DÉJÀ VU. THIS is not the first time the Republic of Ireland women’s national team have been in this position, and it certainly won’t be the last.
Arguably their biggest game ever, Vera Pauw’s side welcome Finland to a sold-out Tallaght Stadium tonight [KO 7pm, live on RTÉ 2], where a win will guarantee a World Cup qualifying play-off spot.
Monumental, decisive, crucial, vital; it’s all those things as the Girls In Green look to move one step closer to achieving the dream of reaching a first-ever major tournament.
Rewind the clock to October 2020, when Ireland were in a very similar position. Avoid defeat to Ukraine in Kyiv and it was onto the Euro 2022 play-offs, at least.
We need little reminder of what happened thereafter: a gut-wrenching 1-0 defeat, an own goal, a missed penalty. Ukraine advanced, Northern Ireland edged them out and appeared at their own debut major tournament this summer.
England 2022 served as a constant reminder for Pauw, Katie McCabe et al.
“We should have been there,” the captain frowned in yesterday’s pre-match press conference. “But it’s been and gone. All we can do is learn from it and know that if we’re in that position again, we can put it right the next time. That’s it for me, I don’t really think about it other than that.”
The differences since that heartbreaking night almost two years ago are stark.
Just listening to the manager and skipper outline them hammers it all home.
“We’ve learned a lot since that game,” McCabe assures. “As a team and a group, we’d never been in that position before. We’d never had what was on the line that day.
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“Compare that to now, we’ve grown so much as a team. We’ve dissected what happened in Ukraine, what we can do better, how we can improve as a team. And it’s really put us in a good headspace to prepare for us for this game. Having honest conversations between players and staff, we’ve been very open. The key word is that we’ve grown as a team. Our mentality has got better. All round, we’ve improved and we’re in a much more settled headspace.”
“It’s incomparable,” Pauw picks up. “They became full professionals in every sense, with a lot of experience in their clubs and leagues. And also with the games we’ve played since then, we’ve experienced so much pressure that it is incomparable with two years ago.”
McCabe and Ruesha Littlejohn after that defeat to Ukraine. Aleksandar Djorovic / INPHO
Aleksandar Djorovic / INPHO / INPHO
It’s a settled squad, a fairly similar XI game-on-game. Take Courtey Brosnan as a microcosm: the Everton goalkeeper has solidified herself as number one after some turbulent times in the past, no longer haunted by the ghost of Kyiv.
McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan are the world-class stars, but it’s about everyone involved.
The shackles are off across the board. It wasn’t exactly Ground Zero post-Ukraine. No home truths, just dealing with the reality of what was at stake that day, McCabe and Pauw agree at the top table in Tallaght Stadium
The dissection was difficult, but allowed for exponential growth; a run of friendlies against higher-ranked opposition putting them in good stead for this campaign. Along with, inadvertently, that brutal near miss.
“Our mentality is in a much better place than it was back then and it’s prepared us for this game,” McCabe echoes her previous words for emphasis. “I can feel the atmosphere around the team, the squad and staff. Everybody understands their roles and responsibilities for this game. We’ll be ready to do our job at 100%.”
“The thing that differs this team from others is they don’t fear pressure,” Pauw interjects at one point. “You can’t feel any anxiety in camp. Also on the pitch. This team enjoys pressure actually, and the higher the pressure the better they are.
“Also that Ukraine defeat, we all know that we didn’t play bad but there were moments in the game that turned against us. At that moment, we played better and after Ukraine, we played better. We’re constantly growing, because they love that pressure and being in the position that it matters.
“I feel that constantly and that’s why I call them the tigers. They know when to fight and get the result, and what is necessary to get the result.
“The ego of, ‘What is my role in this?’ is not at all important. They don’t show any ego in their behaviour. It’s not about the person, but the team. They give everything for the team.”
They’ve done so over and over through the years, on and off the pitch. From Liberty Hall in 2017, to Tallaght Stadium and much further afield each and every time they pull on the green jersey.
Celebrations after a Denise O'Sullivan goal. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
They’ll do so once again in front of a full house in Dublin 24 tonight, the stakes so high for both sides. Group A’s second seeds Finland, whom Ireland beat 2-1 in Helsinki to spark their bid to life, come into this must-win game amidst no shortage of unrest and upheaval: U17 manager Marko Saloranta is in temporary charge after Anna Signeul’s sacking following a poor Euros showing, while experienced stars Adelina Engman and Emmi Alanen miss out through injury.
Niamh Fahey is in the same boat for Ireland, but Pauw promised a solution: perhaps Megan Connolly dropping deeper once more like she did against Sweden, or a straight swap for Megan Campbell or Claire O’Riordan.
Both squads are in different places — the fresh v tired, or lack of competition v game rhythm arguments in full flow — and while Pauw bigs the game up, she also breaks it down to its simplest form: 2×45 minutes, a pitch with two goalposts and 22 players.
Well aware of the magnitude, it’s just like any other game.
But then again, very different.
“It is a final,” Pauw deadpans. “We cannot redo it. There’s no buffer and we just have to do it now. No excuse can be made because we cannot play it again. We’ll be ready with a team that knows its tasks and know what we will be facing. We need to play our best game ever to have a chance.
“We have always been fighting to get to this position – and they longer than me, I’ve been here two-and-a-half years, almost three years. But this is what you want. We’ve been fighting for this, we’ve earned it ourselves and everybody wants us to succeed, so what more would you want?”
