As the Girls in Green gear up for the extensive challenge of facing Group A3 in the upcoming EURO Qualifying stages, the Republic of Ireland prepare to arm wrestle with the talents of Sweden, France, and England, for a chance at booking their ticket to Switzerland for EURO 2025.

Young Irish forward, Jess Ziu, spoke to The Halfway Line after last month’s friendly fixture with Cymru at Tallaght Stadium, in which the silver-lining of a disappointing defeat came in the form of Ziu’s Player of Match appointment.

Not only did the 21 year-old display her dominance in Tallaght, the battle with Wales saw Ziu register her first full ninety minutes since rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament in October of 2022. Expressing her delight in making a full return to football, Ziu spoke,“Personally for me, it was good to pick up Player of the Match in my first 90 minutes in over 16 months, so that feel good.”

Ziu continued, “It feels good, being back in. With a lot of new faces it was a bit overwhelming coming back in, but the girls all welcomed me back, all the staff were brilliant too. It feels good just to be back.

The first two games at West Ham I was cramping in the 40th minute, so it does feel good to get past that hurdle. Hopefully I can get more 90s in the future.”

Recent friendly fixtures with both Italy and Wales have seen Republic of Ireland manager, Eileen Gleeson, deploy Ziu’s skillset in a dual-positional role, having played both on the wing, and in the 10. Ziu reflected on what she has made of the experience under Gleeson, expressing “You can also see [that] we are playing two different formations- I’m playing the wing, and then in the second half in the 10. So, that also feels good that Eileen puts her trust in me in both positions.

To be fair, I’m quite a runner and I’ll chase all day. But being in that 10 in the little tight spaces, picking up the ball, turning, I think that’s a bit more me. But, if Eileen and the staff need me on the wing, right-back, centre-mid, striker, I will play all of them.”

As the Girls in Green prepare for the first hurdle of their tough road to Switzerland against France this coming Friday in Metz, Ziu digested how her gruelling period on the sidelines came to fruition in the form of the unconditional support she had for her teammates at both club and country level.

“I actually think that was the hardest part- sitting up in the stands at West Ham, or watching the girls at the World Cup, it was just gutting. But, I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason, and my time will come hopefully in the future. I was just the girls’ number one fan at West Ham and Ireland.”

As Ziu begins to make her mark on the international stage, the young Irish talent has been a formative part of West Ham United’s Barclays Women’s Super League campaign as the 2023/24 campaign progresses.

West Ham United boss, Rehanne Skinner, spoke to The Halfway Line in recent weeks, expressing her delight in Ziu’s unconditional work ethic when flying toward her return to full-flight football.

Skinner spoke, “I’m really proud of the way she has recovered and gone about all of her training. She’s such a hard working kid, she puts everything into it. She is a fantastic character in the group. Also, she’s nuts! Every young player has their ups and downs but she has been so focused on getting back on the pitch, you’ve seen her play well for both Ireland and ourselves.

She’s another one that needs managing correctly because she hasn’t been back that long from the ACL in the whole scheme of things, so we still have to be conscious of what that looks like for her.”

When asked how Ziu has personally found her experience in East London, the 21 year-old said that she found playing with West Hm ‘really good’ thus far. Continuing on, Ziu expressed “I feel like I haven’t been out for 14 months. Great team, great management- so hopefully we can climb up the table and get some more points.”

The Irons made their presence known during the January transfer window, welcoming the likes of Katrina Gorry (Australia), Kristie Mewis (USA), Marika Bergman-Lundin (Sweden) and Spurs loanee Shelina Zadorsky (Canada).

Ziu reflected on how it has been having a flurry of new talent in Dagenham, expressing “They’re great to have, just even off the pitch with a lot of experience. I think you can also see on the pitch [that] they add a lot to our team. Like I said, hopefully we can get more points on the table.”

The Republic of Ireland return to the international stage this Friday, as the Girls in Green travel to Metz to face off with France in the first fixture of the EURO 2025 Qualifier group stages.