Louise Quinn has insisted the Republic of Ireland will not be using any excuses when they reflect on their maiden appearance at FIFA Women's World Cup.
Housed in a very tough Group B, Ireland's have had injury scares to Denise O'Sullivan and Quinn herself in the last two weeks, with Heather Payne forced to pull out of the Canada game after her hamstring tightened up in the warm-up.
They've also had a highly demanding travel schedule. Based in Brisbane, the Girls in Green flew to Sydney for the Australia match, came back to Brisbane, flew over 4,000km to Perth to take on the Canadians and are now back in Brisbane ahead of their final game against Nigeria on Monday.
Tough going, but Quinn is refusing to dwell on such challenges.
"I don't think we've used any sort of excuses," said the 33-year-old centre-half.
"Denise definitely got a knock, I’ve definitely had a knock, thankfully it’s one of those things that hasn’t been able to keep us out. We’re not going to use any excuses.
"The experience of a tournament or the crowds, I actually thought we handled it amazingly against Australia. I thought we were very cool and composed, just had the right amount of nerves and really just soaked it in.
"For a penalty to determine the Australia game is rough. But we still created chances, we managed to get forward, it’s just about finishing those chances. If you’re only given two, three chances in a game you’ve got to take one to two of them at least."
"We've got to work our ass off to get something out of it."
Quinn damaged ligaments in her foot towards the end of the 1-0 loss to the Matildas. However she played through the pain barrier to face Canada and is ready to do so again against Nigeria, who are aiming to reach the last 16 after their brilliant win against the Aussies last Friday.
Ireland have no chance of making it out of the group but Quinn said they still have loads to play for: pride, morale and the supporters.
"We've got to work our ass off to get something out of it," she added.
"We can’t get out of the group but that doesn’t mean this game is any less important for us. It’s absolutely about pride it’s about proving ourselves, it’s about bringing that kind of joy with us back and trying to make sure we do it for the people at home.
"And most importantly ourselves, because you can see from the games we’ve done well, we’ve competed, we’ve really held it to other teams but we’ve got to still prove it and put something on the board to show it.
"We've come into the group always knowing that Nigeria were going to be a massive threat - that’s always been our mindset.
"They’ve got their star striker [Barcelona's Asisat Oshoala], they’ve got real pace, they’ve got a fantastic shape, they defensively work hard, their recovery runs, their quality on the ball. They’ve always been a threat."
Katie McCabe etched herself into Irish football lore by scoring the country's first ever goal at a Women's World Cup, but overall Vera Pauw's team have found it tricky to balance defensive solidity with a consistent attacking threat.
It's a been a long-standing irish tactic to throw Quinn up front in the closing stages if a goal is required, and though the Wicklow woman admits it's not the most sophisticated ploy, she believes it can still have an impact.
"Like everything, if I’m told to go up there, I’m going to do it. I’m going to give it everything that I have.
"Unfortunately you have to do that when we’re chasing a game. It’s not my most favourite thing but I think it was when… was it when Izzy [Atkinson] came on the pitch maybe and gave her piece of paper, I was like, 'Izzy, am I going?’ She was like, 'Yeah’ and I was like, ’See yiz girls’. I literally turn around and I’m like, ‘See yiz later, I’ve got to go!'.
"I think it’s still effective and I think in international football you’ve got to… you don’t have much time to come together as a team to be really tactical and everything that you can bring together as much as you can in club football. I think it’s important to come up with a smart shape, smart set pieces and Plan Bs that really might shake up other teams."
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Watch Republic of Ireland v Nigeria in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Monday at 11am, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live commentary on 2fm
