After Ireland beat Poland in the Aviva to do the double over Nina Patalon's women, Carla Ward was absolute in her determination that this side were going to get to the World Cup
"We have to believe that we have to get there, and I am obsessed with it. That is what we work for," Ward said after the game.
Today Ward will announce her squad for the final two games of Group A2 against Netherlands in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and France in Grenoble, with the hope of getting one step closer to Brazil 2027.
Ireland suffered narrow and deeply frustrating defeats to both sides in the first international window of the Nations League but built on many of the lessons learned when they faced Poland.
While third place has long been the admitted goal for Ward and her side, evidence would suggest that there could be room to improve on that in this window.
So how could this squad take shape? Ward has been relatively loyal with her squads with injuries generally the main reason for any massive shake-ups.
Goalkeeper is probably one of the most settled areas on the park for Ireland. Everton's Courtney Brosnan is a stalwart in the side with Grace Moloney and Sophie Whitehouse generally favoured as back-ups.
The latter in particular had a brilliant season with Charlton. They went on a run to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and she captained the side on a couple of occasions.
They also have a promotion-relegation play-off coming up against Leicester City after narrowly missing out on straight promotion. She won the Women’s Super League 2 Golden Glove and was named in the team of the season alongside Chloe Mustaki.
One player who has put her hand up for potential inclusion and a challenge to the status quo is Leicester City’s Katie Keane. Thrown in the deep end against Chelsea in May, the 19-year-old impressed with six saves including four from close range. Her stats for the season are some of the highest in the league so she has earned inclusion.
There is a question mark around the involvement of Jessie Stapleton and Jess Ziu. The former had to pull out of the last camp due to an injury and she hasn’t made an appearance since.
Ziu was named on the West Ham substitutes bench for their trip to Aston Villa on 4 May for the first time since 18 May 2024 but did not feature in the squad for their last match of the season against Manchester City.
Heather Payne, who has missed out on the last couple of camps and has been an unused substitute for Leicester City for parts of this year, came on in their final game of the season and picked up some minutes to throw her hat in the ring.
As always, there is debate over whether Ruesha Littlejohn should be included or not. Despite not clocking many minutes and having to have her training load heavily managed due to a recurring Achilles injury, she has been largely favoured under Ward for her tenacity and leadership on the pitch.
A big talking point of Ward’s tenure has been the inclusion – or at times lack thereof – of players from the League of Ireland.
The last window saw the most prolific use of players from the league with Bohemian’s Aoibhe Brennan called in before having to drop out due to injury. Other injuries in the squad saw Ward giving senior call-ups to Shamrock Rovers’ Maria Reynolds and Shelbourne’s Aoibheann Clancy.
With a few places potentially going in defence and midfield it wouldn’t be surprising to see Ward returning to this pot especially with the league well under way and players getting more minutes under their belts.
Elsewhere, Ward will have to work out what to do without the talismanic Denise O’Sullivan and the in-form Emily Murphy for the opening game in Cork due to a build-up of yellow cards. Barring an injury cropping up in the meantime, there is no chance of them being left out of the squad completely.
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