I'm ex-Ireland star who returned from childbirth and scored iconic goal vs France – now I'm making career in new sport
JULIE-ANN RUSSELL has gone from firing Ireland to three points on the football pitch, to shooting three-pointers on the basketball court.
The 34-year-old
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4
Julie-Ann Russell retired from football back in January
Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
4
She scored seven goals in 66 caps for the Republic of Ireland
Credit: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile
4
She also played a starring role for Galway Utd
Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
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She is now playing basketball for Moycullen
Credit: John O'Brien
It also brought to an end her run with
Galway
United, with whom the Moycullen-native won the All-Island Cup in 2024.
But Russell has not turned her back on sport altogether, and represented her hometown
basketball
club in the Galway Cup.
The former
striker
explained to SunSport: "I actually was playing last year as well.
"In Moycullen, they have a St. Stephen's Day Blitz which has been
running
for years and years.
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"It was the second year that they had a
women
's Blitz and they'd asked me to play in it. I did at the time and absolutely loved it.
"They were kind of like, 'will you play on our team for January to March?' It was the second-half of the season.
"I was in
pre-season
with Galway at the time and I said, 'yeah I'll go whenever I can make it'.
"I played last season for a couple of months and then I didn't play at the start of the season just there because I was in with
Ireland
.
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"Once I finished up with Ireland I went back again in January, back playing with them."
The Moycullen point-guard played basketball in her youth and in secondary
school
.
Ireland hero Julie-Ann Russell's daughter Rosie takes RTE microphone during post-match interview
She had to prioritise soccer over gaelic
football
and basketball when she turned 18.
But Russell has not missed a beat since going back to the
court
, and showed her talents by putting Moycullen 8-0 up in their Galway Cup final defeat to Claregalway last month.
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Although she admitted: "I only turned up to meet folks I hadn't seen in ages and it's a really good day out.
"I didn't think I'd be able to shoot the ball because it's been so long but I ended up getting Player of the Tournament that year.
"They were hounding me to play on the team for the rest of the season so I said I would."
EURO TRIP
Russell had mapped out her ideal retirement roadmap that did not end back in January.
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The mum-of-one made a sensational return to the Girls in Green last
summer
after four years away.
That break was initially enforced due to being in
Australia
when the Covid-19
pandemic
broke out in 2020.
But following her 2021 return to Galway, she remained out of
's plans.
She was watching on with her newborn daughter Rosie when
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It was a storybook return, as
She scored her third international goal of the year in the 3-0 win over
qualifiers
as Ireland got to the play-offs.
But the two-legged play-off loss to
Wales
was the end of the journey, both for Ireland and Russell.
"It was definitely the best year of my life so far anyway."
She said: "I probably started thinking about it if we didn't qualify for the
Euros
, so depending on how the match against
Wales
went was kind of the breaking point for me.
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"If we'd won that game, I would have kept playing and tried to make the squad for the Euros this summer.
"Unfortunately we lost the game, so I made the decision then and then I just kind of sat on it for about a month or so, just to kind of make sure I was making the right decision.
"When the final whistle went, it was obviously devastating to lose but then, in my head, I was kind of like this is it for me.
"It made it even that more painful than what it was."
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'AMAZING HUMAN'
When Carla Ward replaced Eileen Gleeson after the play-off, there were attempts to keep Russell in the fold.
The former
She added: "When I spoke to Carla, she was kind of shocked, I think, a little bit at the decision.
"She seemed like an amazing human to start with and so welcoming and was so looking forward to meeting Rosie and having her daughter meet her as well.
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"I think it would have been a joy to
work
under her as well.
"Unfortunately that didn't come to fruition but it's great to see her doing well now in the last couple of games."
Bidding farewell was made easier by the memories made.
The win over
France
- and her Player of the Match role in it - stands out for poignant reasons.
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While her daughter was not at Carrow
Road
to see Russell score against the Lionesses,
And the 34-year-old said: "My friends and
family
all there and Rosie witnessing me playing for Ireland,
"She won't have a clue. She'll just look back when she's older.
"It would have been amazing if she wasn't there, but I think the fact that she was born, and coming back from post-pregnancy, and getting back into top level sport again, and having her there was 10 times better.
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"It was definitely the best year of my life so far anyway."
BACK OF THE NET
Basketball is one of a number of ways Russell has occupied herself since hanging up the
boots
.
The ex-Peamount United
star
still works for
And she also ran the
Barcelona
marathon in March, clocking a time of three hours and 25 minutes.
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And she has tentative plans to return to the basketball court when the season gets underway in October.
"I'm not going to make commitments right now and say I'm fully signed up. I'm just seeing how things go and how I'm feeling and how my body is feeling and what not. I
"I've loved playing the last two seasons at Moycullen. It's brilliant. If I'm feeling good and strong, no doubt I'll be back playing with Moycullen again."
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