AS her Northern Ireland vice-captain for the past six years, you could think of Fionnuala Toner as being in the shadow of Armagh Gaelic football legend Caroline O’Hanlon but she’s so formidable by any standards in her own right.

A good enough basketballer back in the noughties to get a US scholarship and play in the Irish SuperLeague, south Belfast woman Toner was brought into the NI squad by Elaine Rice ahead of the 2009 Nations Cup triumph and has been a mainstay ever since.

She has also lined out for four British SuperLeague franchises during the past decade, playing for Team Northumbria, London Pulse and Team Bath before being co-captain of newcomers Leeds Rhinos in their maiden campaign in 2021.

The flexibility brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic made it easier for Toner to juggle her Rhinos commitments with a demanding job as a normally Dublin-based senior audit manager with Deloitte, but she stepped away from SuperLeague for the 2022 season.

Toner’s performances at this summer’s Commonwealth Games, where she picked up two ‘Warrior of the Match’ awards in spite of battling injuries had netball lovers clamouring for the woman famed for flying intercepts to return to SuperLeague.

Those hopes will be dashed for the forthcoming season at least, but the matches this weekend in Glasgow will determine whether the agile defender has the opportunity to strut her stuff on the biggest stage next summer at the Cape Town 2023 World Cup.

Rice’s girls in green began by crushing Gibraltar 68-19 in Wednesday’s opening game, with both O’Hanlon and Toner giving vintage displays, and were expected to have another straightforward win over the Republic of Ireland on Thursday afternoon.

Northern Ireland’s crunch clashes at the qualifying tournament, where six teams are chasing two tickets to the finals in South Africa, will come at tea-time on Friday and Saturday (both 5pm) against hosts Scotland and top seeds Wales before finishing against Isle of Man.

Flexible, fearless, feisty Fionnuala is a fiercely competitive character and this highly-intelligent, even perhaps slightly posh, professional 30-something from Belfast’s upmarket Malone Road is wonderfully feral when you put her on a netball court.

Although she may look lightweight, surrounded by big bodies of opposing shooters and team-mate Michelle Magee in NI’s back circle, the wiry Toner never lacks physical courage and is always up for the challenge.

Both in terms of her slender build and facially, she has hardly changed at all since those early years and there’s even something of the stroppy teenager in the visible dismay she shows when some umpiring calls go against her.

Two wily operators who don’t suffer fools gladly, she and O’Hanlon have dove-tailed well with each other through the years and there is a sense that the curtain could come down on their international careers at the same time even though there is a considerable age gap.

Losing those two would be a dreaded day for Northern Ireland netball and, with no more major tournaments thereafter until the 2026 Commonwealth Games, World Cup qualification could be crucial in staving off any short-term fears over their future in the green dress.

Whatever about beyond then, the full focus for now is on trying to secure that golden ticket to South Africa and, although admitting the odds are against Northern Ireland, Toner believes the Warriors are well prepared for the challenge ahead.

“We are absolutely the underdogs going into this World Cup qualifying tournament but we have learnt a lot from the Commonwealth Games and also have some fresh faces in our group compared to what will be pretty familiar line-ups for both Scotland and Wales,” she said.

“So hopefully we have that advantage of knowing what they have and the changes they could make during a game, whereas I think we have options that they won’t know or haven’t played against before.

“Birmingham 2022 was a real roller-coaster for me personally, between an injury in pre-camp, testing positive for Covid-19 on arrival at the welcome centre and then a second injury during the tournament.

“In the circumstances, I think I was glad to be able to play in every game and contribute. We were disappointed with the final results but, given the 10 days we had as a group, we had a lot to take away from the tournament and a focus leading into these World Cup qualifiers.”

Northern Ireland had a couple of training games against English Premier League champions Oldham before hosting Uganda in front of capacity crowds in Craigavon and Newtownards at the end of last month in the lead up to these Glasgow showdowns.

“Having competitive opportunities in the lead up to the World Cup qualifiers has been great,” said Toner.

“I think trying to replicate scenarios in training against ourselves is never as beneficial as against opposition so it was huge to get those games and we learnt a lot from each of them.

“The WCQs coming so soon after the Commonwealth Games meant there was minimal downtime, but we were able to work on the learnings from Birmingham and have those outings against Uganda and Oldham which we may not have had at another time.

“While we don’t get a lot of home matches, whenever we do, the support is always there and it’s fantastic to see those young girls from Clann Eireann and Newcastle so enthusiastic to watch us play and chat after the game.  They gave us the perfect send-off for Glasgow.”

Malone Road woman Fionnuala Toner in possession during the recent friendly against Uganda
2Gallery

Malone Road woman Fionnuala Toner in possession during the recent friendly against Uganda

As well as being an elder stateswoman of the Warriors squad, Toner is heavily involved along with Finaghy native Michelle Magee in working with Netball NI behind the scenes and also has an ambassadorial role in relation to the Commonwealth Games.

Whatever happens in Glasgow over the coming days, one of the world’s top 12 teams is certain to miss out on the 2023 World Cup and Toner believes that anomaly must be addressed in the future by the powers that be.

“I think in reality the structure of the World Cup needs to change; it shouldn’t be that a top 12 nation is missing out on a major tournament every four years, and that is only the case in the Europe region,” she insists.

“Looking at the results from other regions, there will be a gap of six-seven places come the World Cup next year and, regardless of the results this week, that is the reality and it doesn’t deliver the most competitive tournament the sport’s showcase event could be.

“I strongly believe that the situation needs to be looked at to ensure the World Cup can help grow the game globally but also ensuring that nations in the top 12 don’t suffer due to their geographical location and how places are allocated.

“Obviously this won’t be changed in time for the 2023 World Cup, so (Glasgow) is absolutely a huge tournament for all the home nations as someone will miss out.  But we know what we have to do and have the experience and fight in the group to hopefully deliver.”

Carryduff solicitor Ciara Crosbie, who plays for English Premier League champions Oldham, scored 13 goals in the first half against Gibraltar before being brought off and young Georgie McGrath, who won her first cap at the Commonwealth Games, got 10 off the bench.

Westside shooter Orlaith Rogers netted 26 times in the opening half hour of her first competitive match in the green dress as several newcomers were given their chance to stake a claim to replace the unavailable Emma Magee up front for Northern Ireland.