Denise O’Sullivan and Emily Murphy’s suspensions for Friday evening’s World Cup qualifying game against the Netherlands in Páirc Uí Chaoimh means Carla Ward has to do some pack-shuffling for the fixture. Among those holding up their hand, for what would be a rare enough start under the Republic of Ireland manager, is Amber Barrett. “That ‘super-sub’ label has kind of been hanging over my head for a long time now,” said the Donegal woman of her lengthy battle to nail down a place in the Irish starting line-up. The last time she made it into one for a competitive game was in May of last year for the Nations League game away to Turkey, but she’s been consigned to bench duty since.Abbie Larkin might be the more likely replacement for Murphy against the Dutch, with Saoirse Noonan pushing for a start too after another prolific season with Celtic. But Barrett is hoping that an impressive spell with RC Strasbourg in the French Première Ligue, that saw her score five goals in six starts after her move there in January, will boost her chances. Need it be said, the super-sub tag landed the minute she sealed Ireland’s World Cup qualification with that goal against Scotland in Hampden Park four years ago, but it’s one she’d like to shake off soon enough.“Sometimes I think I’m a wee bit unlucky not to get the nod, but I’m also the type of person that if it’s not a starting position I get, I have to be ready to come on at any stage.” “It’s no good for anyone if I’m running around with a miserable face on me, because at the end of the day it’s not about me, it’s about everyone. When you carry yourself in that light, the opportunities come – and I never have any doubt that I’m ready to go when they do.”Ireland's Amber Barrett plays her club football for RC Strasbourg in France. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho She’s always been ready for a new challenge too. From Peamount United to FC Köln and then Turbine Potsdam in Germany, on to Standard Liege in Belgium and then Strasbourg, she’s a have-boots-will-travel kind of gal.While 21 of Ward’s 25-strong squad play their football in England or Scotland, Barrett has ventured further. She says she is all the better for it, on and off the pitch. “I don’t know what it is about being away from home and being in different countries, but I’ve just really loved that new-culture aspect and the different types of football I’ve played in Germany, Belgium and now France,” she said.“And the football in each country is so diverse, it’s something that I feel has really, really helped shape my game in a positive way. Working with different coaches, different expectations, learning new languages, it’s something I’ve really enjoyed. And as much as I love playing football, life is too short to be stuck in one box all the time – so I’ve really enjoyed that aspect of it as well.”She was, by her own admission, never the best at languages in her school days, but she’s had no option but to improve markedly on that front since she first set sail for the continent seven years ago. Now? “I speak French with a Donegal accent.” Despite that, she’s been able to communicate sufficiently well with her new teammates to help them secure a solid seventh place, out of 12 teams, in the Première Ligue. It’s decent going for a club that only made its debut in the French top flight two years ago. Barrett added: “It’s been brilliant for me and definitely I think it has lifted my standards and put me at another level. It’s not easy moving halfway through the season, moving to a new country, leaving behind something you have known for the last 2½ years. I was very grateful to Liege for everything they did for me, but I think the time to move on was right. “The quality of the players in the French league is much higher than what I was used to, so probably for the first couple of weeks I was at the adapting stage. But then I found my feet and as soon as the first goal went in, my confidence was up.”She’s more than familiar, then, with a fair sprinkling of the French side that Ireland will face in Grenoble next Tuesday. There are 17 home-based players named in their squad. Before then, though, she’ll hope to be part of the effort to build on the six points collected against Poland in April – a haul that leaves them just a point behind the French in the table and two behind the Dutch at the top.