Kilkenny star makes welcome return to Irish International Squad

Kilkenny soccer star Ellen Molloy is back in the Irish Football frame aftet she was named in the 23-player squad for two International Friendlies against the United States later this month.

The Inistioge player has been rewarded after recent impressive performances with Wexford in the SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division and is notably the only call-up that is currently with a League of Ireland club.

Defender Hayley Nolan joins Molloy in receiving a first call-up under Carla Ward. Nolan last featured for Ireland on their most recent US tour in April 2023.

Molloy's selection which is her first in a number of years has came about as a reult of the likes of Aoife Mannion, Heather Payne, Tara O’Hanlon, Katie McCabe, Jamie Finn, Lily Agg, Jess Ziu and Leanne Kiernan all being unavailable.

The WNT players & staff send their condolences to midfielder Aoibheann Clancy following the passing of her mother, Siobhan. She is being given the time to deal with this difficult period and has the full support of the WNT squad.

Ireland will take on the World No 1 team in the world for the 16th time in their history in the first game on Thursday, June 26th in Denver, Colorado (KO 02:00am Irish Time) before they meet again on Sunday, June 29th in Cincinnati (KO 20:00 Irish Time).

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.

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)

International Friendlies

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