Ireland WNT keeper Courtney Brosnan scooped the player of the year accolade at the 33rd FAI International Awards last night but is as motivated as ever to improve in preparation for the 2023 Women’s World Cup this summer.
The Everton netminder spoke of how collecting the award (which captain Katie McCabe and defender Louise Quinn were also nominated for) was a “really proud moment” for her and her family.
“I'm really grateful to be a part of this group and to be able to put on this shirt. It's unbelievable for me, it's kind of hard to describe how much it means” she says.
Courtney Brosnan's wondersave sounds amazing in Scottish gaelicpic.twitter.com/xyToJrLyzd
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) October 11, 2022
Looking ahead to the summer of history that awaits, she points out that since coming into camp everything has become “a bit more real” and that she and the team are fully focused on their upcoming warm up fixtures vs Zambia and France.
“We've been waiting for so long and we're a bit closer now. Everyone's starting to get that feeling that the World Cup is right around the corner” she says.
“To have that support at the games before we go off to the World Cup will be really special for us. It's important prep.
The country is really proud of us and we want to show them some good football and get ready to play this summer.”
With a nice “buzz” around the squad Brosnan explains how getting back into football following a short hiatus after her club season concluded has been like a mini preseason in self and that it’s mainly about “building the motor and getting back into it”, but yet the stakes are high with the 23 woman squad yet to be finalised.
Courtney Brosnan 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻#SWEIRL | #COYGIG | #OUTBELIEVE pic.twitter.com/5RyS3EvR1f
— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) April 12, 2022
“Obviously there's always competition in the squad, I think we know how strong of a squad we have here and how fierce the competition is. Everyone knows that’s part of this top sport in international football, so it's something that we deal with for sure” she says.
“It's sort of like building on everything that we did but not dwelling on it. That should give us confidence to continue to build and put in performances for the summer, we know what we're capable of, but we're not going to be satisfied with that. We obviously want to do well this summer and continue to build. That's really important for us.
“There's excitement for sure. Obviously everyone's really happy to be in and around each other again, we have a great group of girls here and we love spending time with each other. It's that nervous excitement to be able to train and obviously putting in those performances to get on the plane to go this summer.”
Courtney Brosnan’s club contract?
Courtney Brosnan’s contract at Everton is currently set to expire this month after a year long extension she signed in July of 2022 is coming to a close.
Having joined the club in 2021 after a two year spell at West Ham United, the Irish WNT number one made 14 appearances for the Toffees this season in the Women’s Super League, sometimes alternating with England up and comer Emily Ramsey.
Despite the lack of assurance around her future Brosnan insists she’s just fully “focused on the World Cup” for now.
“I think it was a great season for me personally and for the team obviously” she says, having secured a 6th place finish in the Women’s Super League.
“A bit up and down, but I think it was great for me to get the minutes that I wanted coming into this summer” she says.
“Training with Emily [Ramsey], she's a great goalkeeper and I think that's been pushing me as well to be on the top of my game, whether I was playing or whether I wasn't.
I was happy to get some minutes, we did pretty well in the league as well so it was great prep for the summer for sure.”
