Aggressive and composed Aoife Mannion stakes her Ireland claim

The 69 minutes Aoife Mannion spent on the pitch in Cadiz on Wednesday afternoon was her longest shift of football in over a year.

Mannion suffered a terrible ACL injury last March when playing for Manchester United and is still only working her way back to top gear.

She a major positive in the Republic of Ireland's 0-0 friendly stalemate against China, showing loads of aggression and no little composure in an excellent debut.

Mannion received a big hug from Vera Pauw as she left the field and a proud wave from mam Kathleen, dad Bernard and sister Aine in the stands. The Birmingham-born defender played for England up to U-23 level and twice on the bench for the seniors, but she's all in with Ireland now.

"They'd threatened to wear all sorts of Irish clothes but the turned up neutral, not wanting to draw attention. They're so happy," a beaming Mannion said of her Irish folks afterwards.

"I enjoyed it. I didn't put the ball into my own net which is a good start. I didn’t stand out in a bad way.

"What you’ve seen here is a bit of who I am, being aggressive on the ball, positive and a nice one-v-one defender. Hopefully that will be enough for Vera to want to use my services for Ireland duty."

It's very likely that will be the case. Mannion had a couple of loose passes in the first half but overall her distribution from the back was excellent.

She played with an authority and force that will give Pauw serious food for thought not only when she's selecting her 23-player squad for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, but when it comes to picking her first XI against the Aussie in Ireland's group opener.

"When I walked onto the pitch, it had been watered and was lovely," added Mannion. "I thought this is what I'm used to, knowing