Jess Ziu hoping to cement an Irish starting spot

Jess Ziu earned her first Republic of Ireland start in the side's 11-0 trashing of Georgia back in November, and now the Shelbourne player is hoping to use this week’s Pinatar Cup in Spain to cement a spot in Vera Pauw’s starting team moving forward.

That 2023 World Cup qualifying trashing of the Georgians in Tallaght has left the team in second position in Group A, and Pauw will be hoping that their three games in the coming days – starting with Poland on Wednesday – can help strengthen their hand further as they head into the tail-end of the qualification process.

Ziu is hoping to be one of those catching the manager’s eye.

"I made my debut when I was 16 [against Belgium], I waited three years then for my first start to come and then the score was unbelievable, I don’t think anyone saw it coming and it just capped off a good year for me personally because we won the league with Shels which people probably didn’t think would have happened," said Ziu.

"I think everyone is in the same boat coming into this tournament," she continued.

"It’s a good tournament to get some minutes under my belt and hopefully if I do get that, I can show the management what I can do.

"I thought the game against Georgia was good but I think I can still give more."

Ziu played 75 minutes of that win over Georgia before being replaced by Amber Barrett, and her rest was well earned.

Pauw has shown a desire to try different players in unfamiliar positions and for Ziu, that was a mostly unfamiliar wing-back role, although Dave Bell had played her there occasionally with the Irish U17s.

"To be honest, even if I was playing centre-back, I'd take it," she said.

"I'm not usually one to moan about where I'm playing because I'm actually naturally a centre-mid but