The Republic of Ireland WNT have been counting down the days to showcase their talents in Nations League A, and that time has finally come, with Eileen Gleeson naming her squad to kickstart their Euro 2025 campaign this morning, but leaving a lot of people questioning - Who is Anna Patten?
The Aston Villa defender is an outlier amongst the familiar names of the Girls in Green many have become familiar with, but, given other similar introductions in the recent past have yielded gems such as Celtic’s Caitlin Hayes, Manchester United’s Aoife Mannion and Wake Forest University’s Emily Murphy, the weight of expectation will surely loom large.
With two massive games in France and England looming on April 5th and April 9th respectively, there are plenty of talking points heading into Ireland’s first step on the road to qualify for the 2025 UEFA Women's European Championships.
Our WNT squad for April 🇮🇪👇#COYGIG | #OUTBELIEVE pic.twitter.com/VnW9Vojdx6
— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) March 28, 2024
Who is Anna Patten?
24-year-old Patten currently plays for Aston Villa in the English Women's Super League, and featured for Arsenal from 2017 to 2023.
She has played at underage international level for England, representing them at U15, U17, U19, U20 and U21 level, but qualifies for Ireland through her Donegal-born Grandfather and Galway-born Grandmother.
While she has been listed in Gleeson’s squad, Patten is yet to get the green light from FIFA for international clearance, which she will have to wait on to be declared eligible for Ireland’s two upcoming qualifiers.
Ireland WNT squad for France and England 🇮🇪
Call-up for Aston Villa’s Anna Patten.
No Sinead Farrelly. pic.twitter.com/2wdYr96rHy— Emma Duffy (@emmaduffy_) March 28, 2024
Exclusions/injury woes?
Elsewhere it’s notable that midfielder Sinead Farrelly is absent from Gleeson’s squad, although that’s believed to be as a result of a quad injury.
Meanwhile, the recently ACL injury inflicted Jamie Finn has also been left out, while recent Manchester City signing Tara O'Hanlon is still working through return to play protocol and therefore also fails to feature.
In more positive news though, Denise O’Sullivan, Tyler Toland and Niamh Fahey all return to the team having missed the last camp’s games versus Italy and Wales, with the latter of whom being a particularly pleasant surprise to be named given her club manager, Liverpool’s Matt Beard, recently stated that she had picked up a calf injury.
Wow - Anna Patten called up to the Ireland squad (pending clearance) for the first time.
Previously with Arsenal and now Aston Villa.
Fahey in despite Beard confirming a calf injury for her https://t.co/9is4WkhfTg— Kathleen McNamee (@kathleen_mcn) March 28, 2024
We’re in the big leagues now, that’s for sure!
While Ireland’s squad sure looks strong, you’d be underestimating the opposition if you were to say the likes of the squad announcements from England and France didn’t strike an air of trepidation.
With heavy hitters like Leah Williamson, Beth Mead, Mary Earps, Lucy Bronze and Lauren James all included for the Lionesses and France’s squad to be released today, there’s no disillusionment anymore, these are the big leagues for sure.
If Ireland are to go on and compete and this top level, they’ll have to prove they can do so against teams like these, and if the comments of Gleeson and her wider team are anything to go by, it looks as if they can barely wait to do so.
Here we go! 🤩
The #Lionesses selected for our upcoming #WEURO2025 qualifiers...— Lionesses (@Lionesses) March 26, 2024
Full squad/Fixture details
FIXTURES
UEFA EURO 2025 Qualifier
Group A3
France v Ireland
Friday, April 5
Saint-Smyphorien Stadium, Metz
KO 20:10 (Irish Time)
LIVE on RTÉ2
UEFA EURO 2025 Qualifier
Group A3
Ireland v England
Tuesday, April 9
Aviva Stadium
KO 19:30
LIVE on RTÉ2
IRELAND WNT SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Grace Moloney (London City Lionesses), Sophie Whitehouse (Lewes).
Defenders: Jessie Stapleton (Reading - on loan from West Ham United), Diane Caldwell (FC Zurich), Louise Quinn (Birmingham City), Niamh Fahey (Liverpool), Aoife Mannion (Manchester United), Caitlin Hayes (Celtic), Anna Patten (Aston Villa), Megan Campbell (London City Lionesses).
