Heather Payne remains Ireland's low-key star ahead of 50th cap

Heather Payne was crowned the FAI's Young Women's International Player of the Year for the second successive year back in November. On Friday night, she will win her 50th cap.

It's something of an anomaly - Payne turned 25 last month - but few would begrudge the versatile Roscommon woman any accolade. She has been a diligent, consistently reliable performer for her country since making her debut as a 17-year-old back in 2017.

The Everton wing-back had the thankless task of leading the line as a lone striker for much of Vera Pauw's reign. In the last two years she's reverted to the wide role she looks better suited to. Not that the Ballinasloe native would complain either way. Friday's Nations League clash against Turkey will be a nice milestone, but Payne's mantra is always the same: turn up and do the work.

"I'm super proud," she said. "I mentioned it before, playing since Under-15s for Ireland you don't really think about 50th game, you just hope to make the senior team. To have played in a World Cup, 50 caps, it’s amazing as well.

"I haven't really thought about it much. I’m really proud but I just think of it as another game, to be honest. I don’t want to just stop at 50, I want to keep going and get as much caps as possible. There’s some players in the squad who’ve reached 100 caps. If I could do that, that would be brilliant."

The Tallaght meeting with the Turks is the dawn of another new era. In the wake of December's bitterly disappointing Euro 2025 play-off defeat to Wales, Eileen Gleeson departed, to be replaced by former Aston Villa boss Carla Ward.

Footballers tend to be a resilient bunch. The wounds of failure heal quickly when there's fresh faces in the dugout to impress.

"It’s kind of like a new era with the