You spent your formative years in Ireland but was born in London. How was that?

My mum and dad worked over here [London]. That's how I was born in Stoke Newington. Dad was a big Arsenal supporter. They went back [to Ireland] and then I came over when I was roughly around 15 years of age, there was two big clubs in for me, Arsenal and Manchester United. I went for a trial at bothbut just kind of really loved Arseal, so that's what we decided. I saw in the club, for young talent, if you did well, they were willing to give their home-grown players a chance. That's what decided for me.

Probably the other thing was that Liam Brady, who was about three years older than me, and Frank Stapleton, who was two years older than me, they were two lads that I'd never met. But I was hearing in the Irish papers how well they were developing at Arsenal, and I thought, yeah, there's two Dublin lads there and it'd be a good place to go.

There’s a rich Irish history at the club. What was that like to step into knowing there was already a strong connection?

It was a thing which influenced me to come here. I met Liam and Frank whilst in Dublin and there’s a picture actually. They said “Welcome, you’ll enjoy Arsenal. See you next month when you arrive over in London.” That was the gist of it, really, and that was the first time I met Liam and Frank.

You had a close connection with them for the years to come, right?

Yeah, definitely. I came over, I have to add, I came over with another lad at the time, a fella called John. John Murphy was his name, and he got homesick like myself, but went back home after a few months. I think he had about 15 international caps for Ireland in rugby, but I’ve never seen him again since.

My first year at Arsenal was very tough. It was a completely different way of life, living away from home and the training and everything else. You think you come over and you think you're okay, but then you realise how tough it is and how far you've got to go, and that first year was really a hard, tough struggle, really. But towards the end of that first season, I started to get into the run of things and I could see that, I could do okay here, if you know what I mean.

Were you aware of an Irish connection within North London?

Without a doubt, I have to say, in Ireland itself, I think us Irish players made Arsenal popular because of the Irish connection. When I was growing up there, Manchester United, George Best, and that was it, you know, they were the team. Then there were Liverpool as well who people supported, and there was a big support for Leeds United because of a great player called Johnny Giles. There were already plenty of Irish who already lived in north London and it definitely helped built that Irish connection with us players.

I’ve also spoken to Niall Quinn for this article. What was it like seeing younger Irish players like him come through at Arsenal?

Well, Niall was a lovely lad, I got to know him very well and kind of tried to father him along in his early years here and tried to give him good habits instead of all the bad habits. He was very friendly. He settled in very well. We had another couple of young lads that came along. I think Pat Scully was one.

So I think, again, if you spoke to Niall, I think the pulling power of Arsenal was there the same way I felt seeing Frank and Liam here. You've seen that there was Irish lads there, and if you did all right, you'd have a great chance of doing well and getting into the team.

From what Niall mentioned, it seemed like there were a few other Irish people at the club, right?

Well, there was a fella who used to clean all our boots, and that was a fella called Tony Donnelly, who we used to give a great deal of stick to. But great, great fella, and he seemed to have more money than any of us were earning!

He was a great lad, looked after us well, and it was amazing. We called him Studs, fella that looked after all our boots and everything else was from Ireland. So I had that connection without a doubt.

What’s it like to be representing Arsenal and the club in Ireland this summer?

You know, I came over and on May 2, it’s been 53 years. I thought I might last a year, might last a week, who knows? And I was thinking in Budapest [for the UCL Final], here I am still hanging around Arsenal Football Club after 53 years, you know? It's taken them a long time to suss me out!

The club rang up a little while back and said, you know, for the game [Betis in Dublin], Guinness are putting something on beforehand and we'd like you to go and do a Q&A there. I thought to myself, well, I didn't think I'd be doing this 53 years on, you know, coming back and representing the club still.

Did you ever get chance to play in Dublin for Arsenal during your career?

Honestly, I don't think Arsenal played in Dublin. We played a game, a couple of games in the north of Ireland, but I never actually got to, I mean, I've played that many friendlies, but I really don't think I played in a proper game for Arsenal there, which would have  been lovely to be able to do, you know. But we just didn't get round for some reason.

