Getting to a major tournament was always the dream… I don’t think I have many years left
With the clock ticking down on her career, Áine O’Gorman is driven to make it to World Cup...
ÁINE O’GOrmaN’s face creases into a rueful smile. The Wicklow native is a lively and engaging interviewee but when she’s asked about what happened in Kiev a year ago, she understandably gets a little quieter. The memory of that own goal still hurts.
‘It is something that is going to stay with me for my whole career, obviously,’ O’Gorman says with a slight shake of her head. ‘But it is about parking that bus, learning from a moment like that and moving on. I just have to show the resilience I have. We can’t change the past, we can only focus on what is ahead of us and that is qualifying for the next World Cup.’
Ireland’s qualification campaign might have started with the cruellest of defeats to the mighty swedes in Tallaght, but there was plenty in the performance to suggest they have the belief to finish second in the group and make a play-off, at least, for the 2023 World Cup.
O’Gorman’s assured display as part of the impressive rearguard action also went some way to erasing what happened in Kiev 12 months ago, when her errant back-pass bobbled into the Irish net, the only goal of the decisive qualifying tie. ‘I haven’t over-analysed it since it happened. It did take me a
‘MAYBE WE LET THE EUROS SLIP BUT THIS IS OUR TIME TO SHINE NOW’
while to get over it when I returned to Ireland,’ she concedes.
‘It kind of weighed down on me but I got back with Peamount, we went on to the Champions League, won the league and cup and that softens the blow a little bit.’
and the glut of international friendlies against higher opposition, culminating in last month’s impressive win over australia, also helped O’Gorman to forget about that own goal.
That run of friendlies set the platform for Thursday’s encouraging display against sweden, which was undone by another unfortunate own goal.
‘That’s all in the past now and you always learn from your mistakes and move forward. It just makes you more resilience and shows your real character the way that you can deal with those situations.’
Just as last year’s fixture in Ukraine was the critical match in the campaign, Tuesday’s match against Finland is probably the most significant on a road that O’Gorman hopes will eventually lead to a first major tournament. If they can leave Helsinki with something, it will set Vera Pauw’s side up nicely for the rest of the campaign.
‘Yeah, if we want to finish second in the group, these are the games we have to get a result from,’ the full-back points out.
‘To get something out of sweden was always going to be a bonus, but this is more of a target.’ O’Gorman has been part of this odyssey to make a major championship since she was a teenager. she made her international debut as a 16-year-old in the algarve and turned 32 earlier this year. she has been playing for Ireland for half her life, has been through all the near-misses and disappointments, was one of the courageous players who stood up for themselves in Liberty Hall and said enough was enough with how they were disrespected. and there have been some surreal moments, too. Early in her international career, Noel King had guided Ireland to a Euro 2009 play-off against Iceland. after the first leg ended in a 1-1 draw, the team headed to reykjavik, believing they had a good chance to qualify. Only for the Icelandic weather gods to intervene and help the home side to a 3-0 win. ‘We played here and drew and went to Iceland for the second leg. I will never forget that game,’ she chuckles now. ‘It was crazy, the pitch was covered in a sheet of ice.
‘The Icelandics must have been wearing ice-skates because they were flying around the place and we were just sliding. I think one of
the girls fell and nearly broke both her arms on the pitch, it was that rock-hard.’
What made matters worse is that the match was being broadcast live on Eurosport. Hardly the best advertisement for the women’s game at the time.
‘I remember the fourth official banging a shovel into the pitch before the game and the ice wasn’t breaking. and this was all live on Eurosport. It was crazy. It wouldn’t happen in this day and age.
‘In hindsight, we probably shouldn’t have played. But we were in that moment, you had prepared, travelled to Iceland and qualifying for a tournament was only one game away, and that is the closest we ever got. I was quite young at the time, so I probably didn’t realise the significance of it. at that age, I was thinking it was the norm.’
However, 13 years later, that defeat remains the closest Ireland have got to a major tournament. But Thursday’s performance in Tallaght was encouraging enough to believe that the same fate will not befall
O’Gorman or the likes of Katie mcCabe and Denise O’sullivan.
‘as the years go on, you get more experience and appreciate those moments a lot more, moments like getting to the play-off against Iceland. When you look back at your career, they are the defining moments, because you are so close to a major championship.
‘Getting to a major tournament has always been the dream and I don’t think I have that many more years left,’ she laughs.
‘When you first come into Ireland, the dream is to play in either a European Championships or the ultimate which is a World Cup. That dream can still be lived, we know we have a lot of work to do, this is a really tough and competitive group.
‘maybe, we can look back and say we let it slip in the last Euros campaign but, look, we are all here together and we are growing as a squad game on game, and this is our time to shine.’
Following the sweden defeat, manager Pauw was eager to emphasise that the team is growing with every game. and it is easy to detect signs of progress since the Dutchwoman took over.
‘Vera came in for the second qualifying game in the last campaign, and it was a convincing win at home to Ukraine, and we have grown as a squad since then. There are some good young players coming through and we have a good mix. It’s a good blend for success, so it is up to us to do the business on the field.’
as one of the domestically-based players, O’Gorman has trained with Bray Wanderers’ Under 17s two days a week for the past year.
It is part of the plan to develop those players who are at home. For O’Gorman, it recalls her time growing up in Enniskerry, when she played with boys because there were no girls team.
‘Yeah, I grew up playing with boys, up until I was 14,’ she explains. ‘Then I went to stella maris because there was no girls team in Wicklow at the time. I think it’s something that has stood by me throughout my career as well. I love the challenge of it and the pace of the game.
‘I was lucky growing up playing in Enniskerry as the managers were very welcoming. I was friends with the lads I played with. I’m still friends with them today.
‘I was always one of them. There are a couple of other girls who played as well. I’m sure the atmosphere at every club was the same.’
she has found the U17 team in Bray just as welcoming. But the two sessions per week, alongside stephanie roche, adds an extra layer to her already hectic schedule. as well as running her own personal training business, she also trains three days a week with Peamount.
‘It’s tough, I always say we’re amateurs with professional attitudes. You just do what you can and work away on your own work schedule. There are a lot of sacrifices you
make with family and friends at times as well. But that’s what we do for the game we love as well.
‘I’m lucky with Bray Wanderers that I live close by, so it’s actually quicker for me to get there than over to Peamount as well. Look, it’s all about getting the balance right and being prepared to play at the weekend and being up to speed for the international set-up.’
When the Euro 2017 campaign ended in disappointment, with a 1-0 defeat to Norway, O’Gorman decided to retire from international football, having won her 100th cap. However, she was coaxed back for the last campaign, reinvented as a full-back, and is now one of the most important members of the squad.
Her wealth of experience and resilience has been integral to the squad cohesion that Pauw has been trying to build. O’Gorman’s role as a leader is vital within the group. She has been there and seen it all.
From Liberty Hall on that seismic afternoon when Irish footballers took a stand, to having Euro dreams wither on an ice-sheet in Iceland, it has been an eventful international career for Áine O’Gorman.
However, if Ireland can build on their promising display last Thursday, the defining moment may be yet to come.