Agg wants to ink another date of destiny 

On Lily Agg's arm is tattooed the date Ireland qualified for the World Cup. She'd like a matching design.

Lily Agg poses for a portrait during a Republic of Ireland women media conference at the FAI Headquarters in Abbotstown, Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile

It’s imprinted in her brain and her arm. So monumental was Ireland qualifying for the last World Cup that Lily Agg had the date of the Hampden Park landmark inked on her bicep.

That was 11th October 2022. Speaking in the build-up to a shootout with Wales for a first-ever European qualification, the midfielder glances towards one side of her body.

“Hopefully, I’ll get one on the other arm, eh?” she remarks, with the trademark chirpy grin.

“I just couldn’t stop thinking about that night after we beat Scotland, and then spontaneously said I’m going to go get that tattooed on me.

“I now see that date every day on my arm - a memory I’ll remember forever.” 

Ought not to be the sole one.

Agg’s club career didn’t soar as many predicted, her brief spell at Arsenal curtailed by the difficulty of breaking into the country’s dominant outfit. She’s 30 now and has packed in plenty since leaving the Gunners, qualifying and practising as a teacher, as well as establishing two companies – one clothing and, more recently, a tax advisory service to simplify a system she’d been exposed to when dealing with World Cup bonuses.

Agg is one of Ireland’s form players, part of a Birmingham City side top of the Championship and scoring to boot.

She’s no longer the starter her displays around World Cup qualification ensured, yet supplies greater adaptability then she did in the supposed heyday.

It was, lest we forget, Agg’s looping headed winner against Finland at Tallaght Stadium that clinched Ireland a playoff spot on the way to Australia.

Similarly influential was her showing against the Scots, particularly as she deputised for the injured Ruesha Littlejohn in that pivotal role to thwart their playmakers Erin Cuthbert and Caroline Weir.

“To be fair, I think I’m flexible,” said Agg, who declared for Ireland through her late, Cobh-born, grandmother Breda Greene.

“Under Vera (Pauw), I often was given the job of break play down, pass it, don’t run forward, stand still and pass the ball.

“That was my role and I was more than happy to track players like Erin [Cuthbert] or Caroline [Weir] - win the ball back for the team and be a bit more nasty.

“A strength of mine is running into the final third, as opposed to winning the ball back, and more recently, maybe Eilo (Gleeson) has seen that I can play a bit more higher up.”

Another Celtic derby will determine whether there’s a summer to cherish in 2025. Despite being five places above Wales in 23rd of Fifa’s rankings, Ireland carry the scars of losing 2-0 at Tallaght in February. It might only have been a friendly, and the Irish midfield was shorn of talismanic Denise O’Sullivan, but the ease with which Jess Fishlock toyed with the home defence endures. Reminders will be presented this week during video sessions.

“We didn’t learn anything new in particular, only you can’t underestimate Wales,” said Agg, a late substitute in that first home game of the year.

“They’re a fantastic team with brilliant players throughout their squad. There’ll be lots of rivalries too, plenty of players facing their club teammates.

“We watched that match back and weren’t ourselves on that night.

“I think we’ve come a long way since, grown every game we’ve played and there’s squad depth now.” 

It was at the start of their last camp, the stroll over Georgia in the semi-final to set up this decider, that news emerged of global footballers sending a letter to Fifa urging an end to its partnership with oil and gas conglomerate Saudi Aramco.

“I’m someone who is quite direct and more than happy to speak up about things that I believe in,” she said of her involvement.

“I think we’re sheltered from quite a lot that goes on, especially with women’s rights in Saudi.

“People can do their own research into what goes on within that, but it’s something that after discussion with some of my teammates and other players, I felt I wanted to stick up for.” 

Traction in worldwide media is one thing; shaming Fifa into action is different.

“It would, but do we expect one?” Agg said about the prospect of the silence descending into an entire lack of acknowledgement.

“We haven’t had a response as of yet, but we would like one. I don’t think we went into it with potentially high expectations.”