How important is it for you that Arsenal are going back to Ireland? How important is it that Arsenal show that connection?

You know, I think that's a good question, and something that you alluded to earlier, that I felt that we should have gone back more, given the representation at the club and in the area. Not to say that all the years that I was involved and all the players we had, we never went back and played. I think it's important we do it more, and I think it's good that we are doing it this summer. And I think we should do it more often as well.

How do you think the team will fare?

It’s going to be a great occasion. We’ve had the World Cup this summer, so the team might be adapting back into domestic football, but it will be a great occasion for our supporters in Ireland to come out and see the Premier League champions. It’s early on in pre-season but we can still get a good look at the team.

Who was your favourite Irish player to play alongside?

You know, there can only be one and that’s Liam Brady. He’s one of the best players to pull on the Arsenal jersey and what he did for the club during his career at Arsenal will never be forgotten.

What was it like comin over from Dublin to play for Arsenal?

I can remember to the trial. Arsenal brought me over for a few days. I hadn't played a proper football game for some months because I was playing hurling at a high level, and I was very apprehensive because at 14, Fulham had told me I wasn't good enough. So now I'm 16 at Arsenal and I'm staying with Peggy O’Brien, the Irish landlady.

I remember how warm she was and how nice it was to fit in. I can remember going training and meeting Tony Donnelly, who was from the same part of Dublin as me in Crumlin, and his wife, Ethel, who washed the kit.

Then there was Paddy Galligan, another Irishman who worked on the ground staff. So it wasn't like I was going somewhere very strange where nobody would look at you.

It was actually the opposite. I remember from day one how lovely they were, and once things went well for me and suddenly after a week, Terry Neill, another Irishman, brought me in a week early and I thought, well this is probably bad news because it was meant to be a two-week trial. He said: “go and let your school know you'll be coming to live in London. We're offering you a professional contract.”

Suddenly, I'm a footballer, and there a lot of Irish people helped me along the way there. I was training with the first team and David O'Leary was there. Obviously Dave was a hero. But you also had Pat Jennings, who was another hero of mine, and I was in awe, absolutely. So you can see how I went home full of beans and was delighted that I was going to a club that had this Irish angle.

It was a lovely place, as much as I was afraid in one way of, oh, ‘my God, this is Arsenal, the mighty Arsenal.’ But there was that warmth there that really helped me at the start.

How did you find making the transition from hurling and football to just football.

When I come over, I lived with my auntie and uncle in a very Irish household in Twickenham. It was a long trip every morning to get the 281 bus from Twickenham to Hounslow at 6.20am, then getting the tube all the way across to Highbury from Hounslow.

Then going up and getting all the kit ready to get on a bus to go out to the training ground out at London Colney, and then to do it all in reverse after training every day. I wonder what the sports scientists would think now, when we trained in the afternoon, they would give us a voucher for the fish and chip shop for lunchtime, and I'd go and have cod and chips and a can of Coke.

There’s a big Irish contingent in North London, is that something you became aware of during your time at the club?

My main experiences were noticing it more within the club. There was another Irish player, Paul Gorman. Paul was a couple of years older than me, and he put his arm around me on a day-to-day basis at the level I was at. I'd see Dave and Pat occasionally at the beginning, but Paul was lovely, making sure that I got the run of things there and that I trained and did the right thing.

When you come into a team, it’s a hard reality but you are trying to take the jersey of the player ahead of you, in order to push your way up.

Yet somehow, in the middle of all that, there was this lovely Irish way of helping each other, and I really appreciated that, and then we had other players come, like Pat Scully and Paddy Galligan.

There was just this niceness around the place that had an Irish feel, that the Irish guys, not necessarily putting you above the others, but rooting for you a little bit and helping each other along.

I think it would be a great occasion, and I really hope that the atmosphere leaves its mark on the whole of Arsenal that Ireland still has a big part to play in the history of the club.

Did it surprise just how much of a connection there was there to Ireland?

