Finn lands on her feet with fresh outlook
JAMIE FINN’S life has changed a lot over the past few months. Not only has she gone from the fringes of the Irish team to now starting regularly in defensive midfield, but she has also left Shelbourne, a club that she had been at since she was a child, for the greener pastures of Birmingham City in the WSL.
Finn burst onto the consciousness of Irish football fans with her excellent performance in subduing Chelsea superstar Pernille Harder, the two-time UEFA player of the year, when Ireland lost narrowly to Denmark back in April. Since then, she hasn’t looked out of place against Australia or the worldclass Swedish midfield in Tallaght Stadium on Thursday. If Vera Pauw’s side are to build on that encouraging performance in Helsinki, Finn will be key.
Even though the 23-year-old Swords native jumped at the chance to become a professional footballer in England, it also meant giving up her day job as a personal trainer in the gym and adapting to a different kind of lifestyle.
‘It was always an ambition for me to move to England,’ she says. ‘It was about timing and where I was going to go, but I always knew that I wanted to go. It was just a case of where and when.
‘It has been good in Birmingham but obviously, it’s a professional life so I have to adapt to it. You are playing tough opposition every week, but that is what I want as it will improve my own game. But I have had to make a big adaption.
‘I was obviously working here and going straight to training. It is kind of nice just to have football to focus on, going training and don’t have to worry about going to work. That’s nice in a way. I am able to put everything into football and concentrate on that. I would have been on my feet a lot in work. I am adapting well and hopefully that will continue.’
Finn arrived in the English midlands in August and the fact that there was already a large Irish contingent at the club helped her settle a lot easier. Apart from veteran defender Louise Quinn, who skippers the Blues, and her namesake Lucy Quinn, there’s also goalkeeper Marie Hourihan, defender Harriet Scott as well as Emily Whelan and Eleanor Ryan Doyle, who also joined from the Women’s National League.
‘Obviously a lot of Irish there, from the team here, are there, so that always helps in the transition to a new club. So that attracted me as well. Scott [Booth] is a great manager too, there is a lot of things that drew me to the move. But all going well so far so hopefully that will continue.’
The club also put her in a house with Whelan. ‘Yeah, it is nice to move in with someone you know,
‘It was always my ambition to go to England’
and someone who is going through the same experience because you can bounce off each other. I knew Emily, and Eleanor, well so it is nice to have people you know going through the same stuff, having to adapt as well.’
Following a disciplined rearguard action against the mighty Swedes, the Irish team fly out to Helsinki today, knowing that Tuesday’s crucial encounter with the Finns already has the feel of a make-orbreak clash. If Ireland want to finish second in the group, and make a play-off for the World Cup, they will need to take something home from Finland.
‘I think we are all proud of each other and how we played against Sweden,’ Finn said. ‘I think we did show that we can compete against the very top opposition. We have to take the positives out of it and bring it forward to Finland and hopefully get the three points.
‘There were times against Sweden where we got the ball down and played, showed that we can play, whether it is Sweden or Finland. We’ll take confidence in that performance of knowing that we can play against top opposition and put it up to them.’
Finn has family living in Perth, so she has visited Australia before. But having established herself in Vera Pauw’s improving side, she firmly believes that the next time that she will be going Down Under will be as part of this Ireland team embarking on their first major tournament.
‘You have to believe that you can get there. There is a lot of confidence going through this team now, because of how we played against the second best team in the world. We think we can get there.’