Athlone Town's Dana Scheriff desperate to get Irish citizenship and play for WNT
Dana Scheriff of Athlone Town celebrates with the FAI Cup.
American-born Dana Scheriff has expressed a strong desire to get her Irish passport and play for Ireland on an international level.
The striker helped Athlone Town to an FAI Cup final victory against Shelbourne last month where she scored both in regulation and the penalty shootout.
The FAI Cup was the cherry on top of a fantastic season for Sheriff who also claimed the EVOKE.ie Golden Boot for top goalscorer in the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division.
John Fallon caught up with the 25-year-old American sharpshooter recently to discuss her Irish heritage and potential future with the Irish WNT.
"My grandmother was born in Dublin. I never met her. She moved to England so my mother was raised in England. I do have a British passport, that was very easy to obtain. When I came over to Ireland I found out my grandmother was born in Ireland and thought this was something I wanted and would help me progress as a footballer.
"That was only this year I started to work on getting all the documents. I never met her so I’m not familiar with her family and her side, but I am pretty eager to get that"
When asked about what it would mean to play for the Irish national side Scheriff had the perfect response: "I think that would be big for me. Playing for a national team is something that every player dreams of. The more I live in Ireland the more I feel it and love it and the more I want to learn about my roots and where my grandma is from and all her family.
"Over this past year, with the support I’ve had here and the successes I’ve had here, I just think it’s kind of what lit the spark to say, maybe you can do something like that. I love Ireland as a country, the people and the culture, it has completely taken me in and I absolutely love it.
"So I think in terms of why Ireland, it’s just something that while I’ve been here I’ve felt passionate about. It’s the right thing. It all kind of makes sense to me. When I think about the US and England, it hasn’t been something that has felt right, it has always felt like a challenge I haven’t wanted. Now it is starting to click.”
"That’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately because I think about my future, where I want to playing, and being an international would put me at an advantage.
"I’ve been watching the matches. I’m aware of the players Ireland has and what they bring to the table but I will always back myself. I do believe I’m capable of it.
"Of course I look at the team’s talent and it will be one of my biggest challenges but I was always back myself. I’d have to put a lot of work in but I’d be willing to do."
Sheriff was kind and open enough to discuss her current passport situation in detail.
“I needed to get three documents from my grandma, so I just got an email saying her death certificate will be in the mail in March, so I’ll have to wait until that gets here. Then I can finally apply for citizenship, which I think is not the quickest process.
“I need to get all that stuff sorted and then once I have all the stuff to apply then I can maybe try to reach out to some people. But right now I just need to get the documents, so I have to wait until March.”
Speaking on her current club, Scheriff had nothing but positive things to say about Athlone Town and the future of her team.
"It’s the first time Athlone Town has been able to do that on the women’s side. I think that will draw some attraction to the club itself. I think people are starting to respect us as a club and a team and I think that we are only going to keep getting better.
"I think all the girls in the group, we are all invested in what we are building with our new management and the club really backing us this year. We are only going to keep getting stronger and now that we know what it’s like to make it to win the cup final, our eyes are set on what’s next, as in maybe a league title or something more."
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