While Jack Grealish started out as an underage Republic of Ireland international before declaring for England at senior level, the girl he sat next to at St Peter’s School, Solihull looks set to take the opposite route.
Manager Vera Pauw confirmed to The Green Machine podcast on Saturday that she is considering adding Manchester United defender Aoife Mannion to her squad, the 27-year-old having represented England from under-15 to under-23 level. She was twice named in senior England squads, but did not make an appearance.
Mannion returned for United on Saturday when she was on the bench for their League Cup game against Sheffield United having been out since February after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury. It was the second time in just over two years that she sustained such an injury.
Pauw said that “a lot” of players have been looking to declare for Ireland since the team qualified for the World Cup, but, she said, “they have to be really, really better than what we have – and indeed Aoife Mannion is one of them. She’s coming back from an ACL injury, so we’re hoping that she will be ready, but she’s in the pipeline, we’re dealing with her eligibility.
“After we qualified there were a lot putting their names in, but we will only use them if they have a very strong relationship with Ireland. Aoife’s parents were born in Ireland, she will be in Ireland for Christmas and new year with her grandparents, so there is a very strong connection there. But players who now jump in and think ‘oh, I’ve got a granny somewhere, I’ll get a passport and then I’ll play for Ireland’, we don’t [go] for that, unless they are really, really good.
“If they are equal level, then I will choose the players who have done it, of course. This bond that we have, you can only keep it if there is that trust. But every single player would want someone who could make us stronger to come in.”
Mannion played Gaelic football in Birmingham as a young girl, once coming up against a team that featured Grealish, and credited the sport for “toughening her up” and turning her in to an aggressive and physical central defender.
