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Ireland’s World Cup qualification bid continues as Carla Ward’s side takes on the Netherlands and France.
But now that she has the “security” of a third level qualification to her name, Clancy is ready to focus fully on football.
“This is definitely more enjoyable anyway, I'll say that. A different kind of pressure but a good one all the same,” said the 22-year-old. Shelbourne will be the initial beneficiaries of Clancy’s new focus, but she isn’t ruling out a belated move abroad.
“Probably when I finished my Leaving Cert there would have been a bit of thought around that,” she said, confirming that there were potential opportunities elsewhere. “But I thought, I'm going to prioritise college. There were a few bits here and there but nothing too solid.
“Now that I'm finished I think I was always like, if something good came up then I'd definitely go. Now that I've actually finished college, I'm very happy to have that done. ”She added: “A few of the girls are like don't be leaving too early, when you don't have a degree backing you.
“So it's nice to have that under my belt now that I can fully focus on football and I also have that to fall back to if need be. “So there's a nice sense of security in that and I think the education part has been really important. “So I think now my full focus can go on to Shels and trying to really push my football to the next level. ” Not that she’s been slacking up to now.
Clancy attended Presentation School in Thurles, which is renowned for its international footballer production line. And while in UCD she availed of all the facilities there to ensure that she was always in top shape, whether for club or country.
“Between Shels and UCD I was balancing a gym programme. I'm actually lucky enough that I had the time to be able to do that,” she said.
“I'd love to make the transition to England. I think that's always been the goal to go into a full-time set-up,” said the Limerick native.
“If an opportunity did come about, I'd definitely love to go and give it a shot. If it didn’t come about, it would be a case of looking to further my education or get a job.
“All along it's just been about being focused on balancing football, balancing college and getting that under my belt.
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