When I got there, Frank [Stapleton] and Liam [Brady] had left, John Devine and Sammy Nelson had left. There was only Dave and Pat Jennings, and I thought it had probably all drizzled away, that Irish connection.

But because of the staff, it was so much warmer, and I think a big change in my trajectory happened when another Irishman came back to the club one year later and that was Pat Rice.

He retired from Watford and came to take the youth team at Arsenal, and that coincides with my fortunes going on the up.

He made me believe in myself. After a really hard first year, I was way behind the others. Second year, he came and really got me going. By the third year when I went into the reserves, that year I had with Pat, I'll never forget. I'll always be grateful to him for pushing the right buttons, getting me going the way he thought I could, and I never looked back after that really.

He got me to believe in my ability. He got me to understand that I could do something that others couldn't and that that was a huge benefit to teams if it was done correctly, and so I started to master the art of being a target man, Pat started that journey.

You mentioned that you'd played hurling. GAA is such a massive thing in Ireland. What's it like for someone that plays at a good level to then go on to play football instead?

My family are a strong GAA family. The whole idea that I could go to England and be a footballer was one thing, but to go and do it at a club that had such an Irish background the past 10 years, that was extra special.

Everybody in Ireland was so proud of those Arsenal lads, those Arsenal Irish. So there was no regret from me or my family.  Hurling was still a passion, and can I tell you, a couple of years in, Paddy Galligan got the groundsman's job.

After training I'd come back into him and we'd have a few hurleys on the pitch at Highbury, hit a few balls together. We did it one night under floodlights and we were pretending we were the first ever floodlight hurling session, because there wouldn't have been floodlights in the 1980s in Irish grounds. So a bit of history to say hurling was played at Highbury!

David O’Leary is another Irish legend, what influence did he have on your career?

Dave was the exemplary pro, did everything right. I can remember Terry Neill telling us how if every footballer at Arsenal was like David O'Leary, we'd win the European Cup. Dave was exceptional in his application, in minding himself, and the example he was showing by doing that was enormous. I got to travel with the first team before I made my debut and to get to know him a little bit more football-wise, that was great, and understand the importance of him to the team when I got in the team.

My first two games for Arsenal were Liverpool at home and Man Utd away, and we won both of them, and Dave, he was just a huge presence around that time. It was just a lovely looking back. I'm so pleased, I think I get fonder of my time at Arsenal the older I get.

I'm very aware that I was privileged to play for Arsenal. But I was extra privileged to have the back of an Irish contingent there that were great people, did things well, had great careers. But even those who weren't players, they showed a willingness to help.

You don't forget. I don't look back now on my stats and the number of games I played, I look back at the times I had. I look back at the people. Even just thinking about Paddy Galligan playing hurling at Highbury, that's probably better than a goal against another team.

What does it mean to see Arsenal coming back over to play in Ireland again?

I think this is a showcase game for supporters, to go and see the Premier League champions, a club with such an Irish tradition.

This is the Premier League champions. We can go and watch this game on our soil. There's an Irish history and tradition with the club. I really welcome that Arsenal are here. I welcome that this gives young people the chance to see the Premier League champions, the Champions League runners-up and to fit that into their dream somewhere.

I think it would be a great occasion, and I really hope that the atmosphere leaves its mark on the whole of Arsenal that Ireland still has a big part to play in the history of the club.

How did you start your footballing journey?

I’m from Waterford and I joined my local women’s team Benfica in Waterford at the age of about 13. I didn’t really think anything of this back then, whereas nowadays this wouldn’t be allowed due to league regulations. But I gave as good as I got on the pitch and I loved a good battle with the senior players.

How did you end up playing for Arsenal?

There was a five-a-side tournament in Westport, and Arsenal came over, they had a good relationship with the guy that ran the tournament so they used to come over quite a few years to play in it. Then the year I was there then we played against them in the final.
I must have done okay, because Vik Akers spoke to me afterwards and he said ‘would you be interested in coming over across the water?’ At the time I'd kind of agreed to a scholarship in Memphis. After speaking to my parents they were more keen on Arsenal it is closer than America! So it kind of made my mind up.

