Return to Ireland fold worth the wait for Caitlin Hayes

If Tessa Wullaert maintains the kind of form that she’s shown en route to winning 149 caps for Belgium, there’s a fair chance that the Irish defence will have its work cut out to keep her quiet in the two legs of their Nations League playoff, the first on Friday at the Aviva Stadium, the second in Leuven next Tuesday.

Put it this way, the Inter Milan forward has 94 international goals to her name, just four fewer than the entire Irish squad combined. There are few more prolific strikers in world football.

There are plenty of other goal-scoring threats in the Belgian side, not least from Leicester City captain Janice Cayman, a club-mate of Heather Payne and Katie Keane, and Anderlecht midfielder Tine De Caigny, who got the winner when the nations last met in 2021.

But much as it might irk her team-mates, there’s long been the notion that if you can tame Wullaert, then there’s a half-decent chance that you’ll get the better of Belgium.

“We have to nullify her, she’s an exceptional talent,” as Carla Ward put it earlier this week. “I think for Belgium to tick, she needs to be ticking, so we’ll try and slow her down a little bit.”

A tall order. Not even World Cup winners Spain nor European champions England could keep her scoreless in meetings this year. Throw into the mix the absence of the suspended defender Anna Patten from the first leg and the injured goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan from both and those nullification prospects look slimmer still.

The pair are the only two players to have started all eight of Ward’s games thus far, so she could really have done without their absence. While she needs to mull over which of Grace Moloney, Sophie Whitehouse and Keane will fill Brosnan’s gloves, she has a big decision too over who will replace Patten, who has been in outstanding form for Aston Villa this season.

[ Mixed injury news for Ireland ahead of Nations League playoff against BelgiumOpens in new window ]

Opportunity knocks, Caitlin Hayes hopes. An ever-present under Eileen Gleeson, she has seen her stock fall under Ward, starting just three times under the new manager. But Ward’s appointment in January coincided with Hayes, who turned 30 last month, leaving Celtic for Brighton in the WSL, a move she found difficult on every level.

“I probably wouldn’t ever encourage anyone to move in January,” she says, shaking her head. “It was just a massive change. I’d built a home at Celtic, they were the love of my life, so uprooting everything was very challenging. And then to pick a club that couldn’t be further away, to have to rebuild not just on the pitch with new team-mates, but also a life outside football had its challenges.”

[ Republic of Ireland v Belgium Nations League playoff: Kick-off times, TV details, team newsOpens in new window ]

“I definitely struggled. I was in no position to play, so I totally respected Carla’s decision to sit me to the side when more quality came in to the squad. I just wasn’t the best version of myself. I’m a big believer in the player can’t perform if the person’s not happy.”

[ Jess Ziu returns for Ireland after two ACL injuries in two yearsOpens in new window ]

“But I definitely find myself in a better place now and I’m ready to fight for a position in this team. I’m finding my feet, finding a community to be a part of and enjoying my football. It took time, but all good things are worth waiting for.”

She’s not yet assured of her place in the Brighton team, as she always was with Celtic, but she has started four of their six WSL games this season, so she’s getting there – and enjoying “going toe-to-toe with the best strikers in the world”.

If she gets to fill Patten’s boots on Friday, she’ll come up against another. Tessa Wullaert.

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