EILEEN GLEESON says Ireland’s history makers must forget about the past to make it a bright future.
Gleeson yesterday named her 26-strong Girls in Green squad for the upcoming Euro 2025 qualification doubleheader with Sweden.
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And that immediately brings back memories of the successful 2023 World Cup qualifying campaign when Ireland were unlucky to lose at home and then drew away.
Those games were among the many catalysts that helped Ireland go from feeding off crumbs to dining at the top table of women’s football.
But Gleeson – who was assistant for the home defeat before her departure for Glasgow City – pointed out they were also two years ago, and no one can rest on their laurels.
She said: “I feel the profile of the team has changed, for the most part players are in professional environments, training full-time, playing full-time.
“Obviously (they have) experience now in a major tournament. We’ve seen a lot of progress off the pitch.
“We can’t live off a previous performance in a different campaign two or three years ago.
“The dynamics of the team is different, the personnel is different, Sweden will also have evolved so nobody is standing still in this game.
“While we’re progressing, so are the bigger nations, and potentially at a higher growth rate than us.
“We’ll approach this, we’ll try to win the game, we’ll use the qualities we have now within our squad.”
It will be a tall order too as Sweden have shown in recent seasons as they finished third at last year’s World Cup.
And having lost 1-0 to France and 2-0 to England in the opening two fixtures, Ireland need results to have a chance of automatic qualification.
Without them, they would be bound for the play-offs ahead of dead rubber games in July and England in Norwich and France – which looks set to be at Pairc Uí Chaoimh.
The GAA have granted permission and the FAI are just waiting for UEFA to pass the ground after a site visit.
But before that, Gleeson is keen that Ireland make an impact against Sweden at the Aviva Stadium on Friday week and in Stockholm on June 4.
She added: “We know that we’ll be underdogs again and that Sweden will be tough opponents. Sweden were third in the World Cup, sixth in the FIFA rankings.
“We still take positives from the (last two) performances. We didn’t get the results but we felt the goals conceded were preventable, that we could have done a lot better in those moments.
“Our approach will be the same, trying to win the game in whatever way we can use our strengths but being respectful of Sweden and their levels.”
FULL STRENGTH
Gleeson is pleased to have a near full-strength squad for the encounter though Jamie Finn, Niamh Fahey, Tara O’Hanlon, Chloe Mustaki and Heather Payne are injured,
Sinead Farrelly has also retired from international football a year on from declaring for the Girls in Green. But Gleeson said she did not try to change the 34-year-old’s mind.
Gleeson said: “We had a very good chat, a very nice relationship, good open discussions.
“But I don’t feel it is my place to force a player something that they don’t feel they are able to do or have the capacity to do.
“I knew she was considering it, but I knew the load was taking its toll on her.
“She was taking a lot longer to recover from injuries, she was getting recurring injuries, she was getting less time playing because she was managing injuries more than she was playing, so the double load of club and international was too much.
“We would have loved Sinead to continue with us. It was disappointing but you have to stay respectful and not try and force someone to do something they feel that they can’t do.”
But better news is that Denise O’Sullivan is okay after fears she had suffered a knee injury in club action while Katie McCabe will get extra time off in the build-up because she is currently on a club tour of Australia.
Gleeson added: “She’ll come in a little bit later. We’ll allow her to have rest post the flight. She flies back into London Sunday so probably won’t join us until Tuesday.
“We’ve a very detailed recovery and sleep strategy. We’ve brought in sleep experts and worked with Arsenal on that.
“It was very detailed. We’ve been planning for it for a long time. We’ll prioritise sleep and rest off the flight.”
Squad: Brosnan (Everton), Moloney (London City Lionesses), Whitehouse (Lewes), Stapleton (West Ham United), Caldwell (FC Zurich), Quinn (Birmingham City), Hayes (Celtic), Patten (Aston Villa), Mannion (Manchester United), Campbell (London City Lionesses), McCabe (Arsenal), O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Connolly (Bristol City), Littlejohn (London City Lionesses), Toland (Blackburn Rovers), Agg (Birmingham City), Ziu (West Ham United), Quinn (Birmingham City), McLaughlin (Peamount United), Mangan (Cork City), Atkinson (Crystal Palace), Carusa (San Diego Wave), Kiernan (Liverpool), Murphy (Wake Forest University), Larkin (Crystal Palace), Barrett (Standard Liege)