Niamh Fahey: 'My focus is Liverpool. If I do well there I'll get selected for Ireland'
Plenty has gone on in the seven months since Niamh Fahey last wore the Ireland jersey but she’s glad ‘issues of the past’ have been dealt with as she eyes the Euro qualifiers.
The squad’s elder stateswomen at 36 is still one of the few Women’s Super League regulars – as Liverpool captain – but faces competition to regain her international spot.
It’s all laudable seeing as the ‘story of her life’, as she describes her calf injuries, have impacted for the majority of the time from her World Cup bow last summer.
She was a spectator watching drama unfold off the pitch – when Vera Pauw was dismissed as manager within a month of their return from Australia – whereas the Nations League campaign provided the springboard to rack up six successive wins.
That whitewash earned Ireland promotion to the top tier for the qualification series that’ll unfold once the draw is made on March 5 in Nyon.
Two friendlies, against Italy on Friday in Florence and Wales at home next Tuesday at Tallaght, fill the vacuum before the competitive fare starts in April and Fahey feels the environment under new boss Eileen Gleeson is better suited to success.
Diane Caldwell had in September outlined in deep detail the squad’s dissatisfaction with Pauw’s regime – problems she insisted were ignored – but her fellow stalwart believes escalation routes now exist.
“I can’t really speak on behalf of other players and what they think, but just from my own experience, yes, I am very comfortable with the channels that are open if anything needs to be said,” said the Galwegian.
“It’s quite clear that there were issues in the past, but everyone is comfortable with where we are now.
“If there ever needs to be an issue addressed everyone knows the correct
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