Aoife Mannion says playing Gaelic football against her old schoolmate Jack Grealish helped toughen her up for a career as a professional footballer.
Mannion sat beside Grealish at St Peter's School in Solihull - and the pair were enthusiastic Gaelic footballers, playing in the Warwickshire County League.
The pair are also set to mirror each other when it comes to international football.
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While at school together, Mannion represented England at underage level and Grealish lined out for Ireland.
He made the switch to the country of his birth after Under-21 level, while Mannion - with Galway and Mayo parents - made a couple of senior England squads but wasn’t capped.
She is set to make her Ireland debut in next week’s friendly against China - and kick off her bid for a place at next summer’s World Cup.
“I grew up the same age as Jack Grealish, sat next to him in my RE (religious education) class,” revealed Mannion (27), whose uncle Pat Kelly played for Mayo.
“He (Grealish) is obviously a very good footballer, he played Gaelic but for the enemy team.
“He played for a team called... I don't even want to give them publicity actually! He played for the opposite team, I played for Sean McDermotts, that's all you need to know.
“I must say we were a much better team, much more successful.
“But obviously, he's gone on to do great things in the football world and he's obviously very well respected.”
Mannion conceded that Grealish was a “very good” Gaelic footballer and “the most skillful player on his team.”
She added: “He was a bit of a nemesis really, in terms of the Gaelic football world.”
Now at Manchester United, after spells at Aston Villa, Birmingham City and Manchester City, she credits much of her 11-a-side ability to skills picked up on the Gaelic football pitch.
“It had a massive influence on me,” said Mannion.
“I connected to sports, let’s say football and the Gaelic as well, through that nature of competition - winning and losing, physicality first, work hard, leave everything on the pitch.
“Then as I got older, I came into contact with players who were much more technical and skill-based.
“So being involved with Gaelic, that was loads of little one-v-ones all over the pitch, putting everything on the line.
“It was quite clear whether you got the better or worse of your one-v-one.
“Obviously the games are a bit more tactical now, but when I played it they were very much one-v-one based.
“So in terms of that physicality, getting stuck in, running and giving everything, all of that stuff, I have used that throughout my football career.”
Mannion revealed that she had an Irish passport before she first secured a British one - and that most of her childhood holidays were spent on the west coast.
“My mam is from Mayo and dad is from Galway,” she said. “Whoever is winning in the Gaelic determines what shirt I have on. Usually it’s Mayo in the GAA and Galway in hurling.
“My parents met in England after moving over for work. They joined an Irish community in Birmingham, hence the Irish dancing and me playing GAA locally.
“It was a little team called Sean McDermotts and then Warwickshire.
“Obviously I was born in England, but apart from that all my family were Irish.
“So when I got the call-up last week, I can’t tell you how many messages I’ve had from family members, saying how excited they were.
“To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen my parents so proud of anything I’ve done.”
Mannion began the process of switching to Ireland over a year ago, but had to put it on the backburner when she tore her cruciate last February for the second time in her career.
“The surgery put a spanner in the works. Then I bumped into Vera last May and told her it was my intention to play for Ireland,” she said.
“The process has kicked on since then and ended up getting my clearance only a week ago.”
Mannion isn’t long back from her injury, so has found it difficult to get minutes at club level this season.
But she hopes to catch Pauw’s eye with her performances in training and against China.
“In the first instance it’s just that childlike excitement to get involved in training and get stuck in,” she said.
“I’m a central defender. My trade is being a front-footed, one-v-one defender when we’ve not got the ball. And then when we do have the ball I like to play out.
“I like to start to create the attack with midfielders. I’m looking for the right passes, making connections with my teammates on the pitch.
“Whether that’s enough for a manager to want to pick me, that will be up to Vera.”
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