FRIENDLY COMEBACK FOR AOIFE
BY MANCHESTER United defender Aoife Mannion is back in the Ireland squad after a long spell on the sidelines with injury.
The centre-half has been selected for the friendlies away to Italy next Friday and at home to Wales on Tuesday February 27. Mannion (below), who made an impressive start to her international career last year, missed out on the World Cup because of a knee ligament injury.
A quad tear then meant that last weekend’s 3-1 FA Cup win over Southampton was her first appearance of the season. Mannion came off the bench in injury-time.
Her club boss Marc Skinner reacted to her appearance by saying: “It’s nice to welcome Aoife back.
“She’s played a couple of U21 games now and got the minutes in her legs. We still have to build up slowly and carefully.”
One new name in the squad is Wake Forest University forward Emily Murphy. English-born Murphy, who qualifies for Ireland through her Dublin-born father, trained with the Girls in Green in April 2021.
Ireland take on Italy (5.15pm) in Viola Park, the home base for ACF Fiorentina, before welcoming Wales to Tallaght Stadium (7.30pm).
- Goalkeepers:
C Brosnan (Everton), G Moloney (London City), S Whitehouse (Lewes). Defenders: J Stapleton (Reading – on loan from West Ham United), D Caldwell (FC Zurich), N Fahey (Liverpool), C Hayes (Celtic), Louise Quinn (Birmingham City), A Mannion (Man United), M Campbell (London City).
Midfielders: K Mccabe (Arsenal), D O’sullivan (North Carolina Courage), L Agg (Birmingham City), T Toland (Blackburn Rovers), M Connolly (Bristol City),
R Littlejohn (London City), J Finn (Birmingham City), H Payne (Everton), J Ziu (West Ham United), Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City), I Atkinson (Crystal Palace).
Forwards: K Carusa (San Diego Wave), A Larkin (Crystal Palace), A Barrett (Standard Liege), L Kiernan (Liverpool), E Murphy (Wake Forest University).