The 20-year-old has already been part of the first Irish squads to qualify for the UEFA European U17 and U19 Championships in 2010 and 2014 respectively and now wants to complete a hat-trick by helping the senior team qualify for the first time for the finals of a major championship.
“Of course I do,” says Shine. “It would be a dream come true to play at senior level at a European Finals against the Germans, and the French. It would be just amazing. I hope to represent my country at that level and play in a finals alongside all the girls I grew up playing with. “
“I think we have a great chance. There is a great buzz around the camp so hopefully we can put that into training and into the game and perform on the day and hopefully we will come out with three points from each game, top the group and get to the finals.for the first time.”
Shine’s first duty when she reported into the team camp in Castleknock was a behind closed doors training game against Northern Ireland this afternoon in Tallaght and Shine enjoyed every second of the 45 minutes she played.
“It was a great experience being around the top players over here like Emma Byrne and Niamh Fahey and to play alongside Stephanie Roche and all them is just a great experience for me and hopefully there is more to come."
Shine has every reason to be enjoying her football at the moment after a six month lay-off because of injury and her summer move to top Scottish club Glasgow City.gave
“It was this time last year that I had to pull away from football for a while but I started back in training in March and it has just gone upwards since then.“
This afternoon’s training match against Northern Ireland finished 1-1 with Denise O’Sullivan getting the Irish goal and manager Sue Ronan was able to get 21 players on the pitch over the course of the 90 minutes.
“It was a good workout for both teams. We haven’t had everybody together since the game against Spain in April so it was good to see them all again and get them on the pitch. It also helped to bring others up to the pace of international football and we are looking forward to doing some good work on the training pitch over the next few days,” said Ronan.
Monday’s opponents Finland, who are the second seeds in the group, start their EURO 2017 campaign on Thursday with a home game against fifth seeds Montenegro.
Republic of Ireland Squad (v Finland)
Goalkeepers: Emma Byrne (Arsenal), Grace Maloney (Reading), Niamh Reid Burke (Shelbourne).
Defenders: Megan Campbell (Florida State University); Meabh De Burca (Galway), Karen Duggan (UCD Waves), Niamh Fahey (Chelsea), Louise Quinn (Eskilstuna); Grace Murray (Newry City), Sophie Perry (Brighton & Hove Albion).
Midfielders: Diane Caldwell (Avaldsness), Dora Gorman (UCD Waves), Ciara Grant (UCD Waves), Rachel Graham (Shelbourne), Siobhan Killeen (Shelbourne), Aine O’Gorman (UCD Waves), Julie-Ann Russell (UCD Waves).
Forwards: Carol Breen (Wexford Youths), Ruesha Littlejohn (Celtic), Katie McCabe (Shelbourne), Denise O’Sullivan (Glasgow City), Stephanie Roche (Sunderland), Clare Shine (Glasgow City).