A CENTRE-HALF FROM Kildare who likes to carry the ball into midfield and surge further from their station. Are there shades of Nathan Collins in Hayley Nolan, one reporter asks.
“I would take that,” the one-cap Republic of Ireland women’s international laughs.
“He scored a great goal for Ireland during the summer where he ran through the defence. If I could copy him or emulate that, I think I’d be very happy.”
Nolan, who plays her club football with Championship side London City Lionesses, has worked her way back into Vera Pauw’s set-up in recent months with all eyes on Ireland’s first-ever major tournament next summer.
It’s no secret that the World Cup auditions start now. The squad is in Marbella, Spain, for a training camp which culminates in an international friendly against Morocco on Monday.
The sides will also meet in a behind-closed-doors clash tomorrow, a massive opportunity for fringe players like Nolan to stake a claim amidst injury absentees.
“We’re very excited, we’re all delighted to be back in,” the 25-year-old beams. “Just eager to prepare for the World Cup.
“The team is very competitive. We have got so many players who can come in and out of the squad and the strength is still there. For myself, it’s definitely an opportunity, it’s an opportunity for everyone over the next nine months to make sure they are sitting on the plane going over to Australia.
“There are so many great players, so many young players coming through in those positions. You could see that in this campaign and the last campaign. There is going to be a lot of fighting for positions on the plane. But that’s the best thing for the team.”
Nolan is certainly making a decent case for inclusion through her club exploits. The Johnstown native has started every game for London City thus far this season, helping them to second in the table, two points off Bristol City.
A versatile defender or midfielder, Nolan is thriving at the back of a 3-5-2 formation, having decided to focus on playing there after conversations with Pauw and club manager Melissa Phillips.
“We’re very confident,” she nods. (Both collectively and individually, as she looks to “push on to the next level”.) “We have been doing extremely well. We’ve only lost one game this season, come off the back of five clean sheets in the last five games, and we are hopeful that come May we are getting all the way up to the WSL, which is the goal.”
It’s been an impressive rise so far for Nolan, as documented recently with The42.
From playing “every sport under the sun” when she was younger and pestering her Dad to let her play for his U8 boys’ team – “football had my heart from the beginning,” she assures — to moving to America aged 18 to pursue a scholarship at University of Hartford, she’s exactly where she wants to be right now.
“I was just a young girl who had a dream of playing professional football. That really moulded me into the player that I am,” she notes of her time Stateside.
A mainstay through the Irish underage ranks, Nolan made a senior breakthrough under Pauw; called up for her first camp in charge in October 2019, before debuting in a friendly against Belgium in April 2021.
A dislocated shoulder, sustained in training, “delayed my progress within the team,” sidelining her for seven months.
“It was a big blow, but I’m definitely in a better place and stronger now. I’m obviously delighted to be back in. When I got called back in September, it was an opportunity for me to take and hopefully stay in the squad for next summer.”
That said, watching from afar wasn’t difficult. “For me, missing out, you turn into a fan. I’m obviously a big fan of the team, I’m good friends with a lot of the girls in the team, so I want them to do well.
“We are all Irish, we are big fans, we want everyone to succeed. I was just delighted to see them do so well. To be unbeaten in a year is a credit to them and to the coaching staff.”
“I was always quietly confident that I could get back into the team,” she adds. “I got called in a bit earlier than aimed for in September, and I was delighted to be given the opportunity to be around the girls for such a monumental occasion.”
Feeling at home amidst a strong, tight group, Nolan previously spoke about her feeling that it was a matter of time before they qualified a major tournament. Talent, hunger, drive and determination are words she uses describing the team and further explaining that feeling.
“I think teams that come and play us, they are quietly scared because they don’t know if they will get a result against us. I think we are very difficult to defeat and difficult to score against, which is the mainstay of any team. If they can’t score, then you are in with a shout to win. For me, sitting in a room with so many talented players, I think it is clear to see that we are going to succeed and do well.”
That belief filters through to next summer’s World Cup, where they’ve been drawn against Australia, Canada and Nigeria in Group B. In that recent interview with The42, Nolan discussed the want — and need — to be competitive at major tournaments rather than just qualifying and playing.
Actions speak louder than words, and she’s confident the team can excel.
“I don’t think we have had that much experience against Nigeria, but I think this week against Morocco will definitely be a good eye-opener. For Canada and Australia, we played Australia last year, competed very well against them in Tallaght Stadium and came away with a 3-2 win. So we are quietly confident against them.
“I know they are the home nation, but I think we are also going to be like a home nation with the amount of fans we’ll have at the game. That will definitely play into our favour. Then with Canada, they are a class team. They won the Olympics. We have to respect them. But we are definitely going to make the game difficult for them.”
It’s all about the next few days, though. The preparation for what lies ahead.
“Morocco is definitely a great team to be up against,” she concludes.
“I believe they came second at the African Cup of Nations during the summer and they beat Nigeria in the semi-finals. So for us it’s great preparation for that game in Australia.”
