EILEEN GLEESON WELCOMED selection headaches in the build-up to Ireland’s last game against Wales, but nine months on, she is facing much bigger decisions ahead of their crunch Euro 2025 play-off.
The Celtic cousins meet in a decisive double-header showdown later this month, with qualification their first-ever European Championships on the line. The first leg takes place in Cardiff on 29 November, before a glamour return tie at the Aviva Stadium on 3 December.
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Ireland swatted aside Georgia in the first round, defeating the minnows 9-0 on aggregate. Some may see it as a pointless exercise, but that’s the format.
Gleeson used 18 players across both games. She deployed the same 3-5-2 formation, staying consistent with the back three of Caitlin Hayes, Anna Patten and Aoife Mannion, and altering Kyra Carusa’s strike partner between Julie-Ann Russell and Katie McCabe. Wide left was the latter pair’s other position, with Abbie Larkin on the right.
The biggest changes across the two legs came in midfield. With Ruesha Littlejohn and Megan Connolly out injured, there were openings — and opportunities to impress.
Tyler Toland was the holding midfielder in the first leg in Tbilisi, with Denise O’Sullivan and Lily Agg operating ahead of her. The Blackburn Rovers captain typically put in a shift on her first start in almost a year, but picked up a yellow card made and way for Jessie Stapleton in the second half. Agg was also hooked, the returning Marissa Sheva her replacement.
Jessie Stapleton facing Ana Cheminava. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Stapleton and Sheva both scored their first international goals in the closing stages of the 6-0 win, and were rewarded with starts four days later at Tallaght Stadium.
The same-look midfield that finished in Tbilisi, started in Dublin, and went the distance in the 3-0 victory.
Stapleton played the six role with Toland at risk of suspension, while the industrious Sheva lined out alongside ever-present O’Sullivan. Stapleton dropped to centre-back — her usual station for Sunderland — when Agg was introduced for Aoife Mannion at half time.
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Gleeson spoke glowingly of the ”versatile, mature young player” pre-match, and the praise kept coming after another impressive showing which included a sublime flicked assist. She sees 19-year-old Stapleton “somewhere between” centre-back and centre-mid, suggesting a longer-term future in the six.
“Jessie is a flexible player, good on the ball, which is what we want. She can play from the back and step into midfield. It is great to have that youth and calmness on the ball. It is good to have players that are adaptable, that flexibility is very useful for a manager.”
Midfield has generally been an area of inconsistency for Ireland. Vera Pauw played Denise O’Sullivan in the deep-lying role, with Ruesha Littlejohn, Lily Agg and the now-retired Sinéad Farrelly other regulars alongside her.
She preferred Megan Connolly as a centre-half and completely exiled Tyler Toland, while Jamie Finn fell down the pecking order towards the end of her tenure.
Finn and Jess Ziu are sidelined with ACL injuries currently, while Lucy Quinn — who was utilised in a more attacking sense — has been out of favour under Gleeson.
The current head coach played six different central midfield trios in the 2023 Nations League, with O’Sullivan the one constant. The North Carolina Courage captain missed February’s friendlies through injury, where Gleeson settled on Stapleton, Connolly and Littlejohn (slightly higher) in the middle, but again, she fielded interchanging combinations through the Euro 2025 qualifying Group of Death.
O’Sullivan played the four full games she was available, while Littlejohn earned the same amount of starts and played 223 minutes.
Connolly (317 minutes) and Agg (256 minutes) both started three times, the former also coming of the bench twice and the latter once. Stapleton made one start and two substitute appearances, while Toland was afforded just one cameo.
Denise O'Sullivan. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
“We’ve seen the number six role change multiple times over the course of the last two campaigns,” as Karen Duggan told Off The Ball’s COYGIG Podcast this week. “I think that needs to be nailed down sooner rather than later.
“If Ruesha was available, I think she’d probably be there given her experience and how she can keep the ball and keep the game ticking over, and her bravery. But injury-wise, [she] has just been too unreliable, so are you looking at converting Jessie Stapleton and nailing down that place? If you were, would you just not have left there (for the second half of the second leg against Georgia) for experience there given that she’s centre-back at club level?
“It hasn’t been exposed, thankfully, as a problem area but it’s an odd position to be chopping and changing as much as we are.”
It’s a conundrum that needs to be solved, though has no one straightforward solution. Much of it hinges on Littlejohn’s status, as former Ireland midfielder Duggan said, while it’s unknown how long Connolly — another solid option — is out for.
There are other big decisions. Will Louise Quinn make an immediate return to centre-back, or will the changing of the guard in defence continue? Will Heather Payne make the XI or has Abbie Larkin done enough to keep her out? And what form will the attack take against a solid Welsh rearguard?
Katie McCabe played a more central role as the Georgia double-header wore on, but the captain will most likely revert to left-wing back against the Dragons. Notably, Tara O’Hanlon is on the comeback trail. The Manchester City youngster was around camp last week, and she is a promising left-sided talent that, in time, can release McCabe. The play-off final could come too soon.
