Ronan names squad for USA tour

Sue Ronan has named her Republic of Ireland Women’s National Team squad for this month’s friendly internationals against the United States and Haiti. The squad will be short many established players who are based overseas due to the matches taking place outside of the regular International calendar, however it opens opportunities for five uncapped players.

Ireland will play FIFA World No.2 the United States on Sunday, May 10th in San Jose, California. The game is part of the United States send off series, as they prepare for the FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada that kicks off in June.

The United States are among the favourites to lift the cup and will be chasing their third star over the famous crest. Ireland will face a strong World Cup squad and will be without first choice players Emma Byrne, Niamh Fahey, Louise Quinn, Sophie Perry and Diane Caldwell, who are all required by their clubs that weekend.

The squad does include American based players Stephanie Roche who currently plays in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) for the Houston Dash and Megan Campbell who plays collegiate soccer for Florida State University.

Ronan is bringing five uncapped players to America including three members of the Wexford Youths squad that recently won the Continental Tyres Women’s National League for the first time. The trio includes Continental Tyres Women’s National League Young Player of the Year Ciara Rossiter, Jessica Gleeson and Nicola Sinnott, all of whom have played at under-age level for Ireland. Castlebar Celtic’s Emma Hansberry is also named in the squad, whose last inclusion with the Women's Senior squad was in 2014 at the Cyprus Cup.

Speaking to ExtraTime.ie after the squad was released youngster Katie McCabe had the following to say, "I'm really looking forward to the trip, it will probably be the biggest one yet as newbie to the Senior setup, but nothing that I'm not looking forward to! It's going to be a big test for the team to see where we are at but it's great preparation for the qualifiers in September." 

“We had been under the impression when these fixtures were agreed that the overseas leagues would be on their break for the World Cup and we’d have access to all our players, however, that is not now the case!  So it leaves us facing one of the best teams in the world without a lot of experienced players which is obviously not ideal,” said Ronan who will be taking charge of Ireland for the 44th time.

“However the flip side of that is it has allowed me the opportunity to have a look at some other players and it gives them the chance to stake a claim for inclusion in the Euro 2017 qualifiers, which begin in September. We'll be facing the USA’s World Cup squad in the first of three matches they have fixed as part of their final preparation for the tournament in Canada, so it’s going to be a tough assignment. But it’s also a great opportunity and great experience for my players.”

The second match of the trip will see the Irish face World No. 62 Haiti in the early hours of Thursday morning, with the game kicking off at 1am Irish time. Both Emma Bryne and Niamh Fahey will join the squad for the Haiti game. 

“The CONCACAF region is very strong and its four top teams are all going to the World Cup. Haiti are currently ranked sixth in the region and only lost 1-0 to Mexico in their most recent match, so I’ve no doubt they will be tough, but it will be interesting to play against an opponent we wouldn’t normally get the chance to play against.

“We will have Emma Byrne and Niamh Fahey with us for that match, so they will obviously add more experience, but we lose Fiona O’Sullivan. However, we will only start thinking about that game once we have the USA game out of the way,” said Ronan.

With Byrne unavailable for the USA game, a second goalkeeper will be named over the coming days for that match. You can follow all the build up and live updates here on Extratime.ie.

Republic of Ireland Women's National Team Fixtures

Sunday, May 10

USA v Republic of Ireland

Avaya Stadium, San Jose, California (USA), 20:06 (Irish Time)

(live on Setanta Ireland)

Thursday, May 14

Haiti v Republic of Ireland

Central Broward Regional Park Stadium, Lauderhill, Florida (USA), 01:00 (Irish Time).

Republic of Ireland Squad

GOALKEEPERS: EMMA BYRNE (Arsenal), NIAMH REID-BURKE (Raheny United).

DEFENDERS: MEGAN CAMPBELL (Florida State University), MEABH DE BURCA (Galway WFC), KAREN DUGGAN (UCD Waves), NIAMH FAHEY (Chelsea) AINE O’GORMAN (UCD Waves),  CLARE ROSSITER (Wexford Youths Women's AFC), NICOLA SINNOTT (Wexford Youths Women's AFC).

MIDFIELDERS: EMMA BECKETT (Amazon Grimstad), JESSICA GLEESON (Wexford Youths Women’s AFC), CIARA GRANT (UCD Waves) EMMA HANSBERRY (Castlebar Celtic), DENISE O’SULLIVAN Glasgow City).

FORWARDS: RUESHA LITTLEJOHN (Celtic), KATIE McCABE (Raheny United), FIONA O’SULLIVAN (Notts County), STEPHANIE ROCHE (Houston Dash), JULIE ANN RUSSELL (UCD Waves).