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'Incomparable' Ireland out to Finnish the job after learning from ghost of Kyiv
LAST UPDATE | 1 Sep 2022
DÉJÀ VU. THIS is not the first time the Republic of Ireland women’s national team have been in this position, and it certainly won’t be the last.
Arguably their biggest game ever, Vera Pauw’s side welcome Finland to a sold-out Tallaght Stadium tonight [KO 7pm, live on RTÉ 2], where a win will guarantee a World Cup qualifying play-off spot.
Monumental, decisive, crucial, vital; it’s all those things as the Girls In Green look to move one step closer to achieving the dream of reaching a first-ever major tournament.
Rewind the clock to October 2020, when Ireland were in a very similar position. Avoid defeat to Ukraine in Kyiv and it was onto the Euro 2022 play-offs, at least.
We need little reminder of what happened thereafter: a gut-wrenching 1-0 defeat, an own goal, a missed penalty. Ukraine advanced, Northern Ireland edged them out and appeared at their own debut major tournament this summer.
England 2022 served as a constant reminder for Pauw, Katie McCabe et al.
“We should have been there,” the captain frowned in yesterday’s pre-match press conference. “But it’s been and gone. All we can do is learn from it and know that if we’re in that position again, we can put it right the next time. That’s it for me, I don’t really think about it other than that.”
The differences since that heartbreaking night almost two years ago are stark.
Just listening to the manager and skipper outline them hammers it all home.
“We’ve learned a lot since that game,” McCabe assures. “As a team and a group, we’d never been in that position before. We’d never had what was on the line that day.
“Compare that to now, we’ve grown so much as a team. We’ve dissected what happened in Ukraine, what we can do better, how we can improve as a team. And it’s really put us in a good headspace to prepare for us for this game. Having honest conversations between players and staff, we’ve been very open. The key word is that we’ve grown as a team. Our mentality has got better. All round, we’ve improved and we’re in a much more settled headspace.”
“It’s incomparable,” Pauw picks up. “They became full professionals in every sense, with a lot of experience in their clubs and leagues. And also with the games we’ve played since then, we’ve experienced so much pressure that it is incomparable with two years ago.”
It’s a settled squad, a fairly similar XI game-on-game. Take Courtey Brosnan as a microcosm: the Everton goalkeeper has solidified herself as number one after some turbulent times in the past, no longer haunted by the ghost of Kyiv.
McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan are the world-class stars, but it’s about everyone involved.
The shackles are off across the board. It wasn’t exactly Ground Zero post-Ukraine. No home truths, just dealing with the reality of what was at stake that day, McCabe and Pauw agree at the top table in Tallaght Stadium
The dissection was difficult, but allowed for exponential growth; a run of friendlies against higher-ranked opposition putting them in good stead for this campaign. Along with, inadvertently, that brutal near miss.
“Our mentality is in a much better place than it was back then and it’s prepared us for this game,” McCabe echoes her previous words for emphasis. “I can feel the atmosphere around the team, the squad and staff. Everybody understands their roles and responsibilities for this game. We’ll be ready to do our job at 100%.”
“The thing that differs this team from others is they don’t fear pressure,” Pauw interjects at one point. “You can’t feel any anxiety in camp. Also on the pitch. This team enjoys pressure actually, and the higher the pressure the better they are.
“Also that Ukraine defeat, we all know that we didn’t play bad but there were moments in the game that turned against us. At that moment, we played better and after Ukraine, we played better. We’re constantly growing, because they love that pressure and being in the position that it matters.
“I feel that constantly and that’s why I call them the tigers. They know when to fight and get the result, and what is necessary to get the result.
“The ego of, ‘What is my role in this?’ is not at all important. They don’t show any ego in their behaviour. It’s not about the person, but the team. They give everything for the team.”
They’ve done so over and over through the years, on and off the pitch. From Liberty Hall in 2017, to Tallaght Stadium and much further afield each and every time they pull on the green jersey.
They’ll do so once again in front of a full house in Dublin 24 tonight, the stakes so high for both sides. Group A’s second seeds Finland, whom Ireland beat 2-1 in Helsinki to spark their bid to life, come into this must-win game amidst no shortage of unrest and upheaval: U17 manager Marko Saloranta is in temporary charge after Anna Signeul’s sacking following a poor Euros showing, while experienced stars Adelina Engman and Emmi Alanen miss out through injury.
Niamh Fahey is in the same boat for Ireland, but Pauw promised a solution: perhaps Megan Connolly dropping deeper once more like she did against Sweden, or a straight swap for Megan Campbell or Claire O’Riordan.
Both squads are in different places — the fresh v tired, or lack of competition v game rhythm arguments in full flow — and while Pauw bigs the game up, she also breaks it down to its simplest form: 2×45 minutes, a pitch with two goalposts and 22 players.
Well aware of the magnitude, it’s just like any other game.
But then again, very different.
“It is a final,” Pauw deadpans. “We cannot redo it. There’s no buffer and we just have to do it now. No excuse can be made because we cannot play it again. We’ll be ready with a team that knows its tasks and know what we will be facing. We need to play our best game ever to have a chance.
“We have always been fighting to get to this position – and they longer than me, I’ve been here two-and-a-half years, almost three years. But this is what you want. We’ve been fighting for this, we’ve earned it ourselves and everybody wants us to succeed, so what more would you want?”
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