When the Republic of Ireland women’s national team trained at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Friday afternoon, Tyler Toland brought a spare pair of orange boots with her.
The 22-year-old did not want to waste a single second of being on the pitch after a four-year absence from the international setup. The Blackburn Rovers midfielder was the first player to hit a pass in the opening drill of the warm-up led by performance coach Ivi Casagrande.
Tyler Toland (Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
When the game against Northern Ireland kicked off the following day, Toland ran straight after the ball.
Her press led to a Northern Ireland goal kick inside a minute. On 17 minutes, she tracked back to dispossess Aston Villa forward Simone Magill and when Ireland lost the ball 30 seconds later, it was Toland who won it back. When Rachel Furness made one of Northern Ireland’s few sprints forward, it was Toland who stopped her from getting any further. Her passing was swift, her movement ubiquitous.
“She gave us great balance and she’s composed on the ball… That allowed us to play in a different way,” said Eileen Gleeson, Ireland’s interim head coach.
Toland’s performance made fans wonder why this was only the 14th time she has played for her country since becoming Ireland’s youngest senior player when she came on aged 16 years and 43 days against Northern Ireland in September 2017.
Her talent, which gained her a move to Manchester City in August 2019, was obvious to see, but former Ireland head coach Vera Pauw did not pick Toland again after naming her in her first squad in September 2019 for European Championship qualifiers against Ukraine and Greece. Toland was an unused substitute for both matches.
Toland’s international return comes after the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) decided against renewing Pauw’s contract at the start of September following an internal review.
In May 2021, Toland’s father Maurice told Irish media that Pauw had told her daughter she “looked ‘too leggy’ (and) that her legs had got 10cm bigger since she moved to City”. He claimed the South African coach had also suggested Toland “would pick up an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury if she maintained the training she was doing”.
Pauw said the comment about Toland’s legs was said by “another staff member in a meeting we had with her” and that she confronted the staff member and told her that language was not acceptable. “How could I have said it?” added Pauw. “I knew the player (for) two days. How do I know that her legs have grown?”
Pauw confirmed she told Toland she was at risk of suffering an ACL injury if she maintained the weight training she was doing. “I’ve said that,” Pauw said. “The risk was huge. I’ve warned many players about it.”
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In January 2020, a phone call took place between Toland’s father Maurice and Pauw, during which the coach claims she was harassed and intimidated — allegations he strongly denies.
“We started with her in the line-up in training, but she didn’t make it,” said Pauw. “Elite sport. What’s the problem?”
Toland later sent a text to Pauw in the hope of moving forward and reclaiming her place in the squad. Speaking in May 2021, Pauw said she would have preferred a phone call. “Maybe a bit of guts would help her,” said the coach. “I’m not the one breaking her career. I’m only here to save her career.”
With Pauw gone, her interim replacement Gleeson said Toland’s return this month was solely “a football decision” based on her performances for Blackburn alone.
Ireland captain Katie McCabe said in training it had been like Toland never left.
That energy carried over into the game on Saturday, with Toland named player of the match. When it was announced to the 35,944 in attendance, it was met with celebration. Toland barely flinched.
Toland being presented with the Sky player of the match award (Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
“I just kept my head down,” Toland said. “I’ve obviously been out a while now but I’m going to look forward.
“It’s never been easy but we’re going to keep going. Nothing makes me prouder than playing for Ireland and pulling on the green jersey.”
Colin Bell gave Toland her debut in 2017 after spending the summer at the European Championships studying the Netherlands team in particular. After watching the hosts win the tournament under Sarina Wiegman, Bell was inspired to find a player like Ajax’s Sherida Spitse for Ireland’s midfield.
“I needed a player that could dictate the tempo and rhythm of the game. And the only player that I could think of was Tyler,” said Bell, now in charge of South Korea women’s team. “But I was thinking: ‘She’s only 15’.”
Bell approached ex-FAI high-performance director Ruud Dokter and explained why he wanted to bring Toland in for the Northern Ireland game once she had turned 16. He also contacted her father Maurice and discussed the plan with Toland’s family.
Colin Bell (Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
“I said ‘Listen, this is what I’m planning, I don’t want to move too quickly, I don’t want to overdo things, but I just know she’s ready’. I then spoke with Tyler and we brought her in. She came on in that first game against Northern Ireland for the last 15 minutes and did well. After that, she was a starter.
“Actually, when I named the squad for that match, I’d already then made Katie (McCabe) captain. Katie called me and said, ‘I’ve seen the squad, who is Tyler Toland?’. I said ‘You’ll find out’, and after the first training session, Katie came up to me and just said, ‘Now I know why you’ve brought her in’.”
In the return match against Northern Ireland, Bell said Toland was magnificent but suffered a nasty challenge in the second half. She played on for 15 minutes before signalling to the bench she was in pain. A scan on her leg later found she had a fractured shin.
“That’s another thing that just sums up Tyler,” Bell added.
This kind of gritty determination has always been a noticeable aspect of her game. Tony McGinley was Toland’s manager for three seasons at Sion Swifts in the Irish League Women’s Premiership, where she made her senior debut at 15.
“For a girl that was so young, she was years ahead of others in terms of her maturity,” said McGinley, who, like Bell, has remained in contact with Toland. “If anyone was going to be a footballer and make it in the game, it was Tyler.
Toland (far left), Heather Payne (centre left), Diane Caldwell (centre right), and Lucy Quinn (Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
“Whenever you see a player who always has time on the ball, you know they’re a really good player. Tyler was like that at 15 years of age. You could trust her to get on the ball and play because you knew she would look after it. She would make the right decisions and play in tight areas. She was really confident.
“Tyler should have been on the international team. She should have been at the World Cup in the summer. She should have a lot of international caps.
“I’m sure it was a very difficult time for Tyler and her family, but she has now found herself back in the international squad and I’m sure she’ll be very keen to make up for lost time.”
At the Aviva on Saturday, Toland was doing exactly that, seeing in Ireland’s new era without Pauw. And it felt symbolic.
(Top photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
