Lewes defender Rebecca McKenna says that the squad’s maturity has benefitted her form this season.
The 20-year-old Northern Ireland international joined The Rookettes last summer and she has cemented her place for both club and country in recent months.
More than half of the players in the Lewes squad are aged 23 or under with the Sussex club boasting one of the younger teams in the FA Women’s Championship. When speaking to FAWSL Full-Time in an Irish Football Association media event, McKenna said that her club teammates have displayed maturity and this has helped her success in England.
“Obviously at Lewes, we have quite a young squad but you wouldn’t really think it,” McKenna said. “Even though they are young, they are all very professional for their age. As a collective, that has helped me mature as a person but also in my game as well.
“It has been a crazy year but I’ve only grown as a player thanks to those people around me both at club and coming into the NI set-up. I’ve had so much support around me and that’s only made me better.”
Having previously featured for the likes of Glentoran and Linfield in her native Northern Ireland, it was a brave decision by McKenna to move to England last summer, a move which the defender took a little time to get used to.
She said “It has all been a bit surreal. It was quite hard to settle down to start with because I moved away from home for the first time. Now that I have got settled, I am loving every moment of it, it’s really exciting.”
McKenna is currently away with Northern Ireland preparing for Friday’s FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 qualifier against Austria in Wiener Neudstadt. The player said that the determination in the group could be key to recording another famous result.
“As a team, every game we want to win,” the defender said. “The determination in this group is amazing because we all work for each other and that’s the biggest thing. That determination has paid off and has been reflected in past results.
“It’s a massive game and they are ranked higher than us in the rankings. We just have to work hard this week in the lead up to the game, make sure that we take information on board and take that into the game and get a result.”
Northern Ireland’s fixture against Austria is scheduled to kick-off at 7.30pm on Friday evening.
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