Leanne Kiernan: 'I really do look back now and I think everything was meant to happen like this, so it was good'
BACK TO HER BEST: Having undergone a rebirth of sorts last summer, Leanne Kiernan has a birth to fill the gap between football this time. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Having undergone a rebirth of sorts last summer, Leanne Kiernan has a birth to fill the gap between football this time.
Vera Pauw’s doubts over the striker’s durability cost Kiernan a ticket to the World Cup, her role in Ireland’s tournament a fan at home in Bailieborough rather than a player in Brisbane.
This June it’s different. The 25-year-old is back in the Ireland mix and as a fully-fit player instrumental to Liverpool’s recent fourth-placed finish in the Women’s Super League.
Her goals off the bench, one in the win over eventual champions Chelsea and the hat-trick in the final day at Leicester City, elevates her to Eileen Gleeson’s in-form striker.
What doesn’t change is her sanctuary; the family farm her Dad John runs as a pig-farmer.
Kiernan was back on the soil this week prior to assembling for Ireland’s double-header Euro qualifier against Sweden – Friday at Lansdowne Road and next Tuesday in Stockholm.
A career which accelerated as a teen FAI Cup hat-trick hero for Shelbourne, then WSL debutant with West Ham and onto Liverpool naturally squeezed her home time.
So, between her serious ankle injury and Pauw’s snub last summer, Kiernan went back to basics, effectively mucking in with her parents and siblings in Cavan. It was a long way from Anfield.
“I need my own time,” she said of how her year-long rehab tested her body and mind.
“I feel like I have matured a lot from that. Not that I took things for granted, but I feel like I am a lot more grateful for everything in life.
“Being away in England for five years, you don’t come home that often. I got to see my family a lot more and talk about other things to football.
“It was a blessing in disguise. At the start, I was asking why did this happen to me? I’d a good season the year before and I was starting to get back on my feet, but I really do look back now and I think everything was meant to happen like this, so it was good.”
Pigs take pride of place on the land but Leanne herself has special interest in her three cows, one in particular.
“I saw a wee baby calf in Cavan two years ago and said ‘I want to buy that when it’s old enough.’,” she explains with the pride of a parent.
“I always had an interest. I remember for my First Communion money, I went and spent it on cows instead of make-up or jewellery.
“I just like being out in nature with animals. That was what I was planning around the World Cup.
“Being home last summer, ripping around the farm on my brother’s quad bike, I was looking out for her. Now she’s pregnant and due in July.”
By which time Kiernan will have completed half of Ireland’s four-game summer Euro schedule.
Keeping company with three of the world’s top-10 teams was a chastening experience at some points of the April double-header against France and England, a pair of matches she featured in as a substitute.
Whereas her international drought stretches back to 2018 for the last of her four Ireland goals, clinical club accompanies her in preparing for this Swedish double.
“I’m back to myself and my confidence is coming back,” she enthuses.
“I know it’s about constantly keeping on top of it, not because the surgery was 18 months ago, but to keep me on the pitch.
“Maybe I ran a bit differently when I came back first, because they literally taught me how to run again and how to step and drop my foot to the ground. But it feels really good now and I feel like I have worked hard in the gym to get everything else strong around it.
“I’m fully back to what I can produce. Ireland’s been great, I like Eilo (Gleeson) and the nice environment she’s created, being very detailed about how we’re going to play.
“I feel at ease coming in, which is what you want as a player.”
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