Emma Duffy Reports from Tallaght Stadium

VERA PAUW HAILED her Republic of Ireland side’s efforts after tonight’s 3-2 come-from-behind win over Zambia as she expects more and more sleepless nights over the coming week.

Amber Barrett bagged a brace and Claire O’Riordan scored her first senior international goal amidst a final World Cup audition friendly, with seven days to go until the all-important squad announcement.

Pauw rung the changes and offered fringe players opportunities to stake a claim with big-hitters like Katie McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan absent.

“That we got that win over the line is phenomenal because we are in pre-season, as you could see, after 17 minutes [Zambia scored], the Ireland manager reflected. “That’s always the moment when you’re not super fit, you get problems, different players cramping up.

“But the professional way of dealing with that is phenomenal. Two years ago, we would not have been able to do that.”

Pauw’s half-time team talk worked wonders, as she again shuffled the pack. Barrett was among the new guard thrown in and the Donegal striker made her impact felt from the get-go.

“In the break, the first sentence that I said was, ‘Guys, if you have a fear of failure, you will never succeed.’ It was the first sentence, the first line on the first presentation four years ago.

“And that is what happened today. In the first half, there were players who had fear of making mistakes. We said, ‘You must have the guts to fail.’ If you don’t have the guts to fail, you will not succeed.

“I think that Claire O’Riordan has picked it up immensely. I said to her, ‘You have so much space. Take the ball open. Even though it’s on your left boot, you are capable. You are so strong, you’re technically gifted and have the guts to do it because that will make your life so much easier. And if you lose, so what? You need to show now how you can play. Just go for it.’”

“I created an extra place for her because of her performances at the end. We knew that she was a good player but she became a superb player.”

A late night meeting with her technical staff is next on the agenda, with tonight’s game more likely leading to further headaches as Pauw looks to whittle her extended group of 33 or so down to 23 (plus three training players) by next Thursday.

“I’ve got a feeling that we have more problems than solutions. I think we need a video also to have a very honest [assessment] because that is the crucial thing. I want to give a very, very honest opinion at the end and take those honest decisions.

“It’s the worst day of the campaign, the moment that I have to take that final decision, because that will be on my shoulders. We do everything together with the technical stuff. But at the end, I’m responsible. So I’m not looking forward to that.”

The Dutch native has spoken about sleepless nights over the past few days, and she’s unsure how tonight will go when she eventually hits the hay.

“What I said to my brother is, ‘These days, it’s just not nice. It’s horrible.’ It’s really horrible. But for them it’s worse,” she concluded.

“I need to take it on my shoulders. It will turn around after those decisions are made and then we can go ahead. But until that moment it’s not the ones who make that are in my mind, but the ones who do not make it.

“This is the first game we’ve had since coming together. All those players who have not made the squad, they must feel bad. I’ve text every single player. I did it on the way to the stadium because I felt that, I felt that they’re not here, they’re not with us. It hurts. But it’s part of elite sport. It’s part of it but it hurts.”