Jamie Finn: "I'd love to investigate the upsurge in ACL injuries"

Ireland’s Jamie Finn

Having been crushed by missing out on one major tournament, the motivation of figuring at the next is lifting Jamie Finn from her latest setback.

The versatile Ireland women’s international became the latest female player to suffer an anterior cruciate ligament rupture during the build-up to the February friendly in Italy.

Finn has won her 20th cap in the final match of the peerless Uefa Nations League series, a 6-1 hammering of Northern Ireland at Windsor Park in the final international of 2023.

That signalled redemption for being the shock omission from the squad for the World Cup in Australia. Being a mainstay of their path to a first-ever tournament qualification didn’t count for much when Vera Pauw lowered the axe.

For the past seven weeks, the 26-year-old has been convalescing from a different type of sharp instrument.

She’s reluctant to commit a timeline on her full comeback – Christmas might be best guess for action with Birmingham City – but in her absence Ireland might have sealed another major tournament place by then.

Success in that maiden Nations League campaign risked a nightmare draw in the Euro qualifiers and opening defeats to France and England may well be the pattern of what prevails in a four-team group completed by their next opponents Sweden, on May 31 and June 4.

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Thankfully, relegation back to League B doesn’t affect their guarantee of another route to the finals in Switzerland next year. Those pair of playoffs conclude in early December, just as Finn should be back to full fitness.

“Of course,” she said of the Euro incentive.

“The minute the injury happened I was counting down the months to the Euros. As a footballer you want to be at World Cups and Euros. That's what you work towards.

“Fingers crossed, I’ll have gametime by then.

“The physios are really happy with me at this stage. Your knee could swell up. so they just tell you to take it session by session and not look too closely at it.

“It’s been mentally tough because my whole life is football. You’re not seeing the girls and heading back home to recover but anyone who knows me knows it’s ‘Right, physio, let’s go, what am I doing next?’” It was generally accepted that her last mental challenge was contributed to by an influx of dual-eligible additions after World Cup qualification.

The arrival of American-born playmaker Sinéad Farrelly three months before the trip to Australia presented Pauw with a player in a similar position but operating on a higher stage in the NWSL.

Farrelly’s rather mysteriously culled her involvement with the squad last week after eight caps, created a cavity to fill, but Finn doesn’t necessarily see it as a straight swap.

“Managers hopefully think that I can play in a couple of positions, not just midfield,” she said of her selling point to Pauw’s successor, Eileen Gleeson.

“This season I have played left back, right back - all over the pitch really. Hopefully managers see that I can play numerous positions and not just one.

“I do like playing centrally but when we operated with wing backs for Ireland, I really liked that as well.” Daily commutes from her Swords home to nearby Santry Sports Clinic represents her regime for now but at least the extra year on his contract with Brum avoided the anxiety some females encounter when they endure an injury of such magnitude.

The upsurge in ACLs has England’s Lucy Bronze undertaking a dissertation into the worrying trend. Finn shares the intrigue.

“I would love to investigate why these are happening,” she said. “To see Lucy Bronze, as a current player, researching it is brilliant and I’d love to go down that route to try to help even one player.”