Vera Pauw: Stephanie Roche recall a reward for persistence and loyalty

The Peamount United attacker has been restored to senior Ireland duty in place of Kyra Carusa.

Wed, 15 Jun, 2022 - 17:18

Dave Donnelly

Vera Pauw praised Stephanie Roche’s perseverance as the striker was recalled to the squad for this month’s World Cup qualifier against Georgia.

The Peamount United attacker has been restored to senior Ireland duty in place of Kyra Carusa, one of ten players unavailable due to injury or academic commitments.

The Girls in Green will face the Philippines in a friendly in Turkey on Sunday before moving on to Tbilisi ahead of next week’s rescheduled clash.

Pauw has preferred Carusa and London City Lionesses striker Rianna Jarrett to Roche in recent times but both miss out with knocks.

That’s left the door open for Dubliner Roche to stake a claim to add to her 55 caps after scoring an impressive 12 goals in 14 league games so far this season.

And Pauw admits that, while Roche was not her first choice, the pair have always kept in touch and her hard work has paid off.

“We need to find out who is the best in that condition, because Kyra Carusa is not available and she was our first target player,” Pauw said at the squad launch at FAI HQ.

“Stephanie is a fantastic person and a fantastic athlete. She’s always there. I had to disappoint her many times. We’ve always kept very good contact.

“I’ve always explained to her where she stands. I was always honest and she was always honest to me.

“And it’s a reward for her hard work because she kept working and working that there would be a moment that we needed her again.

“She wanted to keep going and this is a reward for all of her hard work — always there at the home-based sessions, always there to have extra training, always there at any moment.”

With many of the overseas-based players without a game in over a month, Roche’s match sharpness and form could stand to her.

“It’s a very mixed group in terms of fitness. The players stopped their competitive matches from May 5 and some on May 8. Most of them could only do running programmes.

“It's been a bit frustrating organising the training sessions. In a normal season, they would end at the end of May, but the league stopped at the beginning of May because of the Euros, so it's a double misfortune in that sense.

"We are ready now to step into a very, very difficult programme, because we need to get them all on the same level.

“We need to find out who is ready. It’s not about experimenting, it’s about what we need at this moment and that’s what we need to find out this week.”

Though Ireland dished out a record 11-0 hammering to Georgia in Tallaght in November, Pauw insisted the slate has been wiped clean and they will have to battle for victory.

“It's not a walkover, not at all. Every piece of the puzzle must fall in place like it did in our first game against Georgia.

“It was a combination of them not expecting us that good and us playing an exceptional game. We will have one game in our legs, so we need to see where we get.

“The first aim is winning and if we get goals, then of course we keep on going. But the first aim is to get those three points.”

Republic of Ireland WNT Squad

Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Megan Walsh (Brighton & Hove Albion), Grace Moloney (Reading), Naoisha McAloon (Durham)

Defenders: Jess Ziu (Shelbourne), Louise Quinn (Birmingham City), Niamh Fahey (Liverpool), Diane Caldwell (Manchester United), Claire O’Riordan (MSV Duisburg), Jessie Stapleton (Shelbourne), Éabha O’Mahony (Boston College), Áine O’Gorman (Peamount United), Chloe Mustaki (Shelbourne)

Midfielders: Katie McCabe (Arsenal), Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Megan Connolly (Brighton & Hove Albion), Ruesha Littlejohn (Aston Villa), Jamie Finn (Birmingham City), Ciara Grant (Hearts), Lily Agg (London City Lionesses), Roma McLaughlin (Connecticut Fusion), Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City)

Forwards: Heather Payne (Florida State University), Amber Barrett (FC Koln), Abbie Larkin (Shelbourne), Stephanie Roche (Peamount United), Saoirse Noonan (Shelbourne)