LOUISE QUINN AND Megan Connolly have been ruled out of the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2025 play-off double-header against Georgia due to injury.
Centurion Quinn is unavailable for selection with a hip problem while Connolly is sidelined with a hamstring issue.
An injury report from the FAI reads that no new players have been called up as a squad of 23 players travel to Tiblisi for the first game, which will take place this Friday, 25 October.
Eileen Gleeson’s side will then host Georgia next Tuesday evening, 29 October at Tallaght Stadium.
Goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan will link up with the squad before the second leg as she serves a suspension on Friday.
Championship duo Grace Moloney and Sophie Whitehouse and Athlone Town teenager Katie Keane are the three shot-stoppers available for the first tie. It will break a sequence of 31 straight international games for Everton number one Brosnan.
The Irish squad travelled to Tiblisi this afternoon. The returning Ellen Molloy was another injury concern, having limped off during Sheffield United’s fixture at the weekend, but she has been passed fit.
The Girls In Green assembled in Dublin across Sunday and Monday, with several players’ flights impacted by Storm Ashley, and trained at FAI HQ before their trip to Georgia.
They are expected to ease past the European minnows to set up a crunch play-off with either Wales or Slovakia. The winner of that doubler-header, in late November and early December, will qualify for their first European Championships next summer.
Meanwhile, several Irish players have signed a letter calling on Fifa to reconsider its sponsorship by Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco. Current squad members Diane Cadlwell, Lily Agg and Kyra Carusa have included their signatures, along with Ciara Grant, Emma Beckett and recently-retired Sinéad Farrelly.
More than 100 female professional footballers from 24 countries have called on the sport’s governing body to end its sponsorship deal with the Saudi oil giant, citing human rights issues and treatment of the LGBTQ+ community as well as environmental concerns.
In an open letter to Fifa president Gianni Infantino, the players said the “Aramco sponsorship is a middle finger to women’s football”.
Fifa brought Aramco, 98.5%-owned by the Saudi state, on board as a major sponsor earlier this year in a deal that runs through to 2027, a period during which there will be the men’s and women’s World Cups — in 2026 and a year later.
- Additional reporting from Emma Duffy and – © AFP 2024
Ireland WNT Squad
Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Grace Moloney (London City Lionesses), Sophie Whitehouse (Charlton Athletic), Katie Keane (Athlone Town)
Defenders: Jessie Stapleton (Sunderland, on loan from West Ham United), Diane Caldwell (FC Zurich), Niamh Fahey (Liverpool), Aoife Mannion (Manchester United), Caitlin Hayes (Celtic), Anna Patten (Aston Villa)
Midfielders: Katie McCabe (Arsenal), Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Tyler Toland (Blackburn Rovers), Lily Agg (Birmingham City), Ellen Molloy (Sheffield United), Heather Payne (Everton), Izzy Atkinson (Crystal Palace), Eva Mangan (Cork City)
Forwards: Kyra Carusa (San Diego Wave), Amber Barrett (Standard Liege), Leanne Kiernan (Liverpool), Abbie Larkin (Crystal Palace), Julie-Ann Russell (Galway United), Marissa Sheva (Portland Thorns)
Uefa Euro 2025 Qualifying Play-Off Round 1, First Leg
Georgia v Ireland
Friday, October 25th
Mikheil Meskhi II Stadium
KO 20:00 (17:00 Irish Time)
LIVE on RTÉ2
Uefa Euro 2025 Qualifying Play-Off
Round 1, Second Leg
Ireland v Georgia
Tuesday, October 29th
Tallaght Stadium
KO 19:30
LIVE on RTÉ2
