We're delighted to present an extract from Emerald Exiles: How the Irish Made Their Mark on World Football by Barry Landy, published by New Island.
When football players leave Ireland behind in the hopes of carving out a future in the professional game, they often end up plying their trade in the UK –competing for a chance in the Premier League, the Scottish Premiership, or the numerous leagues below them.
For decades, this has been the most attractive and obvious career path for Irish players. But what of those players who ventured further afield in search of glory, adventure, or simply their next touch of the ball?
In an extract from Barry Landy's new book, read about how, with the support of her family, Irish international Denise O'Sullivan took flight to the United States to mix it with some of the world’s finest - and hasn’t looked back...
When making career decisions, it is wise to keep good counsel. Sometimes, others can see things that you cannot. They can bring a fresh perspective that you haven’t considered. For Denise O’Sullivan, her options are plentiful. A popular member of the Republic of Ireland squad, Denise can call on a host of teammates and coaches past and present to talk about what’s next and what’s best. That is before her attention turns to home, where the midfielder has her mother Nuala and nine siblings in whom to confide and seek advice. The extended O’Sullivan family from Knocknaheeny in Cork – brothers, sisters, in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins – have all taken a keen interest in how O’Sullivan’s career has taken shape over the last decade.
More recently, she has established herself as one of the world’s best midfield players, starring for North Carolina Courage in the NWSL. O’Sullivan is a key component in the Courage machine that won back-to-back Championships in 2018 and 2019. Their end-of-season playoff wins were underpinned on both occasions by being the team with the best regular season record.
Her time in the States began in more mixed circumstances, however, with an eighteen-month spell at Houston. The decision to up sticks from Glasgow – where she played for Glasgow City – and move to Texas in 2016 was difficult for the family-orientated then twenty-two-year-old. Personal considerations were at the forefront of her mind, particularly given the huge distance between Texas and Cork when compared to Glasgow. 'Leaving my family, that was huge. I really had to think about that. I was going through a tough situation with my family at the time. My dad passed away right before actually going to Houston, just days before. That was another consideration. I had to take into account going away while actually going through that process of losing my dad.’ She had at least been able to seek guidance from her father, John, shortly before his passing from cancer. ‘He knew about the opportunity that came about to go to Houston. He told me I needed to take this opportunity.’
The rest of her family were equally supportive. ‘My family was behind me the whole way. They wanted me to get over there and pursue it. America was the dream for me, and was where I wanted to go, so for it to come about right after was very special and was a proud moment for me and my family to get that contract.’
She had been discovered by the Dash in January 2016, when the Corkonian was part of a Republic of Ireland squad that travelled to California for a friendly encounter with World Cup holders USA. In front of a crowd of over 23,000 people, the Irish fell to a 5–0 defeat, with Carli Lloyd’s twenty-two-minute hat-trick putting the result beyond doubt inside the opening half hour. But the game had at least acted as a shop window for O’Sullivan, who drew the attention of the Dash. Though she didn’t know it yet, soon O’Sullivan would be calling Lloyd, arguably the world’s best player, who had six months earlier scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final, a teammate.
It had always been a dream of O’Sullivan’s to play in the States at some point in her career. She hadn’t embarked on a scholarship across the pond as a teenager, and with two seasons as a professional at Glasgow under her belt – where she had been happy enough, to be fair, with Champions League participation an annual affair – she now, unexpectedly, found herself in an opportune moment. She felt that she needed to step up from the Scottish Women’s Premier League. America would require climbing several rungs.
Houston Dash might have brought her or any Irish football fan out in a rash given another Ireland player’s first, last and ever-so-brief dalliance with the club a year earlier. Stephanie Roche had joined the club exactly eleven months earlier, and her short-lived time in Houston was the stuff of nightmares. Randy Waldrum, the coach who signed Roche and then was powerless to see her waived as an injury crisis took hold elsewhere in his squad, was still the man in charge. Ironically, it was while he scouted for a striker that he was moved to pursue O’Sullivan instead.
Watch: Denise O'Sullivan's best goals for Glasgow City
The playmaker took to the NWSL like a duck to water, quickly garnering the respect of her teammates and opposition players. She played in eighteen of the Dash’s twenty league games in her debut season, scoring twice. Having started life on the bench, she was soon starting games. Learning happened on the job. ‘It was very tough for the first few matches. As soon as you get on the ball, you take two touches and then you have to pass again. The calibre of players they have in that league – every USA player at the time were involved. It was very athletic, with very fit and physical players, so I think I had to adapt to that. It took me a while to do that. The biggest thing was getting used to playing in that league and getting up to the speed of the game. It took me a while but I eventually got used to it. It was very competitive but it got me where I am today.’
Despite her integrating well, the yearning for home never left her during this period. However, her ability to cope has evolved. ‘I don’t think it ever goes away. You miss your family. That’s natural, you’re going to miss them. You just learn to deal with it.’ While she enjoyed a solid start to life at the Dash, a change of circumstance forced her hand to leave Texas less than eighteen months into her time in the Bible Belt. Seven weeks into the 2017 campaign, Waldrum was out of the club, having lost five of the opening seven games of the season. His replacement, Omar Morales, dropped O’Sullivan. She made just two starts in the next three months. To the manager’s credit, results did at least pick up. ‘He preferred different players. I wasn’t on top of his list of his preferred players and I was coming on in the last two minutes of games. I lost my confidence. It was just awful. So frustrating.’
The Dash agreed to release O’Sullivan but with a caveat. They wanted her to go overseas, not to a rival NWSL club. It was not a contractual clause, more of a gentleman’s agreement. She was going to return to Europe, to Germany, before North Carolina Courage, made contact and the rest was history.
How did Morales take the reneging of the agreement? O’Sullivan never waited to find out. ‘He probably wasn’t happy but he was willing to let me go so easily, I don’t know if he was really worried to be quite honest. I had to think about myself, not the Dash or the coach. I had to make that move.’ The Courage were at a level above the Dash, so the approach – and subsequent offer – was something of a surprise for O’Sullivan. ‘It was a bit of a shock that the Courage came in for me, within twenty-four hours of being put on the waiver list. It wasn’t about proving anyone else wrong, it was about proving I can be better. I knew I could be better and push past my limits. That was my mindset at that moment.’
Finland 1-2 Republic of Ireland - Denise O'Sullivan has Ireland back in front, getting her head on the end of a Heather Payne cross
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And O’Sullivan has certainly broken past those limits, to the point where she is today at the vanguard of Irish football. A two-time NWSL Championship winner with North Carolina Courage – and a three-time Shield winner to boot (the Shield goes to the team who finish top of the regular league standings, before the championship knockouts begin) – the Cork midfielder was also named in the NWSL Players’ Team of the Year in 2019. Voted for by her peers, that award holds particular significance for those selected. Furthermore, her teammates voted her as their own MVP for both Championship-winning seasons, underlining her worth in the Courage locker room. ‘It was huge to get MVP. To be picked by your own teammates, it’s always special.’
Emerald Exiles: How the Irish Made Their Mark on World Football by Barry Landy, published by New Island, is out now.
