IRELAND’S STAR CENTRE-HALF Louise Quinn has outlined her intentions for the future and backed Vera Pauw to stay on after Germany ended the Girls In Green’s Euro 2022 qualification bid.

There was no miracle at Tallaght Stadium as the group winners showed their class to run out 3-1 winners, while rivals Ukraine beat Montenegro 2-1 in Kiev to secure second place in Group I. 

Captain Katie McCabe’s excellent penalty just before half time to make it 2-1 gave Ireland a glimmer of hope, while it was one-all in Kiev at the time but the completion of Tabea Waßmuth’s excellent double in the 85th was the final blow.

Ukraine now head for the play-offs as Ireland’s wait to reach a first-ever major tournament continues. After the game, Vera Pauw spoke about Ireland’s bright future, forecasting that they will be at the 2023 World Cup, should they avoid a tough draw.

The Ireland boss went on to discuss how her own future is undecided, though her heart “is with this team”.

And Fiorentina defender Quinn hopes Pauw will be continue at the helm for the next campaign, though it remains to be seen whether her contract will be extended.

“I really hope so,” Quinn said. “How she talks and how she speaks to us, she has complete confidence in us and she gives us her everything.

“Even for her, she loves the challenge of us and has just seen us grow. She came into the team seamlessly. For me, I think she’s the right one for the job and hopefully she’ll keep carrying on.” 

When asked about her own international future, the Wicklow native didn’t hesitate with her answer, making it clear that she’s hell-bent on adding to her 82 caps.

“Oh, I hope so. Jesus, I’m not getting rid of these jerseys any time soon,” she smiled, looking down at the new kit and patting the crest. “Plenty more caps hopefully. That’s my intention. They’re big legs and I still think there’s a lot in them.”

While tonight’s outcome against the world’s second-ranked nation was a disappointing one, Quinn was encouraged by her side’s valiant effort.

“We went out there with the intention to beat the Germans. It was the only way and we knew we had to put it all out there. It didn’t happen tonight.

“We tried our best to keep them out but we had to start opening up the game as well, and take those chances — that’s where the regrets will come from, if you don’t throw the kitchen sink at it and I think that’s really what we did.

“Now, the game is done and the campaign is done, we’ll reflect but I thought how we approached the Germans was fantastic. We’ve got to think of the campaign as a whole and just build. We experienced things that maybe we haven’t dome before and now we’ve got to learn from that. That’s all we can do now.

We’re going to be disappointed for a while but to say that we didn’t give it our everything would be a lie. We emptied the tank each and every game.”

And on learning from a campaign in which they’re left to rue unfavourable results in Athens and in Kiev, and looking to the future, Quinn added:

“These World Cup [qualifiers], it’s a really, really tough ask but I think we’re going to go in with far more confidence now. Hopefully that’s it, it’s another campaign with Vera if we can keep that consistency.

“We started off this campaign with no manager, we’ve faced it all really. We’ve had everything thrown at us so for us, it’s now how we can approach these World Cup draws and go in with no fear, knowing that we can get some great results and great performances but we’ve just got to keep it consistent.

“I think that’s the next thing: the experience of keeping things and our games more consistent.”

“The fight, the determination was there,” she concluded, with hopes to see her family in a socially-distant manner tomorrow.

“Now for us, it’s playing without fear and with the ball. Vera has instilled that confidence in us now. But it’s up to us to try push that on further to be honest.”