Kilare's Nolan recalled to Ireland squad
Hayley Nolan will part of the Irish squad that travels to the United States for two friendlies later this month Photo: ©INPHO/Nick Elliott
Kill’s Hayley Nolan has been recalled to the Ireland senior squad for the two upcoming friendly games against the United States.
It’s the 28-year-old’s first call up under new manager Carla Ward, and indeed, her first call up since Ireland’s last visit to the USA back in 2023.
Nolan was part of the Crystal Palace squad that won the Barclays Women’s Championship in 2023/24 but missed the start of her club’s historic inaugural season in the Barclays Women’s Super League. She returned to the team in December and ended the season by appearing in ten of their 22 league games. Although Palace finished bottom of the table and were relegated back to the Championship, Nolan signed a contract during the season that will extend her stay at the club until the end of next season.
Ireland will take on the World No 1 for the 16th time in their history in the first game on Thursday, June 26th in Denver, Colorado (KO 2am Irish Time) before they meet again on Sunday, June 29th in Cincinnati (KO 8pm Irish Time).
Ward names a much changed squad to the unavailability of a number of players, including Aoife Mannion, Heather Payne, Tara O’Hanlon, Katie McCabe, Jamie Finn, Lily Agg, Jess Ziu and Leanne Kiernan.
Midfielder Aoibheann Clancy given time off to deal with the sad passing of her mother Siobhan and has the full support of the WNT squad.
Along with Nolan, midfielder Ellen Molloy also receives her first call-up under Ward. Molloy returns to the squad following recent impressive performances with Wexford in the SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division.
Ireland WNT Head Coach Carla Ward said: “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 the second game also live on RTÉ2.
Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Grace Moloney (Unattached), Sophie Whitehouse (Charlton Athletic)
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)
Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Megan Connolly (Lazio), Tyler Toland (Blackburn Rovers), Ruesha Littlejohn (Shamrock Rovers), Marissa Sheva (Sunderland), Ellen Molloy (Wexford)
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)
USA v Ireland Thursday, June 26th Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, Colorado KO 19:00 (Local Time), 02:00am (Irish Time) Live on RTÉ Player
USA v Ireland Sunday, June 29th TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio KO 15:00 (Local Time), 20:00 (Irish Time) Live on RTÉ2 & RTÉ Player
