Changing of the guard as Irish legend Emma Byrne hangs up her gloves

After an honours-laden career, Emma Byrne has more than played her part with all she has done to promote and improve the women’s game in Ireland, writes Liam Mackey.

There is an inescapable sense of eras colliding in women’s football this weekend, with the news of Emma Byrne’s decision to hang up her gloves coming just before the Netherlands and Denmark meet tomorrow to decide which of them will become European champions for the very first time.

Byrne, who has also stepped down at Brighton and Hove Albion, the club she joined in January after an honours-laden career at Arsenal, has been a fixture in the Irish team since making her senior debut as a 16-year-old in March 1996 and then going on, over the course of next 21 years, to claim a record haul of 134 caps.

“It’s a great achievement to step down having broken the all-time appearance record, but it’s time to give other girls an opportunity to stake their claim in the team,” the 38-year-old from Leixlip said yesterday. “I’ll miss walking out to represent my country and all of the friends that I made, but I’m proud of my time with the team.”

As well as reflecting on how she feels “extremely lucky to have carried our flag around the world”, Byrne also made a point of thanking “the PFAI, SIPTU, the FAI and the Irish media for making my last battle a successful one.”

This was a reference to the brave and successful stance taken by the senior women’s team earlier this year in pursuit of an improvement in the most basic of terms and conditions after the shocking revelation that, among other issues, a shortage of suitable training gear meant the players had been obliged to change in public toilets at airports.

But for all that both on and off the pitch, Byrne goes into retirement with the regret of never having reached the finals of a major tournament with her country.

“We went close against Iceland in a play-off,” she noted, referring to the 4-1 aggregate defeat which saw Ireland fail on the brink of qualifying for the 2009 Euro finals in Finland. That tournament would be won by Germany, their fifth on the trot before they went on to confirm their dominance in Europe with a remarkable sixth successive victory in 2013.

But the current tournament in the Netherlands has seen what many are now coming to regard as a major power shift in the European game, with Germany unexpectedly dethroned by Denmark who, having beaten the reigning champions 2-1 in the quarter-finals, then eliminated fellow surprise packages Austria in a penalty shoot-out to reach tomorrow’s final in Enschede.

There, the Danes will have to contend with a full house of the host nation’s supporters roaring on a Dutch team which looked irresistible in crushing England’s own dream of a first major title with a 3-0 win in Thursday’s other semi-final – a match which, it’s worth noting, attracted a record UK television audience of 4 million for a women’s game.

Not surprisingly, similar viewing records have also been smashed over the last couple of weeks in Denmark and the Holland.

While there has been plenty to admire in terms of the overall high quality of the football as well as a number of outstanding individual displays at these finals, it hasn’t gone unnoticed that, in that most exposed position in which Emma Byrne distinguished herself for so long, not all the ‘keepers have managed to cover themselves in glory.

Former England Number 1, Rachel Brown-Finnis told the BBC: “At previous tournaments, the standard of goalkeeping has been an issue. Overall, it has been great here, but there have been a couple of clangers.

“Numerically, compared to the pool of players the Germans and England can choose from, you’re going to get a bit of discrepancy in the countries whose players aren’t training full-time. In a unique position like a goalkeeper, there’s still maybe a bigger gap between the senior level goalkeeper for, say, Portugal, and the one for England. So, yes, there have been some fairly basic errors - not loads of them - but there have been some really positive things, and young goalkeepers coming through, with natural, athletic ability.”

Still, there does appear to be an acceptance, here in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe, that the specialist job of goalkeeping coaching is one which needs particular attention in the women’s game.

But, at least for now, new Ireland manager Colin Bell seems confident that the position just vacated by Byrne is in safe hands.

“Emma’s achievements at international level are rarely seen in the game and for her to represent her country over the course of 21 years is something most of us can only dream of,” he said yesterday. “As we head into a new qualification campaign for the 2019 World Cup, I think the timing for her decision is correct. Going forward, Marie Hourihan will be the new No.1 but it’s important we continue to see Amanda Budden and Amanda McQuillan progress and challenge for that spot.”

Meantime, the top spot in the European game is up for grabs. The Dutch will go into tomorrow’s Euro 2017 final as firm favourites and not just because of home advantage. With the sublimely gifted Vivianne Miedema – who recently joined Arsenal from Bayern Munich - at the apex of their attack, flanked by the flying Dutchwomen, Barcelona’s Lieke Martens and Liverpool’s Shanice van de Sanden, Holland will prove a real attacking handful for a resolute Danish defence.

But the underdogs, who have already lost 1-0 to the Dutch in the group stages, have their own potential match-winner in fast and powerful skipper and striker Pernille Harder. Nor will they be lacking in the kind of collective discipline and spirit which could yet see them pull of a sensation to rival what their male counterparts famously achieved when coming out of nowhere to win Euro ‘92.

For Emma Byrne, such ambitions will, unfortunately, have to be filed under ‘what might have been’. But if and when the Girls In Green finally break their big tournament hoodoo, she can rest assured that, in her day, and over many days, she more than played her part in making that dream come true.