Campbell: ‘We still have to give everything to reach World Cup’
From the margins to mainstream, this has become the feelgood story of Irish sport
DESPITE the wild celebrations in Tallaght last Thursday, Ireland defender Megan Campbell insists that the team know there is still a long way to go before they qualify for the World Cup.
The battling 1-0 win over Finland that secured second place sparked delirious scenes on the pitch and in the stands as Ireland made the World Cup play-offs for the first time. Another win in Slovakia could see Ireland end up as being one of the three best runners-up and avoiding a first-round match in those play-offs, especially as both Belgium and Serbia lost on Friday.
Ireland are currently fourth in the table of nine second-placed teams, but three points on Tuesday will see them overtake the Belgians after they lost 1-0 to Norway.
However, the Drogheda native, who made a triumphant return to the green jersey after a three-year injury-enforced absence, concedes that the job is only half-done.
‘We know there is still a long way to go,’ said the Liverpool star. ‘If we beat Slovakia, we’ll be in a great position to possibly qualify as one of the top three, which would lead us one step further as it will be one game less. But we have to give everything we have to get to that point.
‘The main aim is to get to the World Cup. We are one step closer to that now. Our next goal is winning the play-offs, but first we have to beat Slovakia on Tuesday.’
On a night of narratives for the Irish team, Campbell’s story was the most heart-warming of all. The former Manchester City player had endured more than two years of such injury hell after badly rupturing her ACL that she contemplated retirement more than once.
She praises Vera Pauw and her international team-mates for keeping her going through the dark times. ‘I think that is something that is constantly going through my
THERE were tears, And smiles. Dancing and singing. Amid the delirium, Vera Pauw maintained an impressive level-headedness. She insisted that this was a celebration, not a party. The journey did not end with the battling win over Finland, it was just another stop along the way. After all, Ireland didn’t qualify for anything.
However, what Thursday did was promise a better tomorrow; both for this team and women’s football. For years, that is all they wanted. When Lily Agg rose to connect with Megan Connolly’s pinpoint delivery, many ghosts were exorcised. Such as those from a play-off defeat on a frozen pitch in Iceland, the lack of respect afforded them during John Delaney’s ruinous regime. Through it all, they only wanted hope for a better future.
That’s on the horizon now.
Pauw lamented last week how FIFA’s needlessly convoluted playoff system could mean Ireland have to play four games to get to the World Cup while other teams might just have one. But it seems that it will be her side who will need to win just once, thanks to Norway beating Belgium on Friday night.
The task in Slovakia on Tuesday seems straightforward. Win and Ireland should be one of the three highest-ranked runners-up.
That will seem an apt conclusion to a wonderful campaign that has seen this group of players imprint itself into the national consciousness. From Helsinki to Gothenburg to a glorious night in Tallaght, this Ireland team have liberated themselves from decades of despair. Growth has been one of the themes of the past week and as this team have developed on the pitch, they have grown in public affections.
The sacrifices, the hard work, the struggles, all seemed worthwhile on an emotional night. It was only right that those who went before were remembered. The FAI had invited the 13 trailblazers who toured France 50 years ago this month. Women’s football wasn’t even an officially recognised sport when that group of young players headed off on a ferry in what was known as the Jeyes tour.
Linda Gorman was one of those 13 players. A few months after she returned from France, she played in Ireland’s first international game. Gorman and Paula Gorham were invited to dinner with the current side a couple of days before the Finland game. As a reminder.
An acknowledgment of those who came before. ‘This is for them as much as us,’ Katie McCabe noted on Thursday, sounding like the leader that she is.
AND SO, Thursday was about those past struggles and those who played the game when nobody wanted to know. And nobody wanted them to play. McCabe and her teammates now enjoy pay parity in international match fees with their male counterparts, but when Gorman first played, the women’s game was almost an underground activity. She played on village greens and in the Fifteen Acres in Phoenix Park with nobody watching. On Thursday, she was one of 6,952 who witnessed history. Some distance to cover.
Gorman was one of those who paved the path for the present players to win hearts and minds. In the past 12 months, that has what this team have done. It started when they ended a sevengame losing streak by beating Tokyo Olympic finalists Australia 32 in Tallaght Stadium. That was how the revolution began, how the public were initially stirred. With every step since, more and more have taken notice.
It helps that this is an easy team to like. Look at the celebrations on Thursday. Look at how the players took the time to sign autographs and pose for pictures. There is a lovely innocence to how connected they are to their supporters, an ocean away from the glass bubble that the stars of the men’s game live in.
This is a team admired and revered. Their stories are easy to relate to, because nothing has come easy. One of the most heart-warming tales on a night of narratives was Megan Campbell’s return to green after three years of injury hell. There was new mother Áine O’Gorman, a veteran of many of the darkest days, doing the lap of honour with her baby.
It is a team adorned by two superstars in Denise O’Sullivan and McCabe, whose skills could grace any stage and may soon grace the world’s biggest, and yet their rare talent is submerged into the collective, It is all about the team. Always about the team because of the spirit that Pauw has engendered.
Following this team over the past year, one of the main things to take away was the reaction of the substitutes on the bench. In highlevel sport, it is natural for those not selected to be a little peeved. Disappointed. Part of them will always feel they should be out there. But in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium and Gamla Ullevi in Gothenburg, the subs celebrated as much, if not more, than those on the field. It was the same on Thursday. That sort of spirit within an entire squad is rare, but it shows the sense of togetherness that Pauw has harnessed.
‘The ego of “what’s my role to get the result” is not at all important,’ the manager said on Wednesday, referring to that sense of togetherness. ‘They don’t show any ego in their behaviour. It’s not about the person but the team., They give everything for the team.’
On Thursday, as the players danced their way around the Tallaght pitch, deadline day was creeping towards its melodramatic climax. The splurge of Premier League clubs were nearing £2 billon, the obscene riches sloshing around the English game allowed Nottingham Forest to spend more money than the entire Eredivisie. It doesn’t feel like the people’s game any more. It does make you wonder where it will all end. That the bubble is going to burst soon.
‘We don’t get the money that the men get’ Louise Quinn reminded us last Monday, ‘where they can pick
up and go and bring their family. You have to do your dream job away from your loved ones.’ But because of that, it feels like the women’s team more reflect the essence of what football is supposed to be. A game for the people.
This has all been made possible by the sensible stewardship of Pauw. She likes to talk about this team progressing step by step and on Morning Ireland last Friday, she was keen to point out that she is just standing on the shoulders of Sue Ronan, Noel King and Colin Bell. Those that have gone before.
Pauw has plotted Ireland’s course towards the World Cup play-offs while taking the brave decision to go public about being raped by a Dutch football official in 1986.
‘They ruined my life,’ she said of KNVB (the Dutch football federation). ‘But I am doing this for myself, to take away some of the pain.’
And she has spoken now of being liberated, feeling freer in herself. That she had to carry inside what she was subjected to for more than 35 years illustrates the issues that women still face in the game.
It was heart-warming to see that Pauw had the widest smile in Tallaght. And easy to understand why.
It has been quite the journey over the past 12 months, from the margins of Irish sport to the mainstream as its defining feelgood story. Outbelievers who see no hurdle too high.
They are not the finished article yet. They have learned a lot in the past year, but still have a lot to learn. As Ireland’s stature grows, teams will come prepared. Like Finland did on Thursday night. They did their homework. Nullified O’Sullivan and McCabe, especially in the first -half. But the thing is that Ireland found a way. They won ugly. Another important marker in their development.
They have always found a way on this journey.
There might just be one more significant stop along the way and that could spark the wildest of parties.