JAMIE Finn may be preparing for the Republic of Ireland’s back-to-back Uefa Nations League games against Albania – but the 25-year-old Dubliner is still hurting from her World Cup finals omission last summer.
Vera Pauw’s decision to axe Finn from her World Cup squad back in July sent shockwaves through Irish football and left the player “heartbroken”.
Although she ended up travelling to Australia as a training player – just in case any players suffered injury – her World Cup dream was effectively dashed.
“Obviously it was a huge disappointment for me,” said Finn at Ireland’s training base in Castleknock, Dublin yesterday morning.
“Being involved in everything, in all the games - I played six games - so it was a shock to be honest not to be selected.
“I was heartbroken, a really difficult situation to be in. But I went to Australia and I did everything I could to help the team in any way possible: training, team meetings, I did that, it was difficult at the time, really, really difficult. But something I had to do.”
Recalled for last month’s Nations League double header with Northern Ireland and Hungary and retained for the two Albania fixtures by interim boss Eileen Gleeson, Finn had no idea she would be surplus to requirements when it came to the biggest tournament of them all.
“I think it was more sadness [than anger] for me because anyone that knows me knows how proud I am to be Irish,” added Finn, who is currently with Birmingham City.
“Wearing the green jersey in any game for me is such a proud moment for me and my family. To play in the qualifiers, and to do all the training camps beforehand, to fall at that last hurdle, yeah it was heartbreaking.
“There was no real indication. It was a shock for me.”
It should have been a day of celebration when the squad was announced a few weeks before the finals but it was arguably the most stressful, distracting period for the entire squad.
Finn, undoubtedly, had plenty of support within the squad – but also among Irish football fans.
“As I said, I was involved in absolutely everything and, yeah, to get that news and then all your friends and teammates around you got the best news, it was so difficult.
“My [World Cup] experience was totally different to everyone that was there and I’m probably still processing the whole situation.
“It will take a long time to get over it. But I think, for me, it was about looking forward and what can I do now to get back to where I was and get back to Birmingham and start playing again and get back into an Ireland jersey, because ultimately the main goal for me is to play for my club and represent Ireland.
“I think I just have to process what happened; not really why it happened because you might never get an answer to why things like that happen to you in life. I think it’s just about moving forward and trying to look forward and getting back on the pitch. That was what I really wanted to do. I wanted to get back training, back in with Birmingham and hopefully back into this team.”
Gleeson has restored a couple of the more established players that fell out of favour during Pauw’s reign, including Finn and Tyler Toland.
Finn played the last 12 minutes in the 3-0 win over Northern Ireland but was an unused sub in Hungary.
Albania drew with Hungary but suffered a 1-0 loss to Northern Ireland. With the Republic seeing off both those teams, they’ll be fancied to bag a couple of wins against Albania starting on Friday night at Tallaght Stadium.
