Mary Earps inspiring rivals! Man Utd & Lionesses star boasts ‘huge amount of respect’ from fellow WSL goalkeeper preparing for Euro 2025 qualification showdown with England

Everton shot-stopper Courtney Brosnan admits as much, as she prepares to face a fellow WSL star in international competition. The Republic of Ireland are set to play host to the Lionesses in Euro 2025 qualification on April 9.

That contest will see Brosnan trying to keep England out, as she looks to tread a similar path to Earps – who is a European champion, World Cup finalist and two-time winner of the FIFA Best Women’s Goalkeeper award. She has said of Earps: “I think she’s a great player and these past two to three years she’s been amazing for England winning the EUROs. She’s somebody that a lot of people look up to and I have a huge amount of respect for her.”

Brosnan looks to learn from as many rivals as possible, with Manchester United keeper Earps very much part of that group. She added: “I really do enjoy watching other goalkeepers in the WSL or different national teams. The position is always about picking up different things and finding out what works for you. It’s cool to watch other goalkeepers and see what they do. Then you can be like, ‘maybe I could try that and it could work for me’. (The squad) will watch a lot of clips of the opposition and goalkeepers will watch clips of the forwards and wingers to try and see their tendencies but I think I really like to watch clips of myself from training and from the games. I feel that goalkeeping is so detail oriented and it is all about these little moments, maybe the distances of six inches like that. I think it is great to have that (analysis) resource to make changes and continue to learn.”

England are set to get their Euro 2025 qualifying campaign up and running against Sweden on Friday, while the Republic of Ireland will open their bid to secure safe passage out of Group A3 when taking on France.