BUILDING FROM THE BACK
Gleeson is eager to freshen up defence
IT IS hardly surprising that the latest player to declare for the women’s national team is a defender. Such has been the way over the past year or so. From Aoife Mannion to Caitlin Hayes and now Anna Patten, there definitely seems to be a desire to unearth a defensive gem or two.
In Niamh Fahey, Louise Quinn and Diane Caldwell, Ireland have a central defensive trio that have served their country as well as anyone. But Father Time waits for nobody and all three are into their 30s now. If the men’s team are scouring the globe for eligible midfielders, it is defenders that are coming under the women’s side’s searchlight.
Patten, a former England underage captain, last night expressed her delight at the inclusion. ‘I was buzzing when I got the call,’ she said. ‘I am so excited to play senior international football and also to represent the Republic. It’s a huge honour for me and my family and I can’t wait to meet up with all the girls,’ she said.
Not all the paperwork has been completed, so we may not see the Aston Villa defender in the opening two qualifiers against France in Metz next Friday before England at the Aviva, but Eileen Gleeson (above) feels that Patten, who has grandparents from Donegal and Galway, will slot in seamlessly.
‘We have to try and expand our talent pool and it is not new that players come in with different accents, different backgrounds, different places of birth, different familial roots,’ said Gleeson. ‘Anna is eligible for Ireland. We are not looking to bring in anybody who doesn’t want to fully commit to Ireland, that doesn’t have a connection to Ireland and that wouldn’t fit into the group. We think that Anna will.’
And while her team prepares for such a tough qualifying group, Gleeson is also aware that there may have to be a changing of the defensive guard in the nottoo-distant future, which is why Patten has been called up while Jessie Stapleton has been blooded gradually. ‘There has been plenty of press around an ageing backline; an experienced backline. Age doesn’t wait for anybody, so we have to look at the squad and the needs of the particular positions that we need to refill. We have Jessie Stapleton in that area coming through, we have Aoife Mannion, hopefully we have Anna. We have to start filling positions where players are going to naturally transition out of.
‘We have got very experienced players in Louise, Diane and Niamh but they would be very aware themselves around the life-span of the top level athlete and us as the management, the coaching staff, we have to keep looking with a longer-term view. In the Nations League, we brought a couple of young players in, we got minutes under Jessie Stapleton’s belt and potentially she could be your core starting centre-back for Euro 2025.’
While the likes of Hayes and Patten have been recruited by Gleeson and her coaching staff, other defenders such as Hayley Nolan and Claire O’Riordan, who were often part of Vera Pauw’s plans, are currently on the outside, looking in. For O’Riordan who is currently playing alongside Amber Barrett at Standard Liege in Belgium, it has been quite the fall as she was part of the squad for the World Cup while Nolan has been in impressive form for Crystal Palace.
‘Hayley and Claire are both playing well at their clubs. Nobody disagrees with that. But you have got to pick a set number of players. We have a really good view on Hayley and a really good view on Claire. We haven’t had Anna in with us yet, so we want to introduce her and see what the fit is like.
‘You have to make those tough decisions and it can be difficult for players to understand that when they are at a club and are Championship Player of the Month and you don’t get selected. But Hayley is in direct competition with Niamh Fahey. There are factors which help the decision, but on a personal level of course it’s difficult to tell someone you are not selected.’
One other noteworthy aspect of the 26-strong squad is the absence of League of Ireland players. The likes of Erin McLaughlin, Freya Healy and Ellen Dolan have all been involved in Gleeson’s squads during the Nations League campaign. However, given the level of opposition in the coming weeks with France, ranked third in the world, and reigning European champions England, Gleeson felt that it wasn’t the environment for domestic-based players.
‘The League is the first place we look and of course, we want to bring those players through. But the core thing is that the players are playing at a high enough level to sustain the intensity they will get at an international level. LOI is developing nicely but there is still a lot that has to be developed.
‘A core philosophy for us is that we do transition players through, but the level of this opposition doesn’t allow us to bring the likes of young Freya in and Ellen in. We need to have a bit more experience for these games.’
Gleeson suggested that a possible pathway for League of Ireland players to force their way into the senior reckoning would be a B international while she is also keen for the FAI to develop a national Under 23 side.
That’s in the future. The here and now is about this team beginning the toughest qualifying campaign for any Irish team. France named their squad yesterday and it was sprinkled with stars from Lyon, Paris SaintGermain, Chelsea and Real Madrid.
Ireland’s ageing rearguard might have to call upon all of their experience in Metz next Friday night.