DENISE O’SULLIVAN DIDN’T sugarcoat things after Ireland’s 2-0 Euro 2025 qualifier defeat to England at the Aviva Stadium last night.

Early goals from Lauren James and Alex Greenwood sent the European champions on their way, as Ireland struggled for the most part but mustered up a late rally in front of over 32,000 fans.

“This is where we want to be, playing against the top teams in the world. You do find out where you are at and we obviously have a lot of work to do,” O’Sullivan said afterwards. 

We do have a long way to go but we’ve got to keep going and keep fighting.”

The “exhausted” midfielder shared her disappointment after a difficult night at the office, but assured Ireland will keep on trucking in this Group of Death.

They fell to a 1-0 defeat to France in Metz on Friday; Les Bleus now top after their heated 1-0 win over Sweden last night. England and Sweden drew 1-1 in the group’s other game, with the top two teams qualifying automatically for Euro 2025 and the bottom two play-offs bound.

On facing the Lionesses, O’Sullivan reflected: “An absolute shift. It was tough, 90 minutes without the ball pretty much, a few opportunities on the ball but we’re just not there yet on the ball, we need to do better. 

“It’s 90 minutes of complete running and then when we get the ball, we’re not close enough together, the distances are too big, we’re tired. It’s something we’ve always lacked and we do need to improve on that going forward. 

Obviously England are world-class players, they’re a class team, and now we know what we’re up against. It’s going to be the same throughout this campaign. We need to play better, we need to be better on the ball and hold it up and play in midfield and get on the ball, and we have to have to have no fear, demand it.”

The North Carolina Courage captain welcomed an improved second half, in which Ireland had a handful of chances, and called on her side to dust themselves down ahead of next month’s double-header against Sweden.

O’Sullivan said back-to-back defeats was not a confidence hit, yet reality against two of the world’s top three teams. “I think we expected it, to be honest, coming in, how good these teams were going to be.

“We know Sweden are going to be at the same level as well, so we know what we are going to come up against in that game. We have just got to keep working on the things we need to improve on, and that’s when we are on the ball going forward.”

Carusa (left) and O'Sullivan with Anna Patten after the game. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

Kyra Carusa, meanwhile, echoed some of the Corkonian’s sentiments, and is already relishing the return tie against England at Carrow Road on 12 July. The San Diego Wave striker drew parallels from her time playing Champions League football with HB Køge.

“We were this tiny Danish club and playing the likes of Barcelona and Katie [McCabe] with Arsenal, right, and we were in a very familiar position. I remember our first game, we played Hoffenheim and we thought we could have a go and ended up getting demolished in our first game and we thought that this is going to be a hard road.

“But the second time we met them on the back end, we were challenging them, we scored and went ahead in the game, so you change completely with each game and what you pick up, the level you play at, the quickness you play at, the kind of quality that you see.

“And that was a small club in Denmark, this is Ireland. I know the talent around me, the resources that we have, the players that we are. And I know having seen it happen before that we are more than capable of being able to collect what we can from these games and turn it around on the back end.”

“I always think if you put all 11 players behind the ball, a good team will manage to score,” she added. “So why not be brave and put them on the back foot and make them have to create a fucking phenomenal goal?”