It was a squad featuring “players who were going to work in supermarkets, in hospitals” that has taken Northern Ireland to their first major tournament in women’s football. Manager Kenny Shiels was quick to point that out after their unlikely qualification for Euro 2022.
Theirs is the only real fairytale at this European Championship – the other 15 teams taking part are all ranked in the top 16 of European nations (Russia have been expelled due to the invasion of Ukraine). But Northern Ireland, 47th in the Fifa standings, are not simply here to make up the numbers.
Shiels accepts that they have “probably reached these finals too soon in terms of being ready”, which is to be expected when they only adopted a fully professional set-up less than a year ago.
The consensus is that they have no chance of escaping Group A, though much of their hope rests on Rachel Furness, their record goalscorer with 38 international goals. The Liverpool midfielder had 11 goal contributions in the Women’s Championship last season.
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For Shiels, the results are almost immaterial. His side have effectively written off the prospect of beating England – the Lionesses have scored 15 against them without reply in their last three matches – and Norway beat them 6-0 twice in qualifying. It took victory over Ukraine in the play-offs to get here.
They are targeting the Austria match on 11 July for three points and will have to hope they can engineer a major upset against Norway.
If he is not confident of progressing, what is Shiels’ motivation? “We’ve been deprived of happy things in our lives this last two years… I just want people to be happy and I’m in a position to try to influence that.”
That is worth mentioning, as Shiels has been painted as a villain since his ill-judged comments about female players conceding goals in quick succession because they were “too emotional”. While other people reeled, his players were quick to brush it under the carpet. Their relationship with Shiels is strong, and his apology was quickly accepted. The focus, instead, was on how far they have come, from playing as semi-professionals to selling out Windsor Park.
Which group are Northern Ireland in?
Northern Ireland have been placed in Group A alongside hosts England, Austria and Norway. All their group stage matches will be played at St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton.
When do they play?
- Norway vs Northern Ireland – Thursday, 7 July
- Austria vs Northern Ireland – Monday, 11 July
- Northern Ireland vs England – Friday, 15 July
In fact, it is telling of the cohesion in his squad that things which would be unheard of in the men’s team pass without remark. Kirsty McGuinness plays Gaelic football for Antrim, Shiels himself played Gaelic games as a youngster.
“When you mention cross-community, nobody touches us in terms of what football has done,” he said, looking ahead to the tournament. “I always talk about that to people that, how I’ve made friends. Whereas when I was growing up through the Troubles, they were classed as ‘enemies’, and they are very good friends of mine to this day. It was football [soccer] that gave me that opportunity to socially connect with every religion and every single person that you met.”
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Goalkeepers: Jackie Burns (BK Hacken), Becky Flaherty (Brighouse Town), Shannon Turner (Wolverhampton Wanderers Women)
Defenders: Kelsie Burrows (Cliftonville Ladies), Rebecca Holloway (Racing Louisville), Ashley Hutton (Linfield Ladies), Abbie Magee (Cliftonville Ladies), Sarah McFadden (Durham Women), Rebecca McKenna (Lewes Women), Julie Nelson (Crusaders Strikers), Laura Rafferty (Southampton Women), Demi Vance (Rangers Women)
Midfielders: Nadene Caldwell (Glentoran Women), Joely Andrews (Glentoran Women), Chloe McCarron (Glentoran Women), Marissa Callaghan (Cliftonville Ladies), Louise McDaniel (Cliftonville Ladies), Rachel Furness (Liverpool Women)
Forwards: Simone Magill (unattached), Caitlin McGuinness (Cliftonville Ladies), Kirsty McGuinness (Cliftonville Ladies), Lauren Wade (Glentoran Women), Emily Wilson (Crusaders Strikers)
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