MORE than 17 years after making her senior debut for the Republic of Ireland, Galway’s Niamh Fahey has called time on her international career, having made a staggering 115 appearances for her country since that 2007 debut against Portugal.

The Killannin native will continue to play her club football with English Women’s Super League side Liverpool, where she is club captain, but after the Republic of Ireland’s shock defeat to Wales in the Euro 2025 play-off last month the Irish centurion has decided to end her time with the international side.

“I’m one of the lucky ones. I wouldn’t say I was the most talented, but I put in an awful lot of work and dedication and just pride in trying to wear that jersey. I never lost sight of that fact, and I think that has carried me through to the later end of my career and helped me to keep going to a high level,” she told Nathan Murphy of Off The Ball on Newstalk in an interview over the weekend.

She played her juvenile football with Salthill Devon, and was part of the Galway League side that made history in 2007 when winning the Women’s FAI Cup, Fahey scoring the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in the win over Raheny United.

That goal capped a player-of-the-match display from Fahey, and secured European qualification for a Galway League side that included future Irish internationals Julie-Ann Russell and Meabh de Burca; as well as team captain, Susie Cunningham, who had been capped in a friendly two years earlier.

It wasn’t her first time to savour glory on the national stage: she was part of the Galway squad that captured the county’s first, and still only, senior All-Ireland Ladies Gaelic football title in 2004 in a side captained by Annette Clarke, who would also be part of that FAI Cup win three years later.

Her prowess on the Gaelic football pitch was little surprise given the fact older brothers, Gary and Richie, won the male equivalent in 1998 and 2001, with Gary captaining the side for that latter win, making him the last Galway man to lift the Sam Maguire.

“I had fantastic role models, Gary and Richie winning two All-Ireland senior Gaelic football title, the inspiration was never far from sight. I remember being a young girl and my brothers having a home-made gym up in the attic, I think they filled two buckets with cement blocks and that was their weight-lifting bar.

Pictured: Galway’s Niamh Fahey who has announced her retirement from international football after winning 115 Irish caps.