The World Cup is unchartered territory for an Irish women's football team. But Denise O’Sullivan wants to reassure the folks back home that Vera Pauw’s squad haven’t travelled Down Under just to take in the scenery.
The countdown is on to Ireland’s first ever Women’s World Cup fixture against co-hosts Australia on Thursday 20 July in Sydney. When the first whistle goes, the Girls in Green will be ready.
"It’s everything I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid," O’Sullivan told RTÉ Sport’s Tony O’Donoghue.
"First World Cup - I can say that for all the players. We’re really excited and the most important thing is we want to do the country proud. We’re not here to just participate. We’re here to do well and compete in games. That’s what it’s all about."
"We’re all coming together now. Every single day we’re starting to feel a bit better. We’re looking forward to it, buzzing to be here."
Worth noting also that, thankfully, this time around, the most high-profile Corkonian midfielder in the squad is more than happy with the players’ Brisbane base. "The training facilities are unbelievable," the North Carolina Courage schemer added.
O’Sullivan knows these parts well from her time with Canberra United and Western Sydney Wanderers. She expects to see a few friendly faces in the crowd come Thursday – although perhaps not all will be wearing Irish colours.
"I have a few friends over here," she said. "A few players and coaches that I’d love to see while I’m here. Obviously they’ll be wanting Australia to win but they always want me to do well. I know a lot of people here."
The Australians, as a people, are not known for their stifling modesty. The Matildas will carry themselves into that first game at Stadium Australia with the admirable confidence of a team that expects to still be around when the medals are being handed out.
"Australia are very confident," O’Sullivan pointed out. "They’re a great team, they have a world-class striker up top in Sam Kerr, scores a lot of goals. Not only Sam, they have dynamic strikers up there like Caitlin Foord. They have a very physical midfield so all over the park they’re a really good team.
"It’s something we’re ready for. We want to be on this stage. We want to be playing against the best teams in the world. We’ll prepare as best we can and we’ll do the country proud."
Despite the game being moved to the 80,000-plus Stadium Australia, the hosts understandably appear to be hoovering up most of the tickets for the opening-day clash. The demand has not gone unnoticed amongst the Irish players themselves.
That said, Irish footy fans are nothing if not resourceful when it comes to getting their hands on those priceless match-day passes (Giants Stadium, anyone?).
"I hope there’ll be a lot of Irish there but I have heard there’s so much demand for tickets," the 29-year-old O’Sullivan said. "Everyone is messaging me for tickets, but we’ve heard there’ll be a lot of Irish. We’ll see the green shirts.
"It’s going to be surreal, it’s going to be one of the best moments of my career but I’m going to go out and put everything on the line for the country and hopefully come out with a good result."
"It’s not frightening me at all. I’ve worked all my life for this moment. I’m taking it all in now. I’m not going to take anything for granted. I’m going to go out on the training pitch every day, give 100% and be fully focused for game next Thursday."
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