NIAMH FAHEY LAUGHS when she’s asked if becoming a Republic of Ireland centurion gives her pride of place in the family, after her brother, Gary, lifted the Sam Maguire for Galway in 2001.
“That’s a tough question,” she concedes, adding that she’d have to ask himself, who has travelled for the landmark game, and their father.
“My family are immensely proud of me and we’re a GAA-strong household so they might rank an All-Ireland slightly higher or on par.”
Lucky enough she has one of her own from 2004.
“Yeah, I suppose at this stage I could probably trump him,” the Liverpool captain grins.
Fahey might just hit the milestone today, as Ireland open their account at the Pinatar Cup against Poland [KO 2.30pm Irish time], though revealed on a media call yesterday that she had received no indication from Vera Pauw as to whether she would start the quarter-final in La Manga.
When it happens, it happens.
Fahey cut a typically cool, calm and collected figure as she took a trip back through her 99 caps to date, reliving the highs, lows and everything in between.
The 34-year-old will become the fourth WNT player to earn 100 caps, joining Emma Byrne (134), Áine O’Gorman (111) and Ciara Grant (105) in the exclusive club. She, for one, didn’t keep tabs on the number, and had to clarify it all with a member of FAI staff.
And another thing: “Áine can have that record, I’m not in the business of counting caps!”
Her first came in March 2007, against Portugal at the Algrave Cup. 18 at the time, she remembers little to nothing about the game itself, but has a clear recollection of getting the call-up in Cork and thinking, ‘I don’t want to go’. She was absolutely petrified and a bag of nerves, but had little to worry about after all.
She loved every minute of it, from her first taste of camp to rooming with fellow Galway native Méabh De Búrca, and everything in between — even the tracksuit debacles, after the squad travelled in their normal clothes.
“George, our kitman who has passed away, he’d be smoking away on his ciggies with the stress of wondering would the skips have arrived,” Fahey fondly remembers.
“And everyone getting the gear out and complaining about different sizes and and the right sizes. He used to get a lot of grief off us so he was a top man in fairness. It’s night and day now, the set-up in terms of the professionalism and the dietary side of things.
“It’s like everything, the game has just moved on to a different level.”
That was a common thread which ran through the entire call yesterday; the 2009 European Championships play-off second-leg defeat on a frozen pitch in Iceland a standout game in her memory for all the wrong reasons, the seminal 2017 strike at Liberty Hall, and today’s much clearer pathway to professionalism all getting a mention.
“I couldn’t have imagined how it’s changed since I started out to now. It’s been crazy in terms of the exposure and nearly a full professional game worldwide in most of the leagues. I’m glad it has but I didn’t see it changing as rapidly.
“It was just the drive of people involved the game, the players themselves and externally. They want to grow the women’s game and realising there could be a lot more done in terms of equity, fairness and promotion of the game.
“It’s not that long that women’s football was banned, so trying to move past those times. There’s obviously a love of football worldwide so all these factors have contributed to where we are now.”
There’s been several interviews with Irish women’s footballers in recent weeks reflecting on the game’s progression. As Wexford Youths star Kylie Murphy noted, “I wish I was about 10 years of age right now coming into what is going to happen in the sport.”
Fahey doesn’t exactly share that same train of thought when she looks to, even, the younger members of the squad.
“I don’t envy them but I am excited for them. They have fantastic opportunities ahead of them. The pathway is there, they can become professional footballers as soon as they want really, it’s up to them. That’s fantastic for them.
“To have that ability… I didn’t have that, I always had a dream I wanted to play football at the highest level but I never thought of it as a profession, as a job so yeah, it’s exciting for them and to be able to to push themselves and see how far they can go. The opportunities are endless now in football, it’s fantastic for them.”
With opportunity, often comes risk, and that’s something a huge cohort of Irish youngsters are experiencing as they spread their wings and cross the water. There are pitfalls, too, as people often look through rose-tinted glasses, and have no Plan B when A changes.
That’s why education and having other interests outside of football are so important, Fahey nods. She’s currently studying a Masters of Business Administration [MBA] at John Moore’s University in Liverpool, while doing her Uefa B license on the side.
While more interested in the management and operations side of the game rather than being on the grass coaching when all is said and done, the FAI’s latest strategic plan surely made for interesting reading.
That the team qualify for either the 2023 World Cup or 2025 Euros and maintain a consistent top-30 world ranking are among the relative targets, both of which Fahey welcomes.
“That’s it, it’s a KPI and is something that the whole Association is backing. There is a lot of development going on in the National League, within all the international departments and you can see the growth of the women’s game, the players we are now producing.
“It’s a target we are aiming for and as we said before, hopefully we can do it in this campaign, we are in a good position, there’s no reason why we can’t.
“It’s a holistic approach, it’s not just throwing all resources into one area of the international set-up, it starts with grassroots and the underage set-up.
“The strategic plan is a fantastic document to have but unless you put that words into action, it’s just words really. That’s there as the guiding light so hopefully the people in power in different areas with this plan will come to fruition and qualify for a major championships.”
She also supports the target for a second-tier in the Women’s National League [WNL], and is well-versed to do so given her captaincy of Liverpool in the FA Championship.
Calls for the Irish top-flight to go semi-professional are more front and centre, though, as the league continues to lose some of its brightest talent to further afield.
“It’s difficult isn’t it? We are so close to England and the UK, the contracts are bigger, so it’s a bigger fish right on our doorstep. It will always be difficult to keep players at home in Ireland.
“But there are no reasons why it can’t go to a full semi-professional environment and be a really top quality league at home as well. It is a difficult one. I don’t really have the answers.”
While this bigger-picture outlook was certainly interesting, Fahey answered more than enough on her glittering career to date.
There’s plenty of time for it yet, but one regret to date she emphasised over and over was failure to reach a major tournament up to now.
“It would be massively disappointing” to not do so before calling time, she admits, “but I’ve learnt to enjoy the journey as I’ve got older.
“If it doesn’t happen, I won’t be devastated because I’ve enjoyed every minute and progressed along the way. Hopefully what I have done and we have done helps the future generations to get a step closer. I hope it happens.”
All football and on-field matters aside, exhibit A: the legacy of leading the 2017 strike.
“People who had come before and myself have made important steps for progression of women’s football in Ireland,” Fahey concludes. “It came to a head outside Liberty Hall but there were a lot of other steps before me.
“I can be proud of my journey if it doesn’t end up exactly where I want it to be, from how we’ve helped develop the women’s game.”
That, after all, is what it’s all about.
- Republic of Ireland v Poland, Pinatar Cup, 2.30pm Irish time, FAI live-stream expected.
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