Ireland's rising star Abbie Larkin adapting admirably to life in Glasgow

LARK-NESS: Glasgow City's Abbie Larkin on Ireland duty. Pic Credit ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Abbie Larkin has been fortunate with her first professional move abroad that the language barrier hasn’t been a problem.

But that’s not to say that her Dublin accent hasn’t been an issue for her new teammates in Scotland since she swapped Shamrock Rovers for Glasgow City last month.

“Bits of it (Glaswegian) are hard to understand. It will take more time to get used to it. None of them can understand me!” she admits.

“And I’m like, I’m not even speaking that fast. It’s mad. it’s grand. I think it will take a little more time to adjust.

“I’ve only been there about a month. So, I’m just putting my head down to work hard and get into the team.

“It’s a nice city actually. It’s similar to Ireland really. The weather is just as bad. The atmosphere is kind of similar.

“Moving away for the first time, at the start it kind of felt like camp. I wasn't with family all the time and was just with teammates.

“Then I realised this is like a constant thing. I'm enjoying it, it's not a bad thing. I can do a bit of cooking. I done Home Ec in school so we can take those skills into consideration”.

Abbie Larkin with Erin McLaughlin, right, and Louise Quinn, centre, during a Republic of Ireland women training session. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

But even more fortunately for the talented 18-year-old, she has an abundance of ability to let her football to do the talking for her.

The attacker’s displays for the Republic of Ireland during their first-ever World Cup campaign last summer caught the eye of several clubs but ultimately it was Glasgow City, where her international teammates Denise O’Sullivan and Katie McCabe have previously enjoyed spells, that won the race for her signature.

“I had a week and a bit off when I came back from Australia and then I went back into Rovers,” continues Larkin, who has made three appearances for her new club so far.

“I wanted to get back training as much as possible just so I didn’t lose fitness or anything. It went from there, played games and then obviously there were options coming in.

“But I was also thinking maybe at the moment, I might just finish out with Rovers. And then obviously last minute, Glasgow came. And I was thinking like this could be a good step for me.

“I wasn’t forcing it. I’m still young. I knew I had time. I just felt this was the right move for me.

“It’s obviously a bit more of an intense league and stuff. But there are similarities and that is good for me, not making such a massive jump, I can ease into it a little.”

Larkin is back in familiar surroundings as Ireland prepare for their upcoming Nations League double-header where two wins against Albania at Tallaght Stadium on Friday and then at the Loro Boriçi Stadium next Tuesday would ensure they secure promotion.

“It's so important. If we finish top of the group - win all of our games - we go into League A.

“Some people think it's friendlies but it's a really important game for us to win and that's our mentality.”