“While it was a brilliant exercise in getting goals and confidence up against Georgia, I’m none the wiser as to the shape around the starting XI for Wales,” Peamount United captain Duggan added.
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Ireland's midfield conundrum among Gleeson's headaches for Euro 2025 play-off final
EILEEN GLEESON WELCOMED selection headaches in the build-up to Ireland’s last game against Wales, but nine months on, she is facing much bigger decisions ahead of their crunch Euro 2025 play-off.
The Celtic cousins meet in a decisive double-header showdown later this month, with qualification their first-ever European Championships on the line. The first leg takes place in Cardiff on 29 November, before a glamour return tie at the Aviva Stadium on 3 December.
Ireland swatted aside Georgia in the first round, defeating the minnows 9-0 on aggregate. Some may see it as a pointless exercise, but that’s the format.
Gleeson used 18 players across both games. She deployed the same 3-5-2 formation, staying consistent with the back three of Caitlin Hayes, Anna Patten and Aoife Mannion, and altering Kyra Carusa’s strike partner between Julie-Ann Russell and Katie McCabe. Wide left was the latter pair’s other position, with Abbie Larkin on the right.
The biggest changes across the two legs came in midfield. With Ruesha Littlejohn and Megan Connolly out injured, there were openings — and opportunities to impress.
Tyler Toland was the holding midfielder in the first leg in Tbilisi, with Denise O’Sullivan and Lily Agg operating ahead of her. The Blackburn Rovers captain typically put in a shift on her first start in almost a year, but picked up a yellow card made and way for Jessie Stapleton in the second half. Agg was also hooked, the returning Marissa Sheva her replacement.
Stapleton and Sheva both scored their first international goals in the closing stages of the 6-0 win, and were rewarded with starts four days later at Tallaght Stadium.
The same-look midfield that finished in Tbilisi, started in Dublin, and went the distance in the 3-0 victory.
Stapleton played the six role with Toland at risk of suspension, while the industrious Sheva lined out alongside ever-present O’Sullivan. Stapleton dropped to centre-back — her usual station for Sunderland — when Agg was introduced for Aoife Mannion at half time.
Gleeson spoke glowingly of the ”versatile, mature young player” pre-match, and the praise kept coming after another impressive showing which included a sublime flicked assist. She sees 19-year-old Stapleton “somewhere between” centre-back and centre-mid, suggesting a longer-term future in the six.
Midfield has generally been an area of inconsistency for Ireland. Vera Pauw played Denise O’Sullivan in the deep-lying role, with Ruesha Littlejohn, Lily Agg and the now-retired Sinéad Farrelly other regulars alongside her.
She preferred Megan Connolly as a centre-half and completely exiled Tyler Toland, while Jamie Finn fell down the pecking order towards the end of her tenure.
Finn and Jess Ziu are sidelined with ACL injuries currently, while Lucy Quinn — who was utilised in a more attacking sense — has been out of favour under Gleeson.
The current head coach played six different central midfield trios in the 2023 Nations League, with O’Sullivan the one constant. The North Carolina Courage captain missed February’s friendlies through injury, where Gleeson settled on Stapleton, Connolly and Littlejohn (slightly higher) in the middle, but again, she fielded interchanging combinations through the Euro 2025 qualifying Group of Death.
O’Sullivan played the four full games she was available, while Littlejohn earned the same amount of starts and played 223 minutes.
Connolly (317 minutes) and Agg (256 minutes) both started three times, the former also coming of the bench twice and the latter once. Stapleton made one start and two substitute appearances, while Toland was afforded just one cameo.
“We’ve seen the number six role change multiple times over the course of the last two campaigns,” as Karen Duggan told Off The Ball’s COYGIG Podcast this week. “I think that needs to be nailed down sooner rather than later.
“If Ruesha was available, I think she’d probably be there given her experience and how she can keep the ball and keep the game ticking over, and her bravery. But injury-wise, [she] has just been too unreliable, so are you looking at converting Jessie Stapleton and nailing down that place? If you were, would you just not have left there (for the second half of the second leg against Georgia) for experience there given that she’s centre-back at club level?
It’s a conundrum that needs to be solved, though has no one straightforward solution. Much of it hinges on Littlejohn’s status, as former Ireland midfielder Duggan said, while it’s unknown how long Connolly — another solid option — is out for.
There are other big decisions. Will Louise Quinn make an immediate return to centre-back, or will the changing of the guard in defence continue? Will Heather Payne make the XI or has Abbie Larkin done enough to keep her out? And what form will the attack take against a solid Welsh rearguard?
Katie McCabe played a more central role as the Georgia double-header wore on, but the captain will most likely revert to left-wing back against the Dragons. Notably, Tara O’Hanlon is on the comeback trail. The Manchester City youngster was around camp last week, and she is a promising left-sided talent that, in time, can release McCabe. The play-off final could come too soon.
“While it was a brilliant exercise in getting goals and confidence up against Georgia, I’m none the wiser as to the shape around the starting XI for Wales,” Peamount United captain Duggan added.
You’d certainly hope Gleeson is.
Headaches aplenty. The countdown is on.
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