'I'm so happy my grandmother kept all her paperwork' – US-born striker Kyra Carusa targets more Irish caps

Ireland's Kyra Carusa is pictured at the Castleknock Hotel in Dublin ahead of the friendlies against Denmark and Belgium. Photo: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

David Kelly Twitter Email

April 06 2021 08:51 AM

American-born striker Kyra Carusa is making waves as a free-scoring striker in Danish football but this week she wants to make an impression against their national side as she seeks to kick on with her international career.

After her 80th minute winner for HB Køge in a 2-1 win against Fortuna Hjørring, which maintains their surprising early season pace at the top of the resumed Danish league, Carusa is guaranteed her second cap during this week’s friendly international window when Ireland face Denmark and Belgium.

After appearing for a half-hour as a substitute for Claire Shine in the European Championship qualifying win in Montenegro 13 months ago, it will be a long time between drinks for the grand-daughter of Tom and Beryl Lucey.

But having waited almost a decade to complete her ambition of representing her adopted land, Carusa is nothing if not patient.

“When I was 16, a coach of mine at Georgetown, Dave Nolan, he's Irish and when I was playing there on my graduate year in college in Stanford, he was always badgering me,” the now 25-year-old recalls.

“'You could be an Irish citizen, this is such an opportunity and this is something that you should really consider and playing on the Irish national team is something that's attainable for you, so you should really consider doing this'.

“And I'm so happy that my grandmother kept all of her original birth certificates, immigration paperwork. If she hadn't, I wouldn't be able to be sitting here today. So it means the world.

“I'm always incredibly humbled and I feel very privileged to be able to represent the Republic of Ireland on a national team stage.”

And while she is eager to once more renew acquaintances with her Irish colleagues, she is also excited to test herself against the side ranked tenth in the world.

“The Danish team will have quite a few players from our domestic league brought in. Some of the bigger names would be Nanna Christiansen from Brondby and she is currently the second top scorer of the league,” she said.

“She is a fantastic, technical player. I’m always very impressed with her.

“She also has another team-mate with her, Josefine Hasbo and she's like this little six, very technical player and I believe she's actually going to America to play at Harvard University next year so she's always a good player to play against.

“They also have some younger players, a girl from FC Nordsjaelland called Kathrine Moller Kuhl and she's very young and this is now her first opportunity to play for the team and she's a very impressive player and a young talent in the Danish league. A lot to look forward to in her future.

“And also a goalkeeper from Kolding, Lene Christensen, she is also a young talent. A very impressive goalkeeper for her age as well.

“But they also have from Fortuna, the team we just played, a few players coming in, Emma Snerle and Olivia Holdt who are kind of a nine and 10. Very crafty players.

“The ball always seems to stick to their foot and always a challenge to play against. I'm definitely impressed with the people they've brought in and are interesting players who have proven that they deserve that opportunity.

“And for me, I'm excited to see some familiar faces.”