No need for surnames, Amber is a household name now

The first time I covered a game in which Amber Barrett was playing was an Ulster U-16 Girls Gaelic final in Munday’s Field, Ballyshannon in early March, 2012.

Amber had played for the Irish U-17 girls soccer team on the previous night and returned home afterwards before travelling to Ballyshannon to represent her school, Loreto, Milford against Loreto, Cavan in the Ulster final.

The game ended with a remarkable scoreline of Loreto, Milford 10-3, Loreto Cavan 4-16.  But the big story from the game was that Amber Barrett contributed 6-3 for her school, by far the outstanding player on the pitch.

On Thursday of next week, she will be part of an Irish Women’s soccer team who will play their first ever match in the Women’s Soccer World Cup, when Ireland take on one of the host teams, Australia in Sydney.

To say that Barrett has played a part in Ireland qualifying for the finals would be an understatement as the Milford player scored the all-important goal in the qualifier play-off against Scotland in Hamden Park back in October of last year.

As a result of that goal and her speech afterwards when she dedicated the goal to the people of Creeslough, who had just suffered their terrible tragedy in the weeks beforehand.

Barrett’s remarkable sporting career has seen her as a top class performer at athletics, soccer and Gaelic football up until  she decided to pursue a career as a professional soccer player.

Amber with her Loreto Milford U-16 team which won Ulster title in 2012 Photo: Thomas Gallagher

Coming from a sporting family, there was no surprise that Amber would excel, and it was easy to see that she had talent from an early age.

Her father, Shaun Paul, well-known in GAA circles as a player and more recently as a manager, says she was always fast. “She competed in Community Games  at U-8 and won it a year under age.  I remember, God rest him, Hugo Duggan, did some work with her. She wasn’t affiliated to any club at the time and he did some training with her.

“She went to Cranford then and she had an awful lot of success with Cranford. She was really a sprinter, but Eamonn Giles would have had her doing cross-country in the winter, which was very, very good for her and she won All-Irelands at cross-country as well. It was probably unprecedented having a sprinter winning All-Irelands at cross-country.

“Eamon had great hopes for her and she was at it up to about 16 years of age and then she was leaning more towards the football. She had to make a choice.

“Most of the football she played at underage was GAA, because there was very little organised soccer for her to play. There were no ladies teams to play on. Then there was Lagan Harps.

“She would have been involved in Irish teams at underage. U-15 Schools would have been the first time she represented Ireland and then every age group from there.

“And I always thought it was remarkable for her that she wasn’t playing organised soccer, but she was still playing for Ireland.”

The big change in her career came when she went to third level education in Maynooth.

“When she went to college in Maynooth, she signed with Peamount United. When she was up there she was also playing with the Donegal GAA senior team at the same time. She played with the Donegal senior team when she was 16,” said Shaun Paul.

“She got into the Irish Universities team, who went away to play in Taiwan. Colin Bell was the manager of the team and he was the Irish International manager as well,” said Shaun Paul, who said that was when her decision to go full-time playing soccer originated.

“He wasn’t even putting pressure on her but he did say that to make the step up to senior international soccer she needed to make a choice (between soccer and GAA). He said at the moment you are equally good at both but to excel at either one you will have to concentrate on it.

Amber pictured with her parents after winning an U-12 gold medal at Community Games

“She was happy enough to make the decision at the time. She would have known my background but I didn’t try to influence her. Whatever she wanted to do, I’d be happy for her.

“She decided to give soccer a go and it seems to have worked out for her.”

She then joined FC Köln where she stayed three years and last year Turbine Potsdam before recently transferring to Standard Liege in Belgium.

“She loved her time in Germany, loved the  lifestyle. She loved the professional environment of training twice a day. Coming from Peamount United and international level where they are training twice a week, it was just a different environment,” said Shaun Paul, who added that Colin Bell was instrumental in her making the big move to Germany.

“He was instrumental in her going to Germany. Even though he is an Englishman, his family were living in Germany at the time and he would have managed in the German league and won a European championship with a German team.

“He would have made contacts for her to go over there, always with the aim of her playing international football.”

The Barrett household are well aware that she has taken her chances when they arose, especially in scoring vital goals.

“There’s no doubt that the goal she scored against Scotland (which clinched Ireland’s place in the World Cup) has made her a household name.

“But as much as the goal she scored, her interview afterwards dedicating the goal to the people of Creeslough was special.”

The next few weeks will be special for the Barretts, who are heading Down Under to support their daughter.

