Peamount’s Freya Healy is replacing injured Emily Whelan in the Ireland WNT squad Interim Head Coach Eileen Gleeson has announced for the upcoming UEFA Nations League games against Hungary and Northern Ireland, on Dec.1 and Dec. 5 respectively.
Healy, who turned 16 at the beginning of this month, will join the squad for training on Monday, where Gleeson will assess her players’ fitness.
Though she has represented Ireland at the u16, u17, and u19 levels, this is her potential senior international debut, in a fitting end to a season that saw her win a league title with Peamount United. 17-year-old club mate Ellen Dolan also received her first senior call-up.
Gleeson chose to leave off several experienced strikers, including Amber Barrett, who started for Standard Liege in their 1-0 win over Genk yesterday (Nov. 25), Niamh Fahey, and Leanne Kiernan, the latter two of whom are finally making appearances again after long-term injuries, but are still in return-to-play protocols.
After previous wins over Northern Ireland, Hungary, and Albania (twice), Ireland are already guaranteed to finish at the top of Group B1, meaning the team will be promoted to League A in the Nations League.