Women. Mannion making most of more minutes

Aiofe Mannion
Published
15 hours ago
Team
Women

After three seasons in a row where league starts were limited at Manchester United Women, Aoife Mannion hasn't skipped a beat in black and white, starting all six WSL2 matches thus far.

Aaron Hindhaugh
Written by

And that sort of consistency on the pitch has provided her a pattern of life off it which is 'second to none' as she discovers what the North East has to offer.

"Honestly, I'm loving it so much," Mannion said when describing her first few months at the club. "I've been going to Tynemouth once a week with my partner before work, which I love.

"It's an absolutely stunning place. I'm loving living up here because it's so lovely and a great city.

"I think because it's a big city, but not too big, it's easy to get around and still has a little bit of everything that you'd need. So from that perspective, it's been second to none."

After a run of unfortunate injuries in Manchester, Mannion has admitted to doing 'everything' she can to be fit for each game, something which is paying off as she's started all of the Magpies' WSL2 games this season.

"It's been a dream for me," Mannion told newcastleunited.com with a wry smile when asked how she's found getting regular minutes under her belt this term.

"I'll always do everything in my power to be fit and available for the squad and play every game.

"Since I've joined the club, the one big - but good - surprise has been the passion from the fans for the club.

"I've been lucky enough to be at a lot of clubs where people are passionate, but I'd never really travelled up to Newcastle before, so I didn't quite understand how much football means to the city."

With just one win on the board so far this season, Newcastle have been using the international break to get out on the training pitch and shift the momentum, starting with an away trip to Ipswich Town Women this weekend.

Mannion, who spent the break representing the Republic of Ireland, has been impressed by what her teammates have largely shown since she joined the club, and feels results are just around the corner.

"Personally, I'm really enjoying my football at the moment and have loved how much I can get stuck into the game in this league," she added. "In each game, I've come off the pitch happy with aspects of my game, while also knowing there are always things I want to analyse and improve on.

"But as a team, I think there have been things which we can see are starting to click into place; we're finding our feet, and now we're just looking to bring everything together.

"We know it's now just about bringing everything to fruition and picking up three points because we feel that's the only element missing to our game - but in football, winning is always the most important thing."

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