Kenneally and Foreman hoping to be anonymous at Women's World Cup

Siobhan Forman (physio) and Angela Kenneally (doctor) are all too aware of the fact that the less seen of them as the Republic of Ireland take on Australia, Canada and Nigeria in Group B then the better it will be for the team’s chances.

MANAGING PLAYERS HEALTH: Republic of Ireland's Sinead Farrelly leaves the field alongside Republic of Ireland physiotherapist Angela Kenneally and team doctor Siobhan Forman during the women's international friendly match against France. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

A backroom team is exactly that. These are not people whose job it is to shine on stage. Not for them the chorus of cheers, or the catcalls. These are the facilitators, the army of helpers beavering away behind the scenes, the polishers of knobs and rollers of carpets who exist seen but unseen in the World Cup’s big house.

Vera Pauw’s regular platoon of lieutenants stretches to 16 men and women. It’s a unit that includes coaches, analysts, a doctor, physios and a masseuse, equipment personnel and media support and it will be supplemented in Australia by a handful of others drafted in for the duration of the World Cup.

As with referees, these are the faces and names that go unnoticed until something goes wrong and Siobhan Forman and Angela Kenneally are all too aware of the fact that the less seen of them as the Republic of Ireland take on Australia, Canada and Nigeria in Group B then the better it will be for the team’s chances.

Forman is the team doctor, Kenneally a physio. This is the tag team that gets waved in whenever a player is in trouble and it was these two who clocked up the unwanted extra steps in Tallaght last Thursday week when Katie McCabe went down against France and again when Denise O’Sullivan was clobbered by a Colombian in Brisbane.

Both of those incidents happened after Forman and Kenneally had spoken to the media, their symbiotic working relationship having morphed briefly into a theatrical double act as they lunged about to touch the nearest piece of wood when it was put to them then that the list of injuries had up to that point been incredibly light.

If the players are desperate to hear that first whistle in Sydney on Thursday then so are they.

“We’ve had home-based sessions since January in Abbotstown in the sleet but the closer we have come to the World Cup the more the nerves come on,” said Kenneally earlier this month. “We are watching games at the weekend, keeping an eye on the WSL, the NWSL, the League of Ireland.

“You are just hoping that you could wrap them all in cotton wool because there is so much out of our control. We can only control things when they come in to see us but we are very lucky in that we have a very fit, athletic and healthy group of players at the moment.” 

And then Ireland’s two best players picked up injuries. You couldn’t make it up.

Forman and Kenneally both have days jobs, the former at the National Orthopaedic Hospital in Cappagh and the latter with the VHI in Carrickmines. Understanding bosses and rigorous scheduling make it possible for them to balance this work-life balance even if their WNT duties spill liberally over both boundaries.

Information on every player lands in their laptops on a daily basis and all year round from clubs across different countries and continents. So there is an understanding of where every individual is in terms of their programmes and periodisation when they report for national service. Niamh McDaid, the squad’s stats analyst, works side by side with them on that.

But how challenging is it?

“Chaos,” said Kenneally when asked to describe the demands. “I work full-time 40 hours a week five days a week. I have two small children, a five-year old and a one-year old, and then the team. You just keep going. You don’t have time to think about it. It is just go, go, go.” 

Kenneally is the longest-serving member of the team staff. Her relationship with the FAI stretches all the way back to 2010 when she worked with underage teams that included the likes of Heather Payne and Leanne Kiernan. The step up to the senior ranks was made six years ago.

Forman’s link with the footballing code goes back to 2013 and she was part of the operation when an U19s Ireland team that included McCabe, Chloe Mustaki, Savannah McCarthy and Hayley Nolan topped its group at the European Championship finals in Norway a year later.

Kenneally admits that there has been an element of ‘mothering’ on her part as she has watched young girls turn into mature women and professional international footballers. Forman turned to the equipment officer Denise McElhinney at the presentation of squad jerseys earlier this month and admitted to feeling like a proud parent.

“You have that sense of pride in them and for them,” Forman explained. “They are a fantastic bunch of players.” 

This understanding and empathy is foundationed in part by their own backgrounds. Kenneally is a black belt in karate and tried her hands at all sorts of sports. Forman rowed and cycled internationally with Ireland. Her last partner on the water was Sanita Puspure who has since won seven major championships medals for Ireland.

Forman looks at the successes the country’s rowers have stitched together across recent years, including the Olympic bronze medal won by the women’s four in Tokyo in 2021, and marvels at the strides made and the latent mental and physical abilities present in all the country’s elite athletes that are now being evidenced by the squad she has accompanied Down Under.

History awaits in Sydney later this week and they will all count down the hours in different ways. Kenneally will feel the nervous tension begin to rise inside her in the last minutes and moments before kick-off. Forman will have gone through the worst of her butterflies by then. Each to their own.

“It’s the hours before I get there that I get nervous,” said Forman. “Once you’re there you think, ‘well, okay, there’s nothing else I can do’. This is it.” 

Here’s hoping they stay in the shadows from here on in.