Back with a bang: Tyler Toland returns for Ireland with player of the match display

Tyler Toland returned in style with a player of the match performance for  the Republic of Ireland on Saturday.

After 1,482 days out in the cold, Toland was back with a bang as Ireland defeated Northern Ireland.

Back following a public fallout with the now-departed Vera Pauw, Toland slotted superbly back into the Irish midfield, playing the full 90 minutes.

There were times when she wondered if ever the green shirt would rest on her shoulders again. Toland’s time in exile saw her miss the World Cup this summer, but she drew a line in the sand here, not to mention a firm reminder - if it were needed - of her talents for whoever will take over as the new permanent manager.

Lucy Quinn, Kyra Carusa and substitute Lily Agg scored as Ireland began their Nations League campaign with a solid 3-0 win. Milford woman Amber Barrett, now with Standard Liege, came on as a late substitute as Ireland won with ease.

If interim manager Eileen Gleeson made something of a statement in recalling Toland to the squad as one of her first moves, then including the St Johnston woman in the starting eleven was a further indication of how the player is regarded within the group. Toland linked up with the squad on Monday having impressed on her first few outings with Blackburn Rovers and Gleeson had no hesitation in firing her straight into the trenches.

“This is purely a football decision,” Gleeson stated during the week. “Tyler is a young Irish player who has been part of our talent pool for a long time. She came through our youth system and went off to the professional game.”

Six years ago this week, on September 20, 2017, Toland made her senior debut - also against Northern Ireland. At the rather modest surrounds of Mourneview Park in Lurgan - capacity 4,160 - Toland was just 16 years and 43 days old when she replaced Megan Campbell.

Thirteen caps were earned by September 2019 when she netted her first senior international goal, scoring in a 2-0 win over Montenegro in Tallaght in a Euro 2022 qualifier.

Tom O’Connor was in temporary charge on that night four years ago, after which Toland went into international exile.

Named on the bench for the first two games - home to Ukraine and away to Greece - of the tenure of Pauw, the Dutchwoman chosen as successor to Colin Bell, Toland was effectively banished as a result of a public spat with the new Irish manager.

This, though, was her second coming.

Wearing the number eight shirt, Toland lined up in the classic ‘number six’ berth, screening the area in front of the three Irish centre-backs of Diane Caldwell, Louise Quinn and debutant Caitlin Hayes, Toland’s former Celtic team-mate who played having declared for Ireland in the lead-up.

The 22-year-old, who moved to Blackburn Rovers in August having spent last season at Levante, must’ve felt some sense of weight as she came out to the cheer of the record 35,994 attendance.

Quinn opened the scoring for the Girls in Green in the 30th minute, riffling home from the edge of the box after a Katie McCabe corner was only partially cleared by the visitors. Quinn’s goal was historic, the first ever women’s international goal scored at the Ballsbridge venue.

Quinn might’ve doubled the tally two minutes before half-time, but the Birmingham City player’s effort was blocked off the line by Sarah McFadden after another tasty McCabe delivery.

With just four minutes played in the second half, Demi Vance hooked from beneath the crossbar. Cars - and most of the attendance -  looked agonisingly at assistant referee Ekaterina Petkova. The flag stayed by her side and the absence of VAR meant that so, too, was conclusive evidence.

Twenty minutes from the end, Crusa stroked into an empty net from 25 yards after Northern Ireland ‘keeper Shannon Turner and Rebecca Holloway got their wires crossed. On 85 minutes Agg, who had just been introduced off the bench, rose to head off the post and, just, in from a McCabe corner.

Toland’s day began by pressuring Joely Andrews after just 12 seconds, forcing the Glentoran midfielder into putting an attempted cross wide.

Often, much of Toland’s best work is the sort of graft that often goes unheralded. It was so obvious here that Toland left not just with another cap, but the Sky Ireland player of the match award as the squad jet to Budapest ahead of Tuesday’s meeting with Hungary.