Aislinn Meaney talks her time in the US, her return to Ireland, why Treaty United and what the future holds.
Speaking to finalwhistle.ie’s WNL show Wednesday night, Treaty United’s Aislinn Meaney expressed her happiness with being back home.
“It’s nice to get back into the swing of things. When going back between Ireland and the States, there’s always that bit of difference in the style of play and everything, but it’s nice to be back home around family and friends, so I’m enjoying it.”
One might wonder why Meaney chose to play with Treaty over Galway, a club she has previous links with along with the fact that Treaty have struggled this season. Meaney’s reasons however are all about playing time.
“Coming back my main goal was getting my 90 minutes guaranteed every week, just working back to that fitness. Coming back from summers previously with Galway, there wasn’t that guarantee.
“There’s not much point in going to a bigger team and just sitting on the bench every week. You have to be out there playing week in, week out, that’s what makes you a better player and that’s what I was after myself
“Even just for exposure, you’re looking at scouts coming to games and international coaches, they want to see you play. They don’t want to see you sitting on the bench, so that was a big thing for me.”
Adapting to life at Treaty has been welcoming, given the nature of their squad.
“Since I’ve been back it’s been great, they’ve been a very welcoming bunch. I’ve been with Don (O’Riordan) in Galway as well so I have an idea of how he wants to train and his style, which I’ve enjoyed, the training sessions have been great.
“It is a young team but there is a lot of potential there. A lot of girls are involved with underage international teams, so there is a lot of quality there, it’s just because of the age that it will take time to gel a bit more and get more experience in a senior league.”
Meaney also talked about the massive differences between the west of Ireland she’s used to and the American midwest, where she spent her college years stateside.
“It’s a massive change, everything right across the board. I was in my third year and this opportunity came about and I figured that not many people get to do it, so I’d have been stupid not to take it.
“It’s very different, the weather being one of them. You have the hot summers where it gets up to 30, 35 degrees and then during the season we’re playing September through to December so there’s a lot of snow and freezing conditions.
“You get used to it though, you climatise. We also had an indoor training facility which we got a lot of use out of, it made a massive difference.”
When asked if she missed the facilities, Meaney stated:
“Yeah. That’s one of the main differences. College sports is massive in America, completely different to European colleges. They pump a lot of money into it, they have a lot of facilities, so you would miss it, bit that’s what America is all about. It was nice.”
The style of football was another change that had to be made.
“In America the style of football has a big emphasis on fitness and physicality. I has to adjust also to the Monday to Saturday routine, some mornings I’d be up at 6/6:30am to get into the gym, which can be tough at the beginning.
“I love doing it. In my first season there we would play on Fridays and Sundays so the biggest adaptation to make was getting ready to go again on the Sunday when your muscles are sore but trying to get yourself up for it.
“It was just trying to fall into a routine like that. But over time your body gets used to that and it becomes easier.
Another hurdle would be the long distance trips between matches, which can be a few hours in the states. Players like Aislinn has the resources at their disposal though.
“You can take advantage of the physios and things like that. Every day after training we were headed to the training rooms getting little bits done with the athletic trainers making use of the ice and hot tubs and stuff like that
“It takes time, but you have to be ready to dedicate yourself to that kind of routine.”
The move back home may also see the former international come back into the setup soon.
“I would love to be part of the setup again, it’s definitely a goal I have. Part of coming to Treaty was to have that exposure alongside wanting to play every week.
“It’s definitely part of the plan. It’s always a goal to go to the next level, that’s always the aim. To keep pushing myself.
“It was amazing being on the training pitch with professional players. There’s always things you take from them, that you can’t get anywhere else. So that experience was unreal.”
In her most recent game, Aislinn and Treaty drew at home to Sligo, their first point of the season. Meaney had a missed chance near the end and when asked about it said:
“Yeah, that was a tough one. There was a couple of chances where we hit the woodwork and we created more chances than previous games. But look, you gotta bounce back from it, learn from it and don’t let it happen again”
On the controversial one that may or may not have crossed the line:
“That’s a controversial one. We need VAR there.”
Meaney and Treaty will look to build on that first point when they welcome DLR Waves this Saturday at 5pm.
