‘Full throttle’ Mary Earps inspires on and off the pitch and Manchester United star admits she’s lucky to be her teammate
Manchester United star Mary Earps is a force of nature but despite offering teammates an occasional ear bashing they're lucky to have her.
The award-winning England goalkeeper's talents are sometimes taken for granted having been named the world's best female goalkeeper in 2022 and 2023.
But when it comes to the crunch, she's always on hand to save the day and inspire her colleagues.
It was a terrific display from Earps that has Manchester United's women on the cusp of their first piece of major silverware.
She put on a clinic in a 2-1 win over Chelsea in their FA Cup semi-final with one incredible save to deny Lauren James standing out.
The stop then saw Earps unleash an X-rated volley to fire up her teammates - and it's something they value just as much as her game-winning saves.
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Aoife Mannion told talkSPORT: “What Mary is like on the pitch is exactly what she’s like in training,” she said.
“She’s full throttle, incredibly authentic and passionate as a character and very inspiring to be around on the pitch.
“I was saying to her in the gym actually that there was one particular save that she made [vs Chelsea] where it almost looked like she had to hyper extend or dislocate her shoulder to stop the ball from going in the net and I’m surprised there’s not been any videos or memes [because] basically when she did that, I just put my hands to my face and gasped.
“For that moment, I was like a fan watching it and it’s very rare in football in a game as a player where you have a sense of something that’s so incredible.
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“I’m really pleased for her and she’s an incredible goalkeeper and sometimes, little moments like that in games can remind everyone just how lucky we are to have her and how lucky I am personally to play alongside her.
“Some of those saves were just enormous and can’t be understated how incredible and skilful they are. I’m really pleased she was in the net for us because it could have been a very different outcome if she wasn’t.”
It has been a difficult two years for Mannion through injury, with the defender rupturing her ACL back in 2022 which ruled her out for almost a year.
And to make matters worse, she also tore her quad in September which kept her on the sidelines for five months.
Thankfully, the 28-year-old is now enjoying her football again ahead of the Women’s FA Cup final against Tottenham in May.
“I’ve been at United about three years and within that time, we’ve managed to take a step forward in terms of getting through to the Champions League qualifying group stages,” Mannion finished.
“The next step now is to actually get into the group stage and progress in that competition and get into that on a regular and frequent basis.
“Also, a law of winning trophies [is what we want] and that’s what fans want and that’s a big hurdle for us to cross. The team, back in the 2018/19 season, won the Championship, so the league below the WSL.
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“Really, it’s silverware that fans want to see and obviously, we’ve got an amazing chance in May with the FA Cup.
“I’ve had difficult injuries and so, to potentially be in a position where I can help and contribute to a team potentially able to win an FA Cup final, would just be a dream come true.”