WORLD CUP QUALIFIER
Poland v Republic of Ireland, Gdansk Stadium, Gdansk, 5pm
TV
Live coverage on RTÉ 2 and RTÉ Player from 4.30pm.
ONLINE
Live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app.
WEATHER
A dry if not particularly sunny day in northern Poland, with light breezes. A chance of a bit of rain towards the end of the second half.
The Republic of Ireland head to Gdansk tomorrow without a point from their opening two games in this World Cup qualifying campaign.
Hosts Poland earned a draw at home to the Netherlands in their opener so they'll know that if they can match the Girls in Green over the next five days, they will stay ahead of them in the table.
It's therefore critical that Carla Ward's side avoid defeat in this clash, before welcoming the Poles to Dublin on Saturday.
So what of tomorrow's opponents? In the last half decade, both sides have made history.
Ireland reached the World Cup for the first time when they made it to Australia and New Zealand three years ago. They have, however, failed to make to the European Championships, with their most recent attempt ended by Wales in a play-off nearly 18 months ago.
Poland are the exact inverse of this, as they reached last year's Euros - their first ever major tournament appearance - but they're yet to grace the game's biggest international competition.
One thing true of both sides is that their tournament debuts ended at the group stages.
Looking at the Polish teams which faced France and the Netherlands in the first two games, there were nine players who started in both matches.
Captain Ewa Pajor is the danger woman, having scored goals in both games. She also scored three goals for her club Barcelona as they demolished Real Madrid 12-2 on aggregate in the Champions League quarter-finals in the last few weeks.
But they're far from a one-woman team, with quality throughout their ranks playing across Europe, from the Women's Super League (goalkeeper Kinga Szemik), to the Swiss top flight (defender Wiktoria Zieniewicz), from the Bundesliga (defenders Adriana Achcinska and Tanja Pawollek) to the French Premier League (midfieder Nadia Krezyman) and Serie A (attacker Ewelina Kamczyk).
The substitutes they brought on the last day against the French were all playing abroad, across England, Germany, Spain and France, but there was also domestic representation with Paulina Tomasiak, who plays for Gornik-Leczna.
All in all, it's a extremely solid squad that will cause Ireland plenty of bother over the 90 minutes.
The 24-woman selection which manager Carla Ward chose for these games has changed since she named it last month.
Initially, Bohemians teenager Aoibhe Brennan was set for a first inclusion but an ankle injury suffered playing for the Dalymount Park outfit has seen her having to withdraw.
Lily Agg, meanwhile, faces a longer spell off the field after suffering a ruptured achilles heel injury for Durham just weeks after returning from an ACL injury.
Jess Stapleton, meanwhile, hasn't recovered from a knock suffered while playing for Nottingham Forest in the same game that Agg was injured in.
Brennan had initially been the sole representative from the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division, but two of the three replacements are domestic call-ups.
They are Shamrock Rovers defender Maria Reynolds, who has been included for the first time, and Shelbourne's Aoibheann Clancy, who returns to the international fold for the first time since March 2025.
Former Shels star Jamie Finn is the third player, and she is currently with Sunderland in England, the most common location for Irish players to ply their trade, with 18 of the squad based there.
As well as Reynolds and Clancy, just Megan Connolly (Lazio), Saoirse Noonan (Celtic), Kyra Carusa (Kansas City) and Amber Barrett (Strasbourg) are playing outside of England's top two divisions.
Ruesha Littlejohn will also miss tomorrow's game due to what Carla Ward called "a flare-up" of an Achilles issue, but the Scottish-born midfielder should be fit for Saturday's game in Dublin.
There was some concern for Katie McCabe after she trained over the weekend with a heavily strapped left hand, but assistant manager Gary Cronin said there was no risk of her missing the game.
"It's not affecting her preparations," he said when asked about it.
"I really have put very little thought into her injury because she's raised no concerns about her ability to play."
There's not much of history of meetings between Ireland and Poland, but the most recent meeting did go the way of the Girls in Green.
That was February 2022, as goals from the two Quinns - Lucy and Louise - secured a 2-1 comeback victory in the Pinatar Cup in Spain.
Before that, in October 2018, Ireland were soundly beaten 4-0 in a friendly in Ostroda, a game in which Littlejohn, Denise O'Sullivan, Jess Ziu, McCabe and Amber Barrett all saw action.
The Gdansk Stadium doesn't necessarily hold fond memories for Irish soccer followers.
In Euro 2012, Fernando Tores nabbed a brace as the men's national team were thumped 4-0 by Spain, while the Northern Ireland women's team lost a Euro 2025 qualifier there 2-0 in February of last year, with Kamczyk and Achcinska scoring for the Poles.
Watch Poland v Republic Ireland in FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying on Tuesday from 4.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app
