IT’S BEEN quite a year for Savannah McCarthy.  

The Kerry native has long been viewed as a player of high potential.

All the way back in 2014, a 17-year-old McCarthy made her first appearance for the Irish senior side in a friendly against the Basque Country.

Until recently though, she has been a sporadic presence in the national team.

The fact that she only made her competitive debut for the Irish side in last month’s World Cup qualifier against Sweden suggests her journey has been far from straightforward.

After playing for UCD Waves and Galway in the early stages of her career, she accepted a professional contract with Glasgow City in 2016 and subsequently helped the club win an 11th successive Scottish Women’s Premier League title.

Yet her stay in Scotland was not a long one and by March 2018, she was back playing in the Women’s National League with Cork City, winning their Player of the Season award for 2018 before an injury rendered her absent for much of the following campaign.

In 2020, McCarthy joined Galway and at present, she is seemingly playing the best football of her career.

Last weekend, she was part of a team that denied Peamount a third straight WNL title in spectacular fashion.

Earlier this week, McCarthy’s efforts throughout the campaign were recognised, as she was one of three individuals nominated for the WNL Player of the Year.

Such standout performances also mean she has forced her way into Vera Pauw’s plans, with McCarthy earning a spot in the starting XI for both of Ireland’s World Cup qualifiers so far, as she kept the highly experienced North Carolina Courage defender Diane Caldwell out of the team.

Pauw explains the player has come through a difficult period and is now barely recognisable from the individual she previously encountered.

“It is always difficult to talk about an individual player because you don’t want to expose a player but she said to me that there was this moment where she said: ‘I want to be involved again.’ She was involved before and got an injury, the meniscus, and she said herself, and these are her words; ‘I let it go. I was just going through the motions. Just playing and not doing many extras for it.’

“Then she decided she wanted back in and she started training every day. I was reading in the papers that she was training with boys, which would help her. So she started training with boys, and put on a regime for top-level sport of food, recovery, gym work, aside from all her work with Galway.

“And it was at this moment, in the home-based sessions, she was there before, and I asked ‘who is that?’ and someone said that is Savannah McCarthy. No, she was in before, who is this? And was told again it was Savannah McCarthy.

“So, her level of play went from a player who was going through the motions to something more. And that was her talent, of course. It was somewhere hidden. And now, she is training more determined and ready to achieve her goal in life. And she immediately showed that. So, we recalled her. And she did so well, never had a fear of failure because she is good. And we needed a left-footer in that backline, she has done very, very well.”

Asked how far the 24-year-old can go in the game and whether a return to Britain could be on the cards, Pauw added:  “I think she can go really far. She has everything. She is a top defender. She is top level at this moment. If she stays fit and doesn’t get injured, there are no limits I think for her.

“She is very good, she is not the fastest but she is very good at reading the game to compensate for that. She battles to start her game up again. There are a few [elements of her game] we have to discuss but it is the same with everyone.”

And while McCarthy’s promotion has relegated Caldwell to the bench, Pauw says the 33-year-old centre-back remains a valued squad member.

“It’s very very difficult for her. I’ve spoken to her, of course. I had a long meeting via [Microsoft] Teams. We put a lot of energy into it. That is one of those very unfortunate situations in top-level sport. If somebody is doing so well, the team needs that kind of quality. With Niamh Fahey doing so well on the right side, yeah, you get to a point that you need to make a choice. And the choice is made — what is in our opinion is the balance that brings us results. It doesn’t mean she’s out forever, she’s a very good player Diane Caldwell, I have huge respect for her. But we are professionals and we need to win games. If you line up somebody, somebody else will be taken out. We needed Louise [Quinn] for headers, of course. 

“For now, it’s the best situation. But if we have a different kind of opponent, we might end up playing her. It’s always about the best, we have no fear of choosing for different things as you’ve noticed before.”

So could Caldwell come back into the team for the upcoming qualifiers against Slovakia and Georgia?

“Of course, we don’t know. We’ll see how they come in, the balance of the team what gives us the highest possibility of a good result. Against Sweden, you need different qualities than against Georgia. It is not a fixed situation. Let me say I’ve got huge respect for her as a player and her career, it’s very unfortunate for her in this situation.”