NEW IRISH WOMEN’S Head Coach Vera Pauw will rely on continuity to break new ground and qualify Ireland for a major tournament for the very first time. 

Following the surprising exit of Colin Bell and the brief caretaker tenure of Tom O’Connor, Dutch native Pauw will take charge of her first Irish game against Ukraine in Tallaght on 8 October, a crucial Euro 2021 qualifier. 

Pauw was in the stands for Ireland’s opening game in the group – a 2-0 win over Montenegro under O’Connor – and has relied on help around her to prepare for the challenge of Ukraine next month. 

Along with consulting the FAI’s High Performance Director Ruud Dokter and the head of women’s football, Sue Ronan, U19s coach Dave Connell has submitted reports on each of the players at her disposal. 

This afternoon, Pauw named her first squad at the FAI’s headquarters in Dublin. Tomorrow, she will meet with her predecessor, Colin Bell. 

“I am speaking to Colin Bell tomorrow. He has been very open and willing to help with the group dynamics. 

“[We will] discuss how he built the programme, where he felt he ended the programme, and how he feels about the group dynamics. My way of working is that I go further than where the previous coach stopped.

“I am happy that Colin has been so open, as he made massive steps with this team and I can step on his shoulders and go on.” 

Pauw says she has the best available squad at her disposal, with Leanne Kiernan returning from injury having missed Ireland’s last two games, while Arsenal’s Louise Quinn is included despite an injury scare sustained in a game with her club at the weekend.

The new manager is obviously targeting a win in her debut game, but stepping back and looking at the group as a whole, she said the target is to ensure a positive result over the two qualifier games with Ukraine. 

A win would be nice. The realistic situation in this group is we fight with Ukraine for the second place. Ukraine is ranked higher than us, and that means out of the home and away game we need to get a positive result.

“That is a draw and a win, that would be best. Otherwise, if there are two draws, we go to goal difference. Realistically Germany will be first in the group. Ukraine lost 8-0 to Germany, they play next Saturday against Germany again, so we know also about their strength and their weaknesses very well.

“A win would be perfect to start, of course, but at least we cannot lose.”