Irish Rover Tyler Toland back in the groove & eyeing big time

Tyler Toland is an old head on young shoulders.

The Donegal native is still only 22, but her career has been a wild ride of highs and lows; her dizzying early promise being derailed by a public falling out.

Toland endured a four-year international exile following a messy spat involving Vera Pauw, Toland and Toland's father Maurice.

She didn't get a single minute of action during the Pauw era, but a return to the fold under Eileen Gleeson last September, soon after she moved to Blackburn Rovers from Spanish side Levante, has been a turning point.

Toland is very likely to start for Ireland in Friday’s Euro 2025 qualifier away to France having shone as a rock-steady cog in the midfield engine room throughout the UEFA Nations League campaign.

She missed February’s friendlies against Italy and Wales, but Toland returns to the fold, relishing the chance to prove herself against world-class opposition.

"This is exactly where we want to be - playing the best in the world," she said.

"We’re playing France on Friday and then England on Tuesday, so we’re really looking forward to this week.

"We’re Irish and we’re going to be hard to beat. We’re going to do all we can to prepare ourselves. Once we step over that white line, we’ll do everything we can for the country."

Blackburn are seventh in the Championship and will not be earning promotion to the Women’s Super League, but Toland has enjoyed a very solid season in Lancashire.

She’s been getting regular minutes she’d been craving after a nomadic few years at Manchester City, Glasgow City, Celtic and Levante.

"I didn’t play as much as I would have liked to in Spain but experience wise it was great," she added.

"It’s very technical there, you’re playing with some of the best players in the world