NI star praises former manager’s influence after confirming international retirement
Kirsty McGuinness has retired from international duty
Kirsty McGuinness has thanked former Northern Ireland manager Kenny Shiels giving her special memories in the green shirt as she confirmed her retirement from international football.
The 30-year-old last played for her country in September 2023 and spoke for the first time about her decision to end her Northern Ireland career after winning 64 caps.
McGuinness was instrumental in taking Northern Ireland to the Women's Euro 2022 Finals, scoring crucial goals against Belarus and the Faroe Islands in qualifying, and then went on to mark her 50th cap with a goal against Lativa before hitting a memorable hat-trick against North Macedonia.
“I have retired. That's done now. I have more to focus on now, both in terms of football and life," said McGuinness.
“I am happy playing for my club and I want to get everything I have while I still can, and outside of football family and friends are just as important. I gave up a lot over the years for it, so I feel like it's now time to give back what I gave up.
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“Whenever Kenny came in I wasn't in the squad and he took a chance on me. He asked me to come back in and I can do nothing more than thank him for giving me that chance because without it I wouldn't have been at the Euros and we wouldn't have got that that unbelievable run in qualification. I wouldn't have got my 50th cap and I wouldn't have scored on it. A big part of it was down to him.
“Whenever he brought me back in he told me how he wanted me to play. He said to me, you're an attacker, I want you to attack and that's all I ever want to do in football.
“As an attacking player, you just want to attack and you want to score and you want to get assists, and he gave me the license to do that and I really, really enjoyed those years with him.”
