Like Grealish and Rice, the loss of Mary Fowler may pain Ireland
NEW ALLEGIANCES: Mary Fowler of Australia celebrates with team-mate Sam Kerr, left, after scoring her side's first goal during the women's international friendly match between Republic of Ireland and Australia in 2021. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
As much as Ireland fans lament the loss of Jack Grealish and Declan Rice, the impact of Mary Fowler slipping through their grasp to Australia may be there for the world to see tonight.
The three Fowler siblings, Ciara, Quivi and Mary, were all involved in FAI camps during their formative years but only the latter didn’t feature in an international match.
She’s stuffed plenty into a life that only left its teens in February, making her senior Matildas debut at 15, moving to France alone for a stint at Montpellier before joining Manchester City. She overshadowed captain Sam Kerr last Friday by replacing her against France and drilling home the winner in a friendly.
Mary spent a couple of years living in Dublin, attending school in Ballymun where her father was born and her granddad, also named Kevin, remains a resident.
Irish schools’ coaches spotted her talent and Colin Bell recognised the grounds for real potential.
He’s also at the World Cup, only in charge of South Korea rather than Ireland. He quit as boss in the summer of 2019 as the financial and governance issues smothered the organisation and he was offered the assistant coach’s vacancy at Huddersfield Town, then a Premier League club.
Watching Mary play against his Korean team in their 2-1 Asian Cup victory over the Matildas 18 months ago brought Bell’s mind back to a meeting in the Citywest Hotel ahead of his final game at the helm.
“I capped Ciara when managing Ireland’s U17s but also had Mary in our FAI home-based training sessions,” explained the Englishman.
Mary Fowler playing for Homefarm in Dublin, Ireland 6 years ago! The most talented footballer I’ve ever seen boy or girl. Was destined to be a star! What could have been…! #FIFAWomensWorldCup #AUSIRL 🇦🇺 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/MfRnu900RW
— Andrew Giffney (@AndrewGiffney) July 19, 2023
“You could clearly see the quality Mary had but we were aware she could play for three countries. She was only turned 15 when I had a three-hour meeting with her Dad Kevin about the possibility of her representing Ireland.
“What I offered was to bring her into our final game of the World Cup qualifiers against Northern Ireland at Tallaght. I wasn’t guaranteeing her to start that match but would definitely involve her by giving her a debut.
“There was a lot going on for the family at the time and they declined that opportunity.”
Fowler instead lined out for her birth country that year but, as it was only a non-competitive fixture, Bell's successor Vera Pauw made one last attempt to enlist her without success.
“Imagine the Ireland with Mary in it,” Bell wondered aloud this week, ahead of his team’s opener against Colombia next Tuesday. “She was in the same quality level of Grealish and Rice for the men’s team, a player with huge potential who can become world-class. I joked with my assistant last Friday when watching the France game that we taught her that skill of killing a pass dead at our sessions in Dublin. I said hi to her when we played Australia last year.”
One that got away, someone who unlike Kerr, also eligible for Ireland through her granddad, thought long and hard before settling on her international allegiance.
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