Nelson hopes to inspire kids with historic 100th cap
JULIE Nelson will make history tonight when she becomes the first player to win 100 caps for the Northern Ireland women’s team and she hopes her achievement will inspire youngsters to follow in her footsteps.
Defender Nelson has been a stalwart and sensational servant to the women’s game here and deserves all the plaudits that have come her way this week.
It will be a proud and historic moment for the 33-year-old when she steps onto the pitch at Shamrock Park for Northern Ireland’s World Cup qualifier against Slovakia (7.30pm).
While much attention will be on the Crusaders Strikers centre-back, Nelson will be keen to ensure that Alfie Wylie’s team finish their campaign on a high.
If Northern Ireland avoid defeat that will be enough for fourth place in the five-nation group with the Netherlands and Norway also meeting tonight to determine who tops the table. The Republic of Ireland finished third.
Earlier in the qualification process, Wylie’s girls won 3-1 in Slovakia with Nelson on the scoresheet. The same scenario would be fairytale stuff.
Nelson’s first cap came in 2004 so she has come a long way — much like the team itself.
While Pat Jennings, Aaron Hughes and Steven Davis are all centurions for Northern Ireland in the men’s game, Nelson is relishing creating history.
“Reaching 100 caps will be a proud moment for me,” she said.
“I’ve enjoyed playing for Northern Ireland over the last 14 years and I hope I’m able to inspire the next generation.
“Becoming the first woman to win 100 caps for Northern Ireland is an achievement I never thought was possible when I began playing.”
That was when she was just four-years-old in her hometown Larne in Sandy Bay Playing Fields. Asked to join a local team called Gilmour Gals, her potential was evident from an early age. Nelson started out as a goalkeeper before playing on the right wing and right-back, eventually settling at centre-back.
In Nelson’s fifth cap she suffered a cruciate ligament injury which kept her out for 13 months but she fought to return and proved successful in club football in England and Scotland.
“From starting out at Gilmour Gals I joined Newtownabbey Strikers who then amalgamated with Crusaders and now we are called Crusaders Strikers,” Nelson told the IFA, for whom she works as a Women’s Football Ambassador and coaches in the Regional Excellence Programme.
“After Newtownabbey Strikers I played in England for Everton and that was a great opportunity to play in the top league in England. I then joined Glasgow City and played two seasons there. We managed to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League in my last year.”
While Nelson has a big night to savour, there was misfortune for young Northern Ireland goalkeeper Lauren Perry.
The Linfield Ladies No.1 is out long-term after suffering a serious knee injury.
The teenage star is expected to have an operation on her knee this month after sustaining a torn cruciate ligament in a Northern Ireland U19s friendly against Hungary two weeks ago.
Perry has won five caps and was named Player of the Year last term after a stunning season. WHAT’S good enough for Louis van Gaal in relation to Paddy McNair is good enough for Michael O’Neill.
That’s the message from the Northern Ireland manager ahead of Saturday’s Nations League clash at home to Bosnia & Herzegovina and next Tuesday’s friendly with Israel at Windsor Park.
McNair, who joined Middlesbrough from Sunderland in the summer, could be a big player for O’Neill moving forward.
The question is: in what position? The 23-year-old has played in a variety of them at club level since starting out at Manchester United.
Former Old Trafford manager Van Gaal used him as a centre-back even though most see McNair as a midfielder.
“He’s very much an option at centre-half — if Louis van Gaal can play him there for Man United I’ll have to consider it,” said O’Neill. “Look at our situation — Jonny Evans and Craig Cathcart are playing at the top of their game in the Premier League. We also have Aaron Hughes and Gareth McAuley but at 38, they’re not going to go on forever, so it leaves us vulnerable.
“It’s probably not Paddy’s preferred position, it’s a position he’s not played in for a while, and after that we’re a bit light.
“We don’t have a young centre-back playing in the Championship, for example; our next would be Tom Flanagan, who’s injured, at Sunderland.
“That’s where we are personnel-wise. That’s why it’s so important that those older players are still with us, because they buy us a bit of time for, hopefully, new players to emerge.”
O’Neill was disappointed when Chris Brunt decided to retire from international football, believing he still had much to offer. That’s a key factor in his desire to keep tried and tested veterans like McAuley and Hughes on board as well as Jamie Ward, who recently joined Charlton on loan from Nottingham Forest.
“There has to be an element