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| Gilly Flaherty |
GILLY FLAHERTY will consider her career a failure if she never plays for England.
The Chelsea defender, 24, has won a UEFA Cup, six league titles and six FA Cups, but international recognition has so far eluded her.
She was ignored by Hope Powell while winning titles with Arsenal but was selected for a training camp under Mark Sampson when he first took the job in December 2013.
But an injury, and the form of others in her position, means she is still uncapped nearly two years on.
Not satisfied to patiently wait for her opportunity she sought out Sampson for an explanation and came away with pointers to work on: her discipline, her distribution and her defensive brain.
After some reflection, some growing up and some hard work on the training ground she has another chance.
Last week she was reintroduced to the fold by captain Steph Houghton after being named in the squad for the Lionesses’ first match since they came third in the summer’s World Cup.
Three uncapped players were included for Monday’s clash with Estonia in the opening Euro 2017 qualifier: Danielle Carter, Isobel Christiansen and Flaherty.
The trio were given personal introductions from senior players – Casey Stoney, Laura Bassett and Houghton – before standing up themselves and describing their journey and ambitions to help break the ice in the first meet up session.
Flaherty believes she has taken on board Sampson’s advice and grown as a player and a person over a difficult year and a half.
“For me it feels like a reward for all the hard work I’ve been putting in at Chelsea and it’s felt more deserved this time,” she told Express Sport.
“It would mean everything to get that first cap. If I was to stop playing football for whatever reason or if I wasn’t on this earth anymore, it’s something that I would always feel like I’ve failed at because it’s the one thing I’ve never achieved.
“It’s something that isn’t just for me, but for my family and friends and loved ones.
“And for me, and for them, they just want to see it happen, and it’s something they know would be the biggest regret if it never happened in my career.
“It’s the one thing I’m waiting for, and the one thing I’m yet to achieve, so hopefully in the near future it will happen.”
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| Gilly Flaherty could make her England debut on Monday |
Flaherty’s year has had highs and lows in the football world, with the peaks at either end being the disappointment of losing the league title on the final day last season and then winning the FA Cup at Wembley this August.
But in her personal life she suffered the tragic loss of close friend Tommy Blackmore, a 20-year-old charity fundraiser, who was murdered when trying to stop a fight near Tower Bridge in June.
It hit Flaherty hard and made her aware just how delicate life is.
She wore a special t-shirt under her shirt for the cup final at Wembley as a tribute, and points to sky whenever she scores in his memory.
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| Gilly Flaherty points to the sky in memory of Tommy Blackmore |
“It made me sit up and realise a lot of stuff because you don’t know when you’re time could be,” she said.
“So I’ve had to grow up over the last few months. It’s sad it’s taken to lose someone to realise some things, but I’ll always have him in memory and it’s driven me on to make sure I make him proud every day.”
And she hopes to use that emotional fuel to finally go on and make her mark with England.
Having come third at the World Cup the Lionesses are expected to comfortably qualify for the Euros in the Netherlands.
Their group of Serbia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Estonia shouldn’t bring up too many problems but a November friendly against Germany will be a good test of the progress made.
And Flaherty hopes being involved with the squad this week will help her fulfil her international ambitions.
“The team have come back full of confidence after the World Cup and we want to push on, being third in the world now we want to push on and win the Euros,” she added.
“So it’s an exciting time for me to be part of the set up and hopefully this isn’t a one-off and I’ll be able to enjoy this experience plenty more times.
“For now it’s coming in here with my glass empty, and the plan is to fill it up every day and use it to get towards where I want to be.”
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