Mary Fowler: I represent Oz but I feel Irish as well

Mary Fowler helped Australia to beat a gutsy Republic of Ireland at the Accor Stadium on Thursday and then reflected on her close connection to the Emerald Isle.

The 20-year-old started in Sydney in place of the injured Sam Kerr and pockmarked the game with moments of class.

Fowler, an elegant and intelligent footballer, has taken time to fully adjust to life at Manchester City - who she joined from Montpellier last summer - but she looks the real deal any time she pulls on a Matildas shirt.

And yet it all could have been so different had she taken up the opportunity to play for the Girls in Green.

Fowler was born in Cairns to an Irish father and Papa New Guinean mother. She had options when it came to international football; indeed, her brother Caoimhín and sister Ciara both represented Ireland at underage level.

The FAI were certainly interested, but Australia won the race, capping the prodigiously talented attacker when she was just 15 years old.

Fowler is now one of the Aussies' biggest names, but she still regularly hops across the Irish Sea from Manchester to Ballymun in Dublin to visit her grandad and says she has a real affinity with the country.

"It's nice to have that connection, to be able to represent Australia but feel Irish as well."

"It’s something that could have been in another world I guess, but it’s nice to have that connection, to be able to have that memory of the first country that I was very much connected with," she said.

"I have lots of memories. I’ve got my grandad still over in Ireland and relatives. It’s nice to have that connection, to be able to represent Australia but feel Irish as well.

"It was a tough game. Fair play to Ireland, they are a tough team and we knew that coming into this game, that it