Euro 2022: Investment needs to continue in women's football - NI captain Marissa Callaghan
- Published
Callaghan and her team-mates acknowledged the Northern Ireland fans after the game
Northern Ireland captain Marissa Callaghan has called for investment in women's football in the country to continue.
Callaghan was speaking after her side bowed out of Euro 2022 with a 5-0 defeat by England at St Mary's.
It was a third loss in three Group A games for Kenny Shiels' side in what was the first time Northern Ireland have reached a major women's finals.
"We'll go back and on Monday it will be a big wake up call," Callaghan said.
"We've been in full-time training together since January but soon we'll go back to our normal jobs and lives, and we have to try to keep the momentum.
"We have to keep investing in women's football - the Irish FA, our leagues and everything to do with women's football, we have to make them better.
"I hope that we can get more sponsorship and push on because we are definitely capable of doing much more in these big tournaments."
Asked what she feels the legacy of this maiden tournament would be for Northern Ireland, Callaghan, who had to start the first match on the bench due to a toe injury, said it would be added belief.
"For the players the big legacy is that we have to now dream big and believe we can compete in these major tournaments," the 35-year-old continued.
"It was a far cry for us four or five years ago when we never thought we would make it into such a big tournament, but we did and I feel we played really well at times against top sides and players.
"We have to keep pushing on and keep believing that we can challenge the top sides."
NI 'stood shoulder-to-shoulder with top players'
Euro 2022: England reach quarter finals after beating Northern Ireland 5-0
Northern Ireland went into Friday night's meeting with the hosts and group winners knowing that they would finish bottom of the group after their 4-1 defeat by Norway and 2-0 loss to Austria.
They started the match at St Mary's brightly, creating a few half chances before falling behind to Fran Kirby's strike in the 40th minute.
Beth Mead made it 2-0 at the break and substitute Alessia Russo scored two before an unfortunate Kelsie Burrows own goal rounded off the scoring - but Callaghan took heart from her team's performance against England and in the tournament as a whole.
"At times in each of the games we've really battled and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with top players and sides," she observed.
"In the past playing England we didn't create chances but today we went for it. Unfortunately we didn't score any but we did have chances and we have to take a lot from that.
"The gulf is just massive and when they come on in the second half and make subs like-for-like it's hard to compete. But I'm so proud, every player left everything out on the pitch and it's been an amazing two weeks."
Callaghan also had a final word of thanks for the Northern Ireland supporters who have given the team tremendous backing across all three Euro 2022 matches at St Mary's.
"The fans have been absolutely amazing - there were a thousand of our fans and we could hear them over everything," she added.
"We had our time with them at the end and I will never forget it. The girls have really appreciated them being here, they've been outstanding and so we're thankful to them all."