Ireland forced to rejig plans before facing France

Eileen Gleeson already had enough selection conundrums to be dealing with before the start of the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2025 qualifying campaign against France in Metz on Friday, but the withdrawal of Niamh Fahey from her squad on Tuesday has put another one on the manager’s plate.

Fahey, who has been ruled out of the French game and next Tuesday’s home tie against England with a calf strain, would have been a near certain starter alongside Louise Quinn and Caitlin Hayes in the likely event of Gleeson choosing to play three at the back, with wing backs either side.

Now the manager has to rejig her plans and decide on who will step in for the Liverpool captain. She’s not short of options, the leading contenders being veteran Diane Caldwell, teenager Jessie Stapleton, who played in February’s friendlies against Italy and Wales, the fit-again Aoife Mannion, who started her first game in a year for Manchester United last weekend, and newcomer Anna Patten.

Gleeson has choices to make further up the pitch, too, the return of Tyler Toland, after a medial collateral ligament injury ruled her out of the Italy and Wales games, adding to her midfield choices. Toland had established herself, mainly alongside Megan Connolly, during the Nations League campaign, and is now hoping to win her place back.

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“It wasn’t a serious injury, thank God, but it did put me out for a few weeks. But I’m back in the run of things, got five 90 minutes in the last four weeks, so I’m match-fit and ready to rock.”

The 22-year-old Donegal woman, who became Ireland’s youngest senior international when she made her debut as a 16-year-old, remains steadfast in her refusal to talk about her four-year exile from the squad under Vera Pauw, preferring to focus on what lies ahead.

“Thankfully everything is in the past now, I’m just looking to push on and look to the future. The past is in the past. Everyone wants to play for their country, don’t they? So it’s a dream come true to have come back in.”

After a frustrating season in Spain with Levante, when she got limited game-time in a settled team that finished third behind Barcelona and Real Madrid in the league, Toland moved to Blackburn Rovers last summer in search of more regular football, having had earlier spells with Manchester City, Glasgow City and Celtic.

And game-time she has found, an ever-present for the Championship side when fit, and while they’re not in promotion contention, they’re comfortably mid-table – a marked improvement on their previous campaign when they finished third from bottom.

“For me, this year was just about getting consistent game-time and that is exactly what I have got so far. Blackburn has been a great move for me. It’s a great club and they have done nothing but support me. I am just really happy and content at the minute and really enjoying my football.”

“The club is really looking to push on, they’re ambitious. When I spoke to them before I signed, I asked them honestly what were their ambitions. And they did say genuinely that they were looking to make a name for themselves this year. As a team that is hard to beat, with the intention the following year of looking for promotion to the WSL.”

“So it’s worked out really well for me. One of my personal ambitions was to get myself back in the Ireland fold and I am sitting here today, so that has happened. Playing week in and week out, that is what I needed, and that is what has allowed me get back with Ireland.”

Two months after her Irish debut, Toland was in the Irish team that held then reigning European champions the Netherlands to a 0-0 draw in Nijmegen in a World Cup qualifier, one of Ireland’s finest ever competitive results away from home.

“It is probably going to be something similar,” she says of Friday’s game against the French, anticipating the same levels of pressure that Ireland endured on that November night in 2017. But they held out, and she’s hoping for similar Irish resilience against the world’s third-ranked nation.

Did you gulp when you saw the draw for the group?

“Nah, I was buzzing! I was really, really excited. Obviously, they [France, England and Sweden] are three of the best teams in the world – and that is who we want to play against. We want to put on a performance for everyone and just be really hard to beat, like we are known for. Once we cross that white line, we will give everything we have.”

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