ELLEN MOLLOY was not expecting to find herself in America this month – so she is not going to try and second-guess where her future might bring her.
Molloy, 20, admitted that she was surprised to be included in the Ireland squad for two friendlies against the USA.
Molloy was 16 when Vera Pauw handed her senior international debut against Ukraine in 2020.
A year later she was player of the match as Wexford defeated Shelbourne in the FAI Cup final.
She has learned since that football, and life, do not follow a straight path.
In September 2022, Wexford were in the mix for the league title, thanks in no small part to her 16 goals, when she tore her cruciate ligament. In her absence, they won just one of their last four games and slipped from first to fourth.
She was out for a year, swapping tips with fellow Thomastown native, Bohemians striker Colm Whelan, who had torn his ACL for the first of two times.
He lost out on a move to Lincoln City whilst she missed Ireland’s first World Cup when she might have made the squad.
A further 12 months later, she left for Sheffield United, against the backdrop of her grandmother Breda Roche having been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The Blade facilitated frequent returns home before she passed away. The loss was acutely felt and, in January, Molloy decided to come home and rejoin Wexford.
There are no grand plans, just a straightforward objective.
She said: “I suppose I kind of put the enjoyment side of football first the last few months.
“I stripped it all back, took the pressure off and went back to my roots, I suppose. We’ve such a family atmosphere at Wexford and Sean Byrne coming in has been really good for the team and he’s kind of taken the pressure off me as well.
“I’ve started to really enjoy football again and I think you can see that in the way I’ve been playing.”
Aside from navigating a family illness and passing, Molloy admitted that adapting to life as a full-time footballer was not without its challenges.
She explained: “There’s a lot more to it than just playing football every day. Like it’s the time that you’re not playing football that you have to fill.
“I found when I had school, when I had studies, I had to really condense my time. When I was training, I was training, but I was able to switch off and I nearly found that works better for me.
“When I was in Sheffield, you train and you’re home at 1pm, and that was nearly your day done. And it’s not like you can go to the gym then because you’ve got all that done.
“I suppose different things work for different people. I do think I like to be busy and, so yeah, it’s just finding that balance and what works for me.”
LOOKING ABROAD
She is sufficiently aware, though, that if she wants to maintain a place in the international squad and progress she needs to be in a full-time environment and has not ruled out moving abroad again.
She said: “I do think the League is a bit away and there is quite a huge step up from the League of Ireland to international football. I’m just focusing on the next few weeks and see how it goes.”
And, in the meantime, she is doing what she can to try and bridge the gap between the domestic game and, potentially, lining out against Emma Hayes’ Olympic champions in Colorado on Friday and/or Cincinnati on Sunday.
She said: “You have to be doing extra. We train twice a week with the club so on Monday and Wednesday I would be doing a bit extra. There’s no real question over it, it’s just kind of expected.”
There is an intention to return to her Geography and P.E. course in the University of Limerick having deferred the second of the four-year course to move to England but that is about it when it comes to mapping out her future.
She said: “Who knows what can happen in the next few months or years? I’m just not going to look too far ahead.”
