
If she was monitoring Sunday’s English League Cup games on the BBC website, her heart might have skipped a beat when they erroneously named Brosnan as Everton’s starting goalkeeper. Brosnan, alas, remains on the injury list, all three of the contenders to fill in for her – Grace Moloney, Sophie Whitehouse and Katie Keane – having the weekend off. Choosing which one of them replaces Brosnan will be Ward’s biggest decision for these games.
The very good news was that Denise O’Sullivan came on for the last 20 minutes of North Carolina Courage’s 4-1 win over Bay FC, her first game-time since suffering a knee injury in August. The timing of her recovery is, then, impeccable – her savvy will be desperately needed against the Belgians.
Ward will, though, fret while waiting for an explanation from San Diego Wave as to why Kyra Carusa didn’t make their squad for their 6-1 thrashing of Chicago Stars. She won’t be buoyed either by Katie McCabe being dropped by Arsenal for their Champions League win over Benfica last week, the Irish captain, who will reach the 100 cap mark if she plays home and away against Belgium, not having the best of starts to the season.
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Ruesha Littlejohn finally started a game for Crystal Palace, but she was taken off at half-time in their League Cup win over Ipswich, as was Abbie Larkin. A line-up shake-up, hopefully, and not injury issues.
The best news of all at the weekend was Tara O’Hanlon’s first competitive start in, by her club Sunderland’s calculation, 862 days. She played 76 minutes of their 1-0 League Cup defeat by Sheffield United, the Dubliner, who is on loan from Manchester City, finally returning after an injury-ravaged couple of years.
