Manchester City defender Megan Campbell returns to the Irish women’s squad for next month’s European Championship qualifier, the team’s first game under new manager, Vera Pauw.
Campbell missed Ireland’s opening game through injury and her return will come as boost for Pauw as she seeks to get her own spell in charge off to a winning start and help build early momentum by beating a key qualification rival. Defender Keeva Keenan, Celtic’s Player of the Year for last season, is also included in the 23 woman squad for a game which Pauw insists Ireland must get something out of if they are to stay in contention for a second place finish in their qualifying group.
“Realistically, Germany will be the first team in the group,” she said as the squad was announced, “and we will fight with Ukraine for second place. A win (in this game) would be perfect for a start but over the two games we need to have a positive outcome, a win and a draw would be good, so we must not lose this match.”
Pauw says that given her recent arrival into the job, she has been helped in her assessment of the players available to her by her Dublin based assistant Eileen Gleeson as well as Under-19/Colleges team coach Dave Connell. She is due to speak with her predecessor, Colin Bell, on Friday with the Englishman, she says, keen to help in whatever way that he can.
“He brought the team a very long way during his time here but my aim in my work is always to go further on from where the previous coach has reached.”
The ultimate ambition, she acknowledges, is for the team to qualify for a major tournament for the very first time and though the league here is not especially well represented in her first squad the intention will be to help more locally based players to reach the required standard.
“We have to win; we have to qualify,” she says. “That is what would be best for the Irish game. And so we pick the players who will give us the best opportunity to do that, whether they are at home or away. The sessions for home based players (started by Bell to help progress the best of the players here) will continue. The key thing is to get all of the players to the same level.”
Ireland beat Montenegro 2-0 in the opening game of their qualification campaign and will play Ukraine in Tallaght on October 8th. Tickets are available at: fai.ie/tickets.
Ireland squad: Marie Hourihan (SC Braga), Grace Maloney (Reading), Courtney Brosnan (West Ham); Harriet Scott (Birmingham City), Keeva Keenan (Celtic), Diane Caldwell (SC Sand), Claire Walsh (Peamount United), Claire O'Riordan (MSV Duisburg), Louise Quinn (Arsenal), Hayley Nolan (University of Hartford), Megan Campbell (Manchester City); Niamh Fahey (Liverpool), Megan Connolly (Brighton and Hove Albion), Denise O'Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Stephanie Roche (CF Florentia), Tyler Toland (Manchester City), Chloe Mustaki (Shelbourne); Heather Payne (Florida State University), Leanne Kiernan (West Ham United), Amber Barret (FC Koln), Rianna Jarrett (Wexford Youths), Katie McCabe (Arsenal), Julie Ann Russell (Sydney University).
