Jamie Finn rejects the assumption that a loss of form precipitated her omission from the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup squad.
“No, to be fair, as I reflect back on it, even my season with Birmingham I played every single game. I started every single game. I always reflect and say, ‘could I have done something better?’ But, no, even off the pitch it was so tunnel vision towards the World Cup and I can say I ticked every box to do that. Even when I came into camp, everyone knows me, I’ll give 100 per cent, play any position the manager wants to put me in. Yeah, it was a shock.”
Finn was cut from Ireland’s 23-woman squad, although she travelled to the tournament as an injury reserve. A fly-on-the-wall witness to her own dream.
“It was a huge disappointment for me,” said Finn, back in the squad to face Albania in the Nations League this Friday at Tallaght stadium (kick-off 5.45pm). “Being involved in everything really, in all the [qualifier] games, I played six games [in 2022]...I was heartbroken, a really difficult situation to be in, to be honest.
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“I had to put the team first and I went to Australia and I done everything I could to help the team in any way possible; training, team meetings, I done that, it was difficult at the time, really really difficult. But something I had to do.”
There were warning signs. Ever present at right wing-back last year, the 25-year-old was gradually phased out, starting with being an unused substitute against China last February, and then across two matches in the USA in April. Come the World Cup warm-ups, when Zambia and France came to Tallaght, Heather Payne had taken her place in the starting XI.
But the real surprise came when an Australian, Deborah-Anne De la Harpe, and an American, Marissa Sheva, came from nowhere to challenge for the position.
De la Harpe disappeared following an underwhelming 45 minutes against China but Sheva started the World Cup opener against Australia before coming off the bench against Canada and Nigeria. In August, Sheva returned to the Washington Spirit where she sat out the NWSL season as an unused sub. The 26-year-old was not recalled by interim Ireland manager Eileen Gleeson for this month’s fixtures.
The announcement of Ireland’s World Cup squad, which should have been a peak in Finn’s career, was instead a low.
“Yeah, it wasn’t great to be honest. I think it was more sadness because anyone who knows me knows how proud I am to be Irish. Like wearing the green jersey in any game is such a proud moment for me and my family.”
“About 25″ of the Finn clan made the journey to Australia. Her selection seemed a certainty when they booked their flights but a 10-month gap followed between her 15th and 16th cap, which she finally won in Budapest last month. “I just have to process what happened. Not really why it happened, because you might never get an answer to why things like that happen to you in life.”
