Defensive Jewel: Ruby reflects on Euro qualifyers

Kildare’s Ruby Boland is home from Albania, where she played a major role in helping Ireland top their group, with three wins from three, in Round 1 of qualifiers for the 2027 UEFA Women’s U17 Championship.

16-year-old Boland was one of 20 players selected by Manager, James Scott, for Ireland’s 12-day trip to Albania, where they faced Azerbaijan and Kosovo either side of a game with the hosts.

Boland started at centre back in the opening two games, with Ireland beating Azerbaijan 16-0 (yes, you read that correctly) followed by another fine performance that saw the girls in green overcome Albania on a 2-0 scoreline.

Her journey to the elite level of football began at just 11 years old, when the Sallins native joined the Shamrock Rovers Academy. After three years going through the programme, Boland was called up to the Rovers U17s where she was part of a historic treble-winning team.

Still in fourth year at Gaelcholáiste Chill Dara, the pacey, technical centre back is already a formidable force in the green and white hoops, currently playing for Rovers in the League of Ireland’s U23 Women's Development League.

“It's a top-class experience. Rovers is an amazing club and there's such opportunities there,” Boland told The Kildare Nationalist, just a few short days removed from her excursion in Albania.

This latest round of U17 qualifiers is far from Boland’s first experience representing her country, with her first call up coming at the 2025 Bob Docherty Cup – an U15 schools tournament played between Ireland, England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

“That's where it all started. I had a really good tournament there - got Player of the Tournament - and it lit such a hunger in me,” she told us. “And since then, playing Ireland U16 for a year, that's brings me such pride, especially wearing the green jersey; my journey so far has just been unbelievable.” 

The Kildare wonderkid insists it is still very special every time she receives an international call up, saying, “There's such talent and strength in our team and the quality of the girls is amazing - and they're such nice people as well.

“So, to be included in that is unbelievable, because I know loads of girls want to achieve that dream of playing for Ireland. So, it really brings me pride that I can represent them girls as well.” 

Boland played the full 90 minutes in Ireland’s wins over Azerbaijan and Albania, describing her emotions during those games by saying, “Oh, my God, it was brilliant. Walking out onto that pitch - and we were in such lovely stadiums as well - and, you know, you're singing Amhrán na bhFiann in Irish, with the girls standing beside you, it’d almost bring tears to your eyes.

“Not a lot of people get that opportunity; so, to be surrounded with such talent and to go out there and do really well in their first two games, that set us up nicely, so, it was brilliant.” 

Asked what it was like to play in a 16-0 game, Boland responded with maturity, saying, “Coming into that Azerbaijan game, obviously we’d prepared a couple of good training sessions, then throughout the game it's easy to drop your standards, but, you know, we never did. We kept it going. We kept to our game plan. And, you know, if you score one, you want to get another. We're a hungry team and we have such talent as well; everyone's trying to prove themselves and I think everyone did that very well as well.” 

The Sallins teenager continued to demonstrate incredible maturity when asked about her missing the third game – Ireland’s 6-0 win over Kosovo that secured qualification from the first phase of games.

“In the two previous games I got two full 90 minutes. And we had won them, so, it set us up nicely to win the group. And then it was rotational as much as anything, you know; it's a team and everyone has a part to play.

"It's one to 20 in the squad; and we've such quality, so we know that everyone's a team player and everyone needs their chance to contribute and show what they can do on the pitch. And obviously, in the 30-degree weather, sure, I was sweating. I needed a bit of a break, you know. But what's really special, I think for all of us, is being a football family.” 

Ireland emerged as group winners, without conceding a single goal – a statistic that brings a huge source of pride to Boland, her fellow defender, and the Irish coaches. “We’re very solid at the back, we’ve great communication, and we all know our roles very well; we all have our role to play and I think we're all super happy,” she said.

Drawing a line under the 12 days spent in Albania, Boland told us, “It was a gorgeous country; playing in 30-degree weather was brilliant; and the pitches were top class as well. You know, we always had everything. So, it's brilliant.” 

Ireland will now be one of 28 teams to be drawn into seven groups of four in Round 2 of the qualifiers, with the draw scheduled for early December. The seven group winners will qualify for the finals along with hosts, Finland.

These next round of qualifiers will be a big step up, as Ireland will be playing much more established nations. But Boland insists she is “really positive” about the girls in green’s chances of making it to Finland.

“We've such a bond with the girls on the team; we know everyone's touches inside out and what everyone’s going to do,” she said. 

“Obviously, it will be very hard, but, it's stuff like working off the pitch that adds up as well – not just training and stuff, but what you do when nobody sees it; being out running when no one else is, out running in hail, rain or snow. It's a great place to be, and there’s real belief in the squad that we can go and we can do this.”