IRELAND’S LOUISE QUINN praised Birmingham City teammate and namesake, Lucy Quinn, after both players helped secure an impressive 2-1 win over Poland in their opening Pinatar Cup game in La Manga, Spain today.

Wednesday’s win comes against the same opposition who beat Ireland 4-0 as recently as 2018.

Vera Pauw’s side have shown significant progress in the past 12 months and the introduction of Lucy Quinn into the squad has coincided with this excellent run.

The 28-year-old Southampton-born attacker earned her first call-up in September 2021 after receiving an Irish passport and Fifa approval to play last year.

She has swiftly established herself as a key member of the team and was integral to today’s victory.

After Ireland fell behind shortly after half-time, Lucy Quinn’s well-taken strike in the 52nd minute levelled the game and helped earn her the Player-of-the-Match award.

“She’s adding something to every game and just suits the style of play, of how we want to go forward,” Louise Quinn said afterwards. “What you see from her, we can still get more from her. She’s putting away the goals and getting herself on the scoresheet. She has so much energy and everything that goes towards it.”

Louise Quinn then got the winner — her 13th goal at international level — with 15 minutes remaining, as a powerful header put Ireland in the driving seat.

“When the momentum was going our way, I really wanted to [capitalise], and it was from our own set-piece and the second or third phase from it. I had an easier chance to tie it up in the second half at 1-1, I was annoyed at myself for not getting that one. So I just wanted to make it up to them.

“And it being Niamh Fahey’s 100th cap as well, the occasion meant a lot to us because of the kind of person Niamh is to the team. So we were just pushing on and full of confidence.”

She continued: “I thought we [produced] a really disciplined performance and were in control of the game. Even in the first half, we just couldn’t get some of the final passes into the final third and we were still brimming with confidence. Going down through a penalty was harsh and it was one of those that could or couldn’t have been and Courtney [Brosnan] was so close to getting it as well.

“But we were still on the up and we knew that we could get more out of the game and the delivery from set-pieces as well was excellent.”

Having endured a seven-match losing run prior to last September’s memorable win over Australia, Ireland have lost just once since and have four wins from their last six fixtures in total.

“Every game is extremely important for our confidence to push on in the World Cup and we’re taking advantage of every bit of it,” added Quinn. “[The Pinatar Cup is] a competition that we can go and win as well, and just always compete.

“We went into it with no fear, trying a different couple of things and just to go and play with that freedom — if mistakes happen, they happen, and maybe this is the place to do it.”