Breaking Mannion, Campbell & Kiernan miss out as Pauw names her World Cup squad

Aoife Mannion, Megan Campbell and Leanne Kiernan have all missed out on selection for the Republic of Ireland's 23-player squad.

Vera Pauw has sprung a few surprises in her final selection having spent the last five days agonising over who would make the cut.

Mannion tweaked knee ligaments in Manchester United training a month ago and only had a knee brace removed on Monday. There had been cautious optimism that the Solihull-born centre-half would be okay, but it seems that was misplaced with the 27-year-old just having too much to do to be ready for the opener against Australia in Sydney on 20 July.

Campbell withdrew from Ireland's double-header against the USA in April and failed to feature in any of Liverpool's final six games.

She's a free agent after her contract with the Merseysiders expired, and though the Drogheda native has had little game time in the last couple of months, her huge throw-in is such an asset that there had been a belief she'd make the plane. Campbell has also previously shown an ability to seamlessly return to action following lengthy lay-offs.

Mannion and Campbell's omissions means Claire O'Riodan - so impressive against Zambia - comes in while Izzy Atkinson is the bolter, the versatile Rush woman getting the nod having also done well against the Africans last week.

Kiernan always faced an uphill battle to make Australia having missed most of the club season with Liverpool due to an ankle injury. She played the first half of last Thursday's 3-1 win against Zambia, showing some rust but also flashes of her capability.

With Heather Payne being deployed as a right wing-back in the last three games, it seemed she'd squeeze in, but Pauw has gone with Marissa Sheva, Abbie Larkin, Amber Barret and Kyra