Carla Ward has warned her Republic of Ireland players that failure to beat Greece in Crete tomorrow would be unacceptable as the Girls in Green look to get their Nations League campaign back on track.
Ireland were shambolic in defeat to Slovenia back in February, shipping four goals in a dreadful display.
They’ve had to stew on that loss for a while but now have a golden opportunity to put things right against a Greek outfit ranked 61st in the world, 35 places below Ireland.
"I've been really clear to the group, we have to get three points," Ward told RTÉ Sport's Tony O'Donoghue.
"That's the bottom line. I don't think anything but three points is good enough, that's being honest. We have to come here and react. But listen, they've reacted so well this week, they really have.
"They've been unbelievable these last few days. I told them that last night. It's important to recognise how they've reacted. They've been really good."
Heather Payne trained on Thursday having sat out the session at FAI HQ on Tuesday due to an ankle injury. However the wing-back will not feature tomorrow. Payne will stay with the squad and it's hoped she'll be OK for next Tuesday's meeting with Greece in Tallaght.
Expanding on what Ireland will look to change from that hammering in Slovenia, Ward said: "There's been a couple of tweaks that we've done. One, what it looks like behind the ball when we've got the ball. And also how we react and where we react when we lose the bal. It's more of a tactical tweak than a shape tweak.
"We are a collective, we're quite a tightknit group already. Self-reflection is key. I always say it's like being in a boxing ring, the sooner you get hit, the sooner you get up, you have a look at why you've been hit and you deep dive into that. There was a lot of that for sure."
It remains to be seen if Ward shakes up her starting lineup at the Theodoros Vardinogiannis stadium.
Megan Campbell is back in the frame after she pulled out during the warm-up in Slovenia; Saoirse Noonan is in the squad again thanks to her fine goalscoring form with Celtic; and Shelbourne midfielder Aoibheann Clancy has impressed this week as she targets her first appearance for Ireland in almost two and a half years.
"Megan is always in our plans, evryone is in our plans," Ward added. "She's had a tough couple of weeks. She's been off the pitch with London City (Lionesses), came back into the picture for them at the weekend so is getting back up to speed. Meg's a great leader, she really is.
"I love working with her, I love talking to her about the game, she's an unbelievable human being.
Republic of Ireland head coach Carla Ward spoke to @Corktod this morning in Crete ahead of tomorrow's Nations League game against Greece as the Girls in Green look to atone for February's heavy loss to Slovenia #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/W0vFGpF5rx
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) April 3, 2025
"Saoirse's great. She's in and around the box, she's something we probably lacked against Slovenia, just that fox in the box as we call it. She knows where the back of the net is, she knows how to find spaces in that areas. She's been excellent.
"We talked about Aoibheann last night. She's come in settled so well. There's always a question mark when you go from a part-time league into not even just full-time football but elite international level. She's really settled in, I think she's been brilliant. That's a credit to her."
Watch Greece v Republic of Ireland in the Women's Nations League on Friday from 3pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra.
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