What was it like to come over from Ireland to London? Had you been to London before?

No I hadn’t been before, I lived in Dublin for a year before I travelled over. There was another girl, Carol Conlon, who travelled over with me at the time. We came over for a couple of days first. They showed us around the club, showed us around Highbury, it was a different world!

It was completely different to what I was used to in Ireland. We used to play on pitches where you might have to shoo a few horses off before you play on them. So to come over to play over here and just be shown around the stadium and I always lived in Highbury, it was fantastic.

When we did come back over, we were given kits, tracksuits, training gear, everything. So it was just, it felt like a great place to be for women’s football, even back in 1998, it felt special.

Did that allow you to focus on your football?

I always wanted to play football to be honest. Don't get me wrong, it was hard leaving home because I am quite a homebody. Even nowadays when I go home, I still feel sad coming back. But it was hard leaving home at first.

But I think because then we were put in a house with kind of people that were all in the same situation, we were kind of then became a family, like sisters, friends, best friends and all that. We all looked after each other, and then the rest of the girls were all fantastic as well, I made some friends for life basically.

Were there any other Irish players that you formed a connection with?

I think it was just me and Carol at the time, and then Emma Byrne came over after that.

Then came Susan Heaps and Grainne Kierans, Caroline Thorpe too. There were a few others came over after that. But me and Carol were kind of the first ones. It was important to have that representation, knowing other players could come over and see there were Irish girls already in the team.

How did it feel to see other young Irish players make the same journey? And did you help them settle in a way?

I played on the Irish team with quite a few of them, we grew up from under 16 all the way through with like Emma and Grainne. So we knew each other well before they came over. For another group of Irish people to come over, it does make it easier because you're from the same country, you talk about the same stuff.

We had a fantastic team. We had a winning mentality in every game that we went out to play. We just wanted to win. I look back now and people would often say to me, would I change my career for nowadays? And I wouldn’t because what we had back then as well was amazing. I stayed at Arsenal for 16 years, so I never wanted to move anywhere.

Winning the European title as well, celebrating with Emma and holding up the Irish flag, that must’ve been special?

Yes that comes up every now and then. That was probably one of the most memorable games ever. It was a fantastic two legs we had. We played at Boreham Wood. I think it only held about 2,000, but I felt like there was 80,000 in the stadium.

It was just the atmosphere there that day was fantastic, and then first to win it was just the icing on the cake. The other games I look at as well is my first few FA Cup finals when we played.

I always remember one of the first ones, we had like 20,000 or 25,000. I would never have been used to playing in front of that. But then once you get on the pitch, I think you just blank out what's around you and you just focus on what you've got to do.

Did you get a sense of the Irish community within north London while playing here?

Yeah, I think because of the time we played, there was lots of Celts in the team. It was mainly Scottish, Irish and Welsh that were in the team. You could feel that community here.

But I think it was a case of, say, if we went back to play for Ireland and we used to talk about the Arsenal, they'd see what we had and that meant more people were interested in joining Arsenal.

Does it make you proud that there has been this long-standing Irish connection?

Super proud, to be honest, and it's nice to see that it has continued for such a long time, that Irish connection.

What are your favourite memories of sharing the pitch with so many Irish players?

I played with Emma from when I was 16 in Ireland and then obviously with Arsenal. So, we played together for a long time. She's like a massive part of my career and my life.

I think playing in front of her for so many years, I said to someone not long ago, if she was coming out to claim a ball, all you do is duck and just hope that she doesn’t give you a bang on the way down!

We laugh about it when we speak about it now, but I always remember in the Champions League final in Boreham Wood, it's one that sticks in my head. We were under quite a bit of pressure, as you do, because so much is on the line.

I remember the ball hitting the post, hitting Emma in the back of the head, hit the post again and came out and we thought, well, if it's going to be your day, today's going to be your day! Because I don't know how the hell that stayed out, but we laugh about it now.

They're just football moments that would stick in my head with Emma. She was a massive part of my journey in that and she was a really good friend.