Liverpool striker reminds fans why manager had to signed him twice after injury hell.
When Matt Beard referred to as Leanne Kiernan into his office to tell her she would be making her first Women’s Super League (WSL) start of the season towards West Ham United, the Liverpool striker – by way of her own admission – “couldn’t end smiling”.
In many ways, her decision felt like a meritorious reward for weathering 18 months of adversity, almost moments and sheer rotten luck. Of course, anyone who watched Kiernan for the duration of her stellar debut season for the Reds ought to truely have had few doubts about her large capability but, after a serious ankle harm saved her sidelined for greater than a year, it used to be beginning to feel like the her fortunes at Prenton Park would never change.
In spite of all the setbacks, though, Kiernan’s M.O. did not alter. For the Republic of Ireland forward, the past year-and-a-half has been all about working difficult to hone her craft so that, when the opportunity did arise, she should exhibit Liverpool followers what they’d been missing.
And, against the Hammers this weekend, that is precisely what she did, firing domestic her first league intention in 694 days to open the scoring for Matt Beard’s aspect and set them on the way to a precious three points. “It’s just such a remedy getting on the scoresheet and getting the win,” Kiernan told journalists after the gameI’ve worked for the remaining 5 months to get again into the beginning XI. It’s been amazing, I’ve sincerely enjoyed it. My family is up in the crowd there, so it was genuinely fantastic to have a good time with them.”
Certainly, Sunday’s overall performance felt like the perfect way for the County Cavan native to crown her St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. For Kiernan, who has until now spoken about her want to work on the household pig farm when she hangs up her boots, an ambition to make the humans of Bailieborough proud has always been one of her riding forces.
Having grown up enjoying Gaelic soccer and impressing as a cross-country runner, there was an aspect of inevitability about the 24-year-old’s turning into an elite athlete. She dazzled in the course of her time with Shelbourne Ladies in the Irish top flight and was once named the Women’s National League Young Player of the Year in 2016, before securing a pass to West Ham two years later.
In the announcement of her signing on the Hammers’ reputable website, Kiernan was described as “Irish football’s brightest prospect” whose offerings were coveted via “a host of Europe’s pinnacle clubs”. Kiernan spent three seasons in east London earlier than transferring to Liverpool in the summer season of 2021, with Beard – who had signed her at some stage in his time as West Ham boss – eager to bring her with him to Merseyside.
It was once a pass that paid dividends for each parties, with Liverpool’s new no. 9 scoring 14 goals to assist the Reds win promoting returned to the WSL; a feat that noticed Kiernan named the club’s Player of the Season.
She and Beard have an easy rapport, evidenced through the Liverpool boss interrupting her post-match interview to gleefully note: “(Her) smile says it all”. The striker can also not have always observed it effortless to understand the Londoner – she went as some distance as buying a Cockney slang e book to attempt and decipher his favored expressions when she first moved to West Ham as a teenager – but she credits him with having stored her morale high for the duration of one of the most challenging intervals of her career.
“It used to be supposed to be a 4 month injury,” she said, reflecting on the ankle trouble she picked up in Liverpool’s win over Chelsea on the opening day of the 2022/23 season. “It became into 14/15 months however (Beard) would come and greet me each and every single morning besides a doubt and ask: ‘How are you? How are you getting on?’
“He was once always there for me, calling me into the workplace and inserting a hand on my shoulder when I needed it to make positive I used to be alright. He kept the self belief within me and stored giving me desires to center of attention on. He’s been great managing my minutes so that I’m now not going to ruin down again so I can not thank Beardy enough.”
It was fitting, then, that Kiernan ran to have fun with Beard on the touchline after scoring towards the Hammers on Sunday. And it’s clear the Liverpool boss is hopeful this may want to be simply the start of a fruitful spell in front of intention for the striker
