Fahey 'very proud' of Ireland journey as she hangs up her boots
FOND FAREWELL: Niamh Fahey of Republic of Ireland after the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 Group B match against Nigeria at Brisbane Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Niamh Fahey will be forever remembered as the only Ireland player to have featured in all three playoffs for tournaments.
It’s only half a century since the international team was established but most of the progress was achieved during the 17 years and 115 caps Fahey wore the shirt.
There was a maiden playoff for the 2009 Euros when Ireland’s tilt froze in Iceland. Next came the jubilation of beating Scotland to reach a first-ever major tournament, the 2023 World Cup, before the recent downer of missing out on this year’s Euros by losing to Wales.
Fahey was present throughout; her calming presence an influence for good when Ireland found themselves squaring up against the globe’s best.
Although the oldest of the 23 players in Australia 18 months ago, she featured in each of Ireland’s three World Cup matches.
Signing off at a second successive tournament in Switzerland would have crowned her glory and the tears shed when the final whistle blew at Lansdowne Road five weeks ago pointed to the 37-year-old’s departure.
More retirements from the elder coterie are expected before the next cycle begins with the Nations League double-header opener against Turkey and Slovenia on February 21 and 25.
Fahey’s club career, which began by scoring the penalty to win her native Galway the 2007 Women’s FAI Cup, will prolong in her role as captain of Liverpool.
There are still chapters to be written in her storied life and not all pigeon-holed as a footballer.
It began as the youngest of eight children. Two of her six brothers were part of the county’s senior GAA panel, Gary captaining Galway to Sam Maguire gold in 2001, and she cites replicating that feat three years later with the women’s team as her greatest achievement.
Nascent talent was evident from her strides as sports all-rounder and once moulded with a competitive streak to succeed, champions Arsenal invited Fahey to join their Irish legion.
Trophies galore followed with the Gunners and their London rivals Chelsea she joined but Fahey could see the bigger picture.
Only in recent years have female players earned enough to be comfortable, necessitating Fahey’s tributary into education and pharmacology. You get the sense she’d have shouldered the degree, masters and job to escape her comfort zone anyway.
“The biggest challenge I faced in life was the year out of football when I was 25/26 after I did my anterior cruciate ligament at Arsenal,” she recounts about the precariousness of relying on football for security.
“I had a lot of doubts in my own head about whether I would be able to come back. There was a lot of catastrophising initially. But, once I was given a plan, it’s actually a good injury to have in the sense that there are a lot of targets to reach. So that kept me focused.”
The person and player teammates knew as ‘Nidge’ was the reliable one, moderate in tone but seismic in meaning.
“Singing Amhrán na bhFiann before a game is probably the biggest thing I’ll miss most,” she said yesterday.
“I’ll miss all the girls massively but as a country and as a national team we are in a very good place.
“I am very proud of what my journey is and I am satisfied with my journey and the effort and the years that I have put into playing for my country.”
Like many of her peers, the legacy of her journey stems from Liberty Hall in April 2017.
Watching players around her in England and France report into international set-ups equipped for professionalism while Ireland’s lagged stung.
As the John Delaney regime dithered, Fahey and her generation acted. "I wouldn't be comparing us to the Weinstein-effect but our highlighting of issues started a ripple in women's sport," she said of the strike action undertaken to expose the team’s plight.
"It needed us to open the can of worms. It wasn't long before others started demanding more."
Rattling the cage led to a cacophony of noise, culminating in the team delivering on their part of the deal.
As her teammate Denise O’Sullivan noted yesterday, Fahey was the joker of their pack but her seriousness in confronting City Hall is the enduring imprint of her time in green.
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