And with tickets secured, it will be a special occasion. “We’re going out surely. There are supposed to be 81,500 tickets sold already for the opening match. The players, I think, get four, so she will be looking after us,” said Shaun Paul, who added that there are plenty of cousins in the Perth area who have bought tickets for the second match, when Ireland play Canada on July 26th.

EAMON GILES ON AMBER BARRETT

Amber Barrett’s first sporting career was athletics and Eamon Giles still remembers the time with fondness.

“She came to me at about seven or eight years of age. She was a very good sprinter and not alone was she a great sprinter, but she won at cross-country as well.

“Her main thing would have been sprinting. She was the individual winner of the girls U-11 cross-country championships. We won the team that day as well but she led us home with a gold medal.

“She was very good at Community Games as well and it would have been sprints and long jump. She won 28 national medals with Cranford AC.

“In the end when she was around about 15, the pressure came on to play Gaelic and then soccer and I suppose the rest is history, really. She has done very well.

“She was a great asset to our club and very, very easy to manage. She always wanted to learn more. If you were talking, some people would be talking at the same time; she would always be listening to everything that was said and she took it all in.

“We are very proud of her. She was one of the best juvenile athletes that we had,” said Giles, who says the Cranford club takes great pride in what she has done.

“I was talking to her after she scored that goal in Scotland. She always kept in contact with me and anytime I sent a text, she always replied.

“She is a great talker, absolutely brilliant. We will be watching how she gets on now in the World Cup and we wish them all the best,” said Giles.

NOEL GILLESPIE ON AMBER BARRETT

Milford United was where Amber Barrett was first introduced to soccer and she was a member of the underage teams, playing alongside the boys.

“I remember teams taking part in the Boals Goals five-a-side in the Pin Tavern in Letterkenny. She then played with the boys in the Letterkenny District League,” said Noel Gillespie of Milford United.

“She played as a striker. Joe Ferry would have been manager at that time and I was talking to him and he was saying that the one thing that stood out at that time was that she was extremely fast and her finishing ability.

“That was very evident in those early days and referees always complimented her on it. That time, the ball was played over the top and she would go on and finish.

“Then after 12, girls weren’t able to play with the boys and she was probably disappointed with that. Then she went to Lagan Harps.

“She has always come back to us and did presentation nights, especially for the girls. And we would take girls up to ladies matches and she would always sort tickets out for us and give them time when they went to Dublin to watch her.

“It is an honour for the club to be associated with her,” said Gillespie.

“It is a proud day for the club and the town. Later this week we will gather to send a good luck message to her. We are getting bunting and flags up around the town, just to mark the occasion.

BRID MC GINTY ON AMBER BARRETT

Amber Barrett’s first organised girls soccer would have been with Donegal in the Gaynor Cup, from U-12 to U-16, where she was coached by Brid McGinty, of Lagan Harps.

“She had played with Milford United first with the boys up to U-12 level. She then came to us at Lagan before progressing to Peamount United when she went to college.

“She was so driven. Her ambition was always to play for Ireland. She was always in the Irish squads.

“Her club when she was younger was Man Utd. She always wanted to play with Man Utd women; that hasn’t happened yet, but you never know,” said McGinty.

Her big decision came when she decided to turn professional after going to college in Maynooth. “It was a good move and a brave move. Amber is well spoken, she is confident. A lot of the Irish girls went to England to play and she went to Germany. She would have had a language barrier, but it didn’t faze her.

“She always had ability and she is focussed. She knows what she is capable of and she drives herself to success. She had to be patient over the last couple of years. She was in the squad, in the panel but her game time was limited.

“But that night, to get the opportunity and then when she’s on the pitch, she proves herself. She sticks to the game plan but she has that actual determination to push herself a wee bit further.

“She is a brilliant ambassador. I know for all international matches, we would take a squad up to watch the game. Amber and Ciara (Grant) always come over and speak to them. She always takes time for the younger ones. She is a real role model for them.

“During Covid we did a zoom with Amber in  Germany. Amber knew all about them and she could relate to them what was needed because she had made the journey to Dublin for underage squads,” said McGinty. “She could relay the preparation needed. Her information to them was invaluable.”

AMBER BARRET WITH DONEGAL GAA

(courtesy Fr Seán)

Amber Barrett:28 Donegal apps; 20 league; 8 champ.

Won Ulster SFC 2015.

Debut: 3-2-13.

Last game: 29-1-17.