Ireland Women’s head coach Carla Ward has selected a 23-player squad for two International Friendlies against the United States.
Ireland will take on the World No 1 ranked nation on 26 June in Denver, before they meet again on three days later in Cincinnati.
A number of players were unavailable for selection, including Aoife Mannion, Heather Payne, Tara O’Hanlon, Katie McCabe, Jamie Finn, Lily Agg, Jess Ziu and Leanne Kiernan.
Defender Hayley Nolan and midfielder Ellen Molloy receive first call-ups under Ward. Nolan last featured for Ireland on their most recent US tour in April 2023, while Molloy returns to the squad following recent impressive performances with Wexford in the SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division.
Carla Ward told fai.ie: “The two games against USA are an opportunity for us to work together on a number of things – both on and off the pitch – as we build towards the UEFA Nations League Play-Off against Belgium in October. We will be coming up against the best team in women’s football, so we will have a plan for those games but it’s also important that we make the most out of this camp as a whole.
“When these games were first proposed to us we knew that we would be without certain players, but that opens the door for others to step up. We are building, camp by camp, so we are looking forward to getting together again and putting in some extra work that will stand to us moving forward.”
Both games will be broadcast live on the RTÉ Player (with kicks off times of 2am and 8pm), with the second game also live on RTÉ2.
IRELAND WNT SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Grace Moloney (Unattached), Sophie Whitehouse (Charlton Athletic)
Defenders: Jessie Stapleton (West Ham United), Anna Patten (Aston Villa), Caitlin Hayes (Brighton & Hove Albion), Hayley Nolan (Crystal Palace), Chloe Mustaki (Bristol City), Megan Campbell (Unattached)
Midfielders: Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Megan Connolly (Lazio), Tyler Toland (Blackburn Rovers), Ruesha Littlejohn (Shamrock Rovers), Marissa Sheva (Sunderland), Ellen Molloy (Wexford)
Forwards: Kyra Carusa (San Diego Wave), Abbie Larkin (Crystal Palace), Amber Barrett (Standard Liege), Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City), Emily Murphy (Newcastle United), Saoirse Noonan (Celtic), Erin Healy (Adelaide United), Izzy Atkinson (Unattached)