Megan Campbell says Ireland will dust themselves down and go again after falling to a third consecutive Euro 2025 qualifier defeat.
Eileen Gleeson's side again failed to breach the opposition, but will have many regrets given the two splendid chances to find the back of the Swedish net that fell their way in the first half.
Lily Agg and Amber Barrett couldn’t convert from close range, while in contrast, the world No 6-ranked side showed a far more clinical approach in running out 3-0 winners.
The result sees Ireland bottom of Group A3 ahead of a trip to Stockholm on Tuesday.
Campbell was introduced as a second-half substitute with her team trailing 2-0, and while her signature long throw-ins contributed to Ireland putting Sweden under pressure coming down the stretch, they were ruthlessly picked off with five minutes to go, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd pinching her second of the night to put the game to bed.
"It’s tough," she told RTÉ Sport. "You watch the first-half performance from the side and look how well the girls played and how good a performance they were putting in. Yes, we had conceded but there were still so many chances where we could have went ahead.
"At half-time we were in the dressing room positive, knowing we could have been two or three-one up at the time, and we were going out looking for a positive reaction in the second half.
50th cap for Campbell who lifted crowd within one minute of coming on the pitch: 'It's something I wanted to achieve after so many setbacks and injuries'
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"When they get a second goal it almost takes the wind out of you. It's really tough then to try and find a way back into it."
One positive on the night for the London City Lionesses player was the fact the game marked a 50th appearance for her country, no mean feat given her injury problems in the past.
The 30-year-old is itching to be thrust into the starting XI by Gleeson.
"I think any opportunity that I get to come on and make an impact, it’s what I want to do. Whether I’m trusted from the start or trusted to come in and make an impact, like I have done, it’s important that everyone is ready from the side regardless of whether you start or you come on."
The bigger picture is the need to pick up points in what is an exceedingly difficult group. Taking on Sweden on their own patch will be an even greater challenge, but Campbell says the team has no choice but to roll the sleeves up and dig out a result.
"We are Ireland," she said. "We are used to being those underdogs, being put behind and having to fight our way through things.
"I don’t think we’ll ever give up. Even when it went 3-0, we didn’t try to stop playing football. We tried to continue and to play our way and to implement what we wanted to do on the game.
"We’ll take those positives into Tuesday night and obviously we still have another two games after that. But first comes Tuesday and we need to look to get a positive result ultimately."
