EMMA BYRNE MAY have been critical of Courtney Brosnan in the past, but it’s all water under the bridge as they work together in the Irish set-up now.
“It’s been great,” the Everton star says of working with the legendary Ireland and Arsenal shot-stopper, who initially came in to Eileen Gleeson’s backroom team as an assistant coach, but has now taken the role of goalkeeping coach.
“She’s been on the coaching staff for a bit and provided a wealth of knowledge, so it’s been great to see her transition in to the on-pitch stuff as well. She’s an absolute legend and her name speaks for itself, so it’s great to be able to have her in our corner and teach us everything.
“The thing I love most about Emma is how open and honest she is. At the start of the last camp, she brought me, Grace [Moloney] and Sophie [Whitehouse] in and said, ‘Listen, this is what I see, but if you have any feedback or want certain things in training or in the warm up or anything like that, I’m open to criticism, to feedback.’”
Byrne has established herself as a pundit on TV and radio through the years. Two years ago, she predicted that English-born recruit Megan Walsh would replace Brosnan as Ireland’s first-choice ‘keeper.
Brosnan, who was enduring a difficult run for Ireland and not playing regularly for Everton at the time, has since enjoyed a remarkable rise. She has been key for the Girls In Green, stringing together numerous clean sheets and producing huge saves, including the penalty stop in Hampden Park that helped seal Ireland’s World Cup qualification, and another against Nigeria which salvaged the country’s first World Cup point.
Walsh, meanwhile, was Brighton & Hove Albion’s main shot-stopper back then but is currently in reserve at West Ham United. She has slipped out of favour for Ireland and been overlooked for recent squads as Brosnan has flourished.
“To me, goalkeepers had to play games to keep their sharpness but Courtney proved me wrong and I’m happy about that,” Byrne told The Irish Examiner last October.
Asked if she used Byrne’s prediction as motivation, Brosnan says: “It’s not really something you think about.
“You know that there’s always people in the media and everyone’s gonna talk about you, and obviously, yes, the Ukraine own goal and things… it was really difficult, but I think you just have to focus on what you can control.
“And I feel like I’ve always had that belief that I’m capable of being the number one and know that I have the talent to be a starting goalkeeper for this country. So you have to take all the criticisms on board, but have that confidence and belief in yourself.”
“I don’t think you really have to clear the air because at the end of the day, we’re all professionals,” she adds. “People in the media are just doing their job. It’s their job to have opinions and say what they want to say.
“So I would never take anything anyone says personally. I don’t think anyone else in the squad does. If you feel there’s a need to clear the air, then we’re all adults and we can do that.”
Instead, in typical Irish fashion, there was a bit of craic when Byrne joined the set-up.
“Emma was a great player and she’s really funny, so she’s someone you can have jokes with and I had to give her a bit [of stick], but I think she’s my number one fan. We’ve had a lot of discussions about how good she thinks I am and can be, so it’s great to have someone like that in your corner.
“You can tell she’s someone who just loves watching football. She’s always talking about other Champions League games or international games, she knows her stuff.
“She’s quite good at letting things flow in training, not over-coaching and then find the moments to make the coaching point. She’s not complacent, and she doesn’t want us to be complacent, which I find really helps me in training. You could take a cross, and maybe it was okay, but she’s like, ‘I know you can take that ball higher or come out further,’ so it’s great to have someone who knows that you have the talent and you can be great, but wants you to be better and continue to improve in training every day.”
Brosnan sees this as the most confident period of her own career. Her Ireland exploits speak for themselves, while she has wrestled the Everton number one shirt back from England U23 Emily Ramsey to start 16 of the club’s 18 WSL games this season.
With her contract up this summer, the US-born 28-year-old is in discussions about her future. The Toffees have had a disappointing campaign, perhaps not helped by the chaos at the men’s side of the club, but Brosnan hopes the future is brighter.
“We’ve been playing really good football, we have an excellent team and I think we’ve just not been able to get the results that we’ve wanted. It’s been a little bit frustrating. There’s a lot of stuff going on off the pitch with the men, but you just focus on what you can control on the pitch, so that stuff doesn’t really affect us.
“There’s people at Everton who are diligently working to solve the problems or figure out the takeover stuff. It’s not really something that I personally am involved with. But obviously, you hope for the best, for the future, because Everton is a great club and I’ve loved every minute that I’ve been there.”
She lives right beside the new stadium and sees it being built every day, and certainly hopes that she can play there.
But for now, Brosnan’s full focus is on Ireland and this daunting double-header against France and England.
“This is where we want to be. We want to be testing ourselves against the best. You want to be playing against the best teams and it’s great to have such good competition,” she concludes.
“France have been on a good run of games, they made finals of the Nations League against Spain. They have such attacking quality and a lot of pace on the wings and they’re a really technical team. We know it’s going to be a tough battle against them and the same for England, so we’re going to prepare the best we can.
“It’s great that we’ve been here before and played these big teams in massive moments, like playing Australia, the sold out crowd. It gives you the confidence that you’ve been there before and you can handle it.”