Midfielders: Katie McCabe (Arsenal), Denise O'Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Megan Connolly (Bristol City), Ruesha Littlejohn (London City Lionesses), Tyler Toland (Blackburn Rovers), Lily Agg (Birmingham City), Heather Payne (Everton), Jess Ziu (West Ham United), Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City), Izzy Atkinson (Crystal Palace).
Forwards: Kyra Carusa (San Diego Wave), Abbie Larkin (Crystal Palace), Amber Barrett (Standard Liege), Leanne Kiernan (Liverpool), Emily Murphy (Wake Forest University).
And in the latest edition of "Who is..." that will no doubt consume talking points around the Ireland WNT, Aston Villa's Anna Patten links up with Eileen Gleeson's squad.
They take on France on April 5th and England on April 9th.
Full squad for those fixtures below👇 https://t.co/yhTsShsVWV pic.twitter.com/gZ7VQOjnDJ— Alanna Cunnane (@acunnane10) March 28, 2024
IRELAND WNT PLAYER STATS
Goalkeepers
Courtney Brosnan | DOB 10/11/1995 | 34 caps / 16 clean sheets | Debut vs Montenegro 11/03/2020
Grace Moloney | DOB 01/03/1993 | 6 caps / 1 clean sheet | Debut vs Austria 02/03/2016
Sophie Whitehouse | DOB 10/10/1996 | 0 caps / 0 clean sheets
Defenders
Jessie Stapleton | DOB 07/02/2005 | 4 caps / 0 goals | Debut vs Philippines 19/06/2022
Diane Caldwell | DOB 11/09/1988 | 102 caps / 4 goals | Debut vs Denmark 15/03/2006
Louise Quinn | DOB 17/06/1990 | 115 caps / 16 goals | Debut vs Poland 02/02/2008
Niamh Fahey | DOB 13/10/1987 | 112 caps / 1 goal | Debut vs Portugal 27/03/2007
Aoife Mannion | DOB 24/09/1995 | 3 caps / 0 goals | Debut vs China PR 22/02/2023
Caitlin Hayes | DOB 22/09/1995 | 8 caps / 2 goals | Debut vs Northern Ireland 23/09/2023
Anna Patten | DOB 20/04/1999 | 0 caps / 0 goals
Megan Campbell | DOB 28/06/1993 | 47 caps / 4 goals | Debut vs Switzerland 24/08/2011
Midfielders
Katie McCabe | DOB 21/09/1995 | 84 caps / 26 goals | Debut vs Hungary 04/03/2015
Denise O’Sullivan | DOB 04/02/1994 | 111 caps / 20 goals | Debut vs Wales
Megan Connolly | DOB 07/03/1997 | 52 caps / 4 goals | Debut vs USA 23/02/2016
Ruesha Littlejohn | DOB 03/07/1990 | 79 caps / 6 goals | Debut vs Hungary 07/03/2012
Tyler Toland | DOB 08/08/2001 | 18 caps / 1 goal | Debut vs Northern Ireland 19/09/2017
Lily Agg | DOB 17/12/1993 | 15 caps / 3 goals | Debut vs Philippines 19/06/2022
Heather Payne | DOB 26/01/2000 | 44 caps / 2 goals | Debut vs Scotland 07/07/2017
Jess Ziu | DOB 06/06/2002 | 14 caps / 0 goals | Debut vs Northern Ireland 31/08/2018
Lucy Quinn | DOB 29/09/1993 | 21 caps / 5 goals | Debut vs Australia 21/09/2021
Izzy Atkinson | DOB 17/07/2001 | 15 caps / 0 goals | Debut vs Portugal 21/01/2018
Forwards
Kyra Carusa | DOB 14/11/1995 | 23 caps / 7 goals | Debut vs Montenegro 11/03/2020
Abbie Larkin | DOB 27/04/2005 | 17 caps / 1 goal | Debut vs Russia 19/02/2022
Amber Barrett | DOB 10/01/1996 | 41 caps / 7 goals | Debut vs Northern Ireland 19/09/2017
Leanne Kiernan | DOB 27/04/1999 | 30 caps / 4 goals | Debut vs Wales 20/08/2016
Emily Murphy | DOB 02/03/2003 | 1 caps / 0 goals | Debut vs Wales 27/02/2024
Introducing our WNT squad ☘️
April 5th v France
April 9th v England#COYGIG | #OUTBELIEVE pic.twitter.com/GVxAzOFTbZ— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) March 28, 2024
