Northern Ireland Squad for Women's Euros Revealed
Kenny Shiels has named his 23 player squad for the upcoming Women’s European Championships in England.
Northern Ireland are in Group A, where they will face Norway on 7th July, Austria on 11th July and England on 15th July, with all three games taking place in Southampton.
Thirteen players from the domestic league have made the squad. Six are from Cliftonville, including sisters Kirsty and Caitlin McGuinness, who have made a blistering start to the campaign, scoring fourteen league goals between them so far. They join Louise McDaniel, Kelsie Burrows, Abbie Magee and Northern Ireland captain Marissa Callaghan in the squad for the nation’s first ever major tournament.
Callaghan, was a doubt for the tournament given that she has been sidelined for around a month with a minor toe injury, and missed Shiels’ side only warm up game, a 4-1 defeat to Belgium last week.
The manager has however, given assurances that the 36 year old will be fit enough to feature for her country, after scoring the first goal in the play off win over Ukraine which sealed Northern Ireland’s place in this summer’s tournament.
Four players from Glentoran made the cut with Lauren Wade, who scored a stunning equaliser for Northern Ireland against the Red Devils last week joining Nadene Caldwell, Joely Andrews and Chloe McCarron as the East Belfast side’s representatives.
Northern Ireland will play all three of their group stage games at Southampton’s St Mary’s Stadium
Julie Nelson and Emily Wilson from Crusaders have been included whilst Linfield captain Ashley Hutton, who recently returned from a long injury lay off following surgery on her ACL, returning to the squad to add further experience to a well stocked backline.
Regulars Sarah McFadden, Demi Vance, Rebecca McKenna and Laura Rafferty complete the defensive panel, with all defenders chosen likely to be involved at some stage given that Northern Ireland’s backline will be under considerable pressure in their maiden tournament against three top quality sides.
That means Jackie Burns, who recently left Swedish side BK Häcken will have to be her usual reliable self, with Becky Flaherty and the uncapped Shannon Turner the other two stoppers chosen to push Burns to be at her best.
Wolves goalkeeper Turner’s selection raised a few eyebrows, given she is the only player without a cap to feature and goalkeepers Maddy Harvey-Clifford and Lilie Woods were involved in the 22 player domestic full time training camp.
The 24 year old however, has featured for Northern Ireland at underage level, and is unlikely to see competitive action during the tournament.
Alongside the aforementioned midfielders, there is Northern Ireland’s chief playmaker Rachel Furness and recent Racing Louisville recruit Rebecca Holloway.
Completing the squad is former Everton striker Simone Magill, who Northern Ireland will rely on to find the back of the net if they have any hope of getting at least a point from their group.
Caragh Hamilton, Danielle Maxwell, Vicky Carleton and Megan Bell were all ruled out through injury, whilst from the domestic squad of full time players, Toni-Leigh Finnegan, Sam Kelly, Rachel McLaren and Cora Chambers missed out on selection, with Glasgow City’s Kerry Beattie also omitted.
Finnegan and Beattie can feel hard done by, given Finnegan’s bright start to the campaign with table toppers Cliftonville and Beattie’s explosive season with Glentoran last term which earned her a move across the water.
Thirteen players from the Women’s Irish Premiership have been included in the squad.
The theme running through this squad as with previous squads, is a wealth of experience, players who are playing regularly alongside a nice dollop of youthful exuberance.
The majority of the squad featured in the qualifying campaign for the Euros and have been rewarded for their performances and effort by Shiels, who has shown loyalty to players he trusts he can get the best out of.
Although a number of young players make up the squad, they are likely to be used as impact substitutes when Northern Ireland are tiring and need fresh legs.
Shiels is likely to rely heavily on his experienced players to make up the majority of his starting eleven, with defensive solidity the main aim for his side to get anything out of the three games.
Tactical flexibility has also been key to his decision making. The likes of McKenna, Magee, Burrows and Holloway can operate as full backs or wing backs, whilst Wade and Kirsty McGuinness can also play as wing backs if required to fit Shiels’ preferred 5-3-2 formation, or as a forward alongside Magill.
Furness can also operate as an advanced midfielder if Shiels wants to play an even more conservative 5-4-1 as she has a great understanding and link up play with Magill.
Caitlin McGuinness has great hold up play whilst Wilson provides great pace for balls in behind if Shiels feels the need to make tweaks to his frontline late in the game.
Evidently, Shiels has a good variety of players to fit a number of systems and fill in various positions. On paper, it looks like the strongest squad he could have selected from the pool of players available.
He will be hoping the players can deliver performances to be proud of in the month ahead, even if no points are forthcoming in their maiden tournament.
Lauren McCann is the Scoop’s Sport Editor and an English and Spanish student at Queen’s University Belfast.