Royal Blue Mersey chats with Everton Ladies forward Simone Magill

Everton forward Simone Magill has accomplished a lot at only 24 years old, but she still has more she wants to do! She has scored more goals against Liverpool than any other Everton player this season and she has beat Alex Morgan’s record for the fastest women’s international goal at just 11 seconds.

Read on to learn all about her ability to break records, what it’s like to score in a Merseyside derby, and what her goals are for Everton the rest of the season:

You’ve set a lot of records: first female professional footballer from Northern Ireland and fastest international women’s goal. Do you have any other records you’d like to beat?

Yeah, in terms of internationally, I’d like to be a part of the first team to qualify for a major tournament — we’ve never done that. We have one girl who’s reached 100 caps already, so I want to beat that. I’ve got loads of ambition to be the highest capped player and to become top goalscorer. I know I am already sniffing around that so who knows what can happen.

A highlight of this season has been the two wins over Liverpool. You scored a goal in each derby, which makes you our hero. What clicked for you and for the team during those two matches to get the three points?

I think the timing of them, we had just had Willie [Kirk] come in and the new management and we used a lot of the frustration from the earlier games we had in the season and we went out and played with no fear. Maybe if it was a different game, maybe I wouldn’t have took the shot, but in the game we were taking our shots and taking our chances and playing with no fear and we got the win which is the first time I had ever been in the winning side in a Merseyside derby. So it was great, and then to go and do it again the second time we were playing them, we were so confident on the ball and we used the previous win. It just clicked for us and it was massive for us at the time as well. It‘s moments like that we need to build from and move forward.

Why has that no fear mentality not translated into other games?

It’s an interesting one because Liverpool aren’t a pushover team, it’s just getting that composure and that confidence and doing that against the biggest teams, because we have that ability.

There’s no doubt that we have the ability it’s just how we can transfer that across and that’s what we are working on at the minute.

What did it mean to score two games against Liverpool?

It was amazing, especially the first one because it was a draw at the time and then to get the winner...in a game like that and because it was the first win, it was a really really nice feeling, and a feeling that I had waited a really long time to have.

How are you and the squad able to keep spirits high despite any setbacks?

I think that’s key, when things aren’t going well it really tests your character and the season has done that for us, and we have coped really well with it in terms of sticking together as a team. When it’s getting tough, we keep going and we keep thinking of the bigger picture of where we wanna be. We keep using the setbacks to build and to learn from. We still have a relatively young team and we keep taking setbacks as learning experiences for us and use them as building blocks.

You have a Masters degree in coaching and spend time coaching youth teams in Liverpool. Do you notice any differences in young players today versus when you were a young player?

There’s a lot more for them now and opportunity — when I was playing, I had to play with boys and that’s not really a thing anymore because there’s so much more opportunity for young girls and there’s so many more pathways and routes for them to take and they actually have an aspiration for them to become a professional which was never a thing back then, so it’s really an exciting time for women’s football. For the young kids that I’m coaching, to see me and other players who are full time professional players is only going to be a good thing for them because they are actually can have role models to look up to.

New manager Willie Kirk said that the team needs to work on keeping a cool head in the final third to score some goals during matches. How is the team working on this? Do you have a personal mantra on how to keep a cool head during games?

I mean, obviously there’s loads of things we are working on everyday, with that being one. It’s something we take to training, and we try to keep calm and composed around goal. It’s something that we’re massively working on.

I try to not overthink it. If I have a lot of time to think about my shot, if I’m in a one-on-one situation, I just try not to overthink it and go with my instinct because it’s normally right.

Is it a case of building up muscle memory?

It can be. I think that sometimes when you have too much time you can overthink it, but a lot of it comes from confidence as well. If you are playing regularly and if you’re scoring regularly that comes as well.

What is your goal for the remainder of the season for Everton?

For the rest of the season, we have to take each game as it comes real. Obviously where we are positioned in the league is not where we want to be, so I think the further we can try to climb up for the remainder of the season and use it as a building block for next season.

Are you still playing the guitar?

I haven’t played in awhile, to be fair. That was more when I was a student and had loads of time on my hands, I used to play all of the time. It’s still there, it’s more collecting dust these days than actually playing it, so maybe it’s something I’ll try to get back into again.

What is your favorite song to play?

My go to song: “Time of Your Life” by Green Day because that was the first song I ever learned.

Did you watch the Super Bowl?

Normally, I do watch the Super Bowl but this year I missed it because after the game I had a flight to catch in the middle of the night, so I was at the airport and it wasn’t until I landed that I noticed I had missed it. I remember back when I was a student, we used to host a Super Bowl party because there were loads of Americans as well. I had no idea what was going on. I just watch it for halftime.

Simone knows of one American football player’s name and it’s:

Tom Brady.

Since you are from Northern Ireland, are you a fan of Derry Girls on Netflix?

I have watched a couple of episodes. It is quite funny. I know everybody back home is raving about it so I tuned in for a few episodes. It is quite funny but I wouldn’t say that I’m a hardcore fan.

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Simone: we are a hardcore fan of you! Thank you so much for speaking with us and giving us two beautiful Merseyside derby goals. We are looking forward to a third when the Blues play the Reds again on May 12th!