Courtney Brosnan reflected on her time in club football in France with ‘fond memories’ but remains focused on the job at hand.
Ahead of a FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifier where Ireland could achieve what would have seemed unthinkable only a few months ago, Ireland’s number one spoke to the media. At Stade des Alpes in Grenoble, Courtney Brosnan spoke on MD-1 and The Halfway Line was there to hear from her.
Courtney Brosnan has ‘fond memories’ of her time in France
Brosnan’s first move in football outside of the states came when she moved to Ambilly in France. Shortly after she joined Le Havre spending a couple of years in France. The Halfway Line asked Brosnan about her time in France, head coach Carla Ward briefly interjected,
“Can you speak French?” Ward asked with a grin before Brosnan replied with a modest smile, “A little bit” she replied. “It’s funny looking back now” reflected Brosnan. “I think it was a big step in my journey.
“Going from playing in University in the US, and obviously leaving home for the first time to a new country where you don’t speak the language, and pursuing your dreams, I think it was really scary.
“I was a different person maybe than I am now, but I think it really helped me to develop and made a lot of great friends, and obviously improved as a footballer as well, and then was able to make the move to England.
“I look back on it with really fond memories, and I think it challenged me in a lot of ways and helped me to develop.”
‘It feels amazing’ to be competing in League A says Brosnan
Few expected Ireland to remain in League A, never mind be the on form team in the division with one match to play. A side in with a fighting chance of automatic qualification for the World Cup. That was put to Brosnan, and she was asked how she feels about it,
“Yeah, it feels amazing” Brosnan said “I think, obviously, we’ve said it a million times, being in League A is where we want to be.
“But as you said, when you’re in League A, the competition and the quality of teams is right there at the top and that’s who we want to be playing against.
“So I think it’s unbelievable what we’ve been able to do to be in this position and we’re looking to continue that on Tuesday.”
‘I’ll be ready’ tomorrow says Courtney Brosnan
Tomorrow night Brosnan is likely to find herself busy in between the posts, the Everton keeper was asked how she will help keep the defence calm,
“Yeah, I think, obviously, as a keeper, you get used to that” Brosnan said. “I think I’ve talked about it loads that, as a keeper, I want to do whatever I can to help the team, whether that’s making no saves or one saves or ten saves, whatever it is, I’ll be ready.
“And I think we have just such a united, strong team and squad and when we step out on the pitch, we’ll obviously give everything to get the result.”
It’s ‘huge’ to keep French crowd quiet says Brosnan
Despite conceding early the last time Ireland faced France in 2022, they frustrated France for long periods in Metz that night. Brosnan was asked about how important it will be to frustrate the crowd again tomorrow night,
Carla Ward replied in error, “Huge” before realising her mistake stating, “I didn’t know if you said Carla or Courtney!” Brosnan wittily jumped in, “I’ll say: Huge!” to an eruption of laughter in the press conference room.
Once that had died down, Brosnan continued. “No. I think really important” she said. “Obviously, anytime you’re playing away from home, you know the crowd can be a factor when they’re into the game and things like that.
“So I think it’s really important for us to do everything we can to stop that and obviously keep our heads.
“We’ve been talking a lot about being calm and obviously having that belief and going out on the pitch and doing things together, so I think that’s going to be really important for Tuesday night, yeah.”
Finally Brosnan was asked what gives her the confidence that Ireland can get the result they need tomorrow night,
“I think, seeing our performances over this Nations League” Brosnan replied. “How we’ve progressed and grown as a squad, I think the performance against the Netherlands was massive for us.
“It just gives us that confidence that we can put in these performances against big nations.”
