Eileen Gleeson has a mammoth task on her hands to prepare Ireland for EURO 2025 qualifying - but it is one the WNT head coach is eager to get going on.
Ireland were handed a remarkably challenging group in Tuesday's qualifying draw, with defending European champions England, EURO 2022 semi-finalists France, and World Cup third-place finishers Sweden to contend with.
Bar swapping out France for world champions Spain, this was just about the toughest draw Ireland could possibly have been handed. After last year's Nations League campaign saw regular five-goal scorelines and a flawless record against weaker opposition, this is a massive step up for Eileen Gleeson's side.
Speaking to Balls.ie and the Irish media immediately after Tuesday's draw, Gleeson assessed Ireland's chances after stepping up to League A and spoke on the "special" challenge presented by facing England.
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Ireland WNT: Eileen Gleeson reacts to insanely tough EURO 2025 qualifying draw
It's hard to remember any Irish team ever earning a tougher draw than this qualifying group - but Eileen Gleeson does not feel that Ireland are out of place against three of the world's top-five ranked sides:
There’s no getting away from it. It is probably the hardest group any Irish team has ever been placed into in a draw. That’s definitely the general feeling around the auditorium, I’ve had plenty of looks from other coaches with relief on their faces!
I’ve just spoken with the English coach as well, everybody is of the same opinion. It’s a tough group, and we’ve got all teams in the top five of the rankings…but what more could you ask for?
As a fourth seed, they were hoping to avoid us as well. We take positives from it. Any of those teams can take points off anybody.
For Ireland fans, the standout tie will be the prospect of facing England. The last time the Ireland WNT came up against the old enemy was as far back as 1986, during the qualifying campaign for the 1987 European Championships.
7 August 2023; England players, from left, Keira Walsh, Jess Carter, Alessia Russo and Lauren Hemp stand for the playing of the National Anthem before the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 Round of 16 match between England and Nigeria at Brisbane Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. Photo by Mick O'Shea/Sportsfile
The EURO 2022 champions and World Cup runners-up will be a stern test for Gleeson and Ireland but it is one that they will relish - and one that the head coach says will not see the team bogged down by the weight of the occasion.
I can tell you: the only thing I'm focusing on right now is the football perspective, as much as all the other perspectives [on England] are super important.
For us, it's a big challenge. England are in the second pot when they could easily be in the first pot.
It's another game and that's what we focus on. Yes, the girls will be more familiar with some of the English players from playing against them in their current leagues.
I'm just keeping myself grounded here, approaching them all. It'll be special...[but] I'm definitely not trying to hype one game up over another
After the success of last year's Nations League tie against Northern Ireland in the Aviva Stadium, whispers have continued to pervade that fans can hope for a return to Lansdowne Road for the Ireland WNT during this qualifying campaign.
23 September 2023; Republic of Ireland players stand for the team photo before the UEFA Women's Nations League B1 match between Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
The fixtures for the EURO 2025 qualifying draw will be confirmed early on Wednesday, with Eileen Gleeson confirming that the Ireland WNT have a few potential slots in the national stadium during the campaign.
Though England stands out as the obvious glamour tie, Gleeson said that the mighty opposition Ireland will come up against means that big crowds can be expected no matter which games end up in the Aviva:
We could do any of them [in the Aviva]. All of the games are exciting.
As explained before, we’ll only have a certain amount of slots at the Aviva. Once the fixtures are announced, we’ll be able to determine what slots are available for which games.
Ireland v France at the Aviva, Ireland v Sweden at the Aviva, Ireland v England at the Aviva, they’re all super exciting. I’m sure the stadium will be packed out with support.
Ireland came up against Sweden in their most recent qualifying campaign, earning a draw in Gothenburg en route to last summer's World Cup. Katie McCabe's goal earned a spirited 1-1 draw, while Ireland had fallen to a narrow 1-0 defeat in Tallaght against the same opposition earlier in the campaign.
12 April 2022; Katie McCabe of Republic of Ireland WNT shoots to score her side's first goal during the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 qualifying match between Sweden and Republic of Ireland at Gamla Ullevi in Gothenburg, Sweden. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Amid the peril of such a challenging draw, Gleeson said that Ireland could draw on the positive experience of facing Sweden competitively to spur them on in this qualifying campaign:
We’ve seen the development of the team. They have been playing top teams and have experience of that.
The 1-0 defeat to Sweden in Tallaght was a really tight game and the 1-1 draw was encouraging.
It’s a tough group, nobody’s denying it, but we’re going to go there and try to play. Previous experience against top teams and previous results against Sweden is encouraging for us to draw on.
Similarly, Ireland played France as one of their warm-up games before heading down under for the World Cup last year. That game, a comfortable 3-0 defeat, was a tough send-off for the team, and they will hope to put up a stronger showing this time around.
After a winter spent playing - for want of a better phrase - "lesser" opposition, the Ireland WNT will now have to accustom themselves to one of the most challenging qualifying groups for any Irish national team in recent memory.
It will be a baptism of fire for Eileen Gleeson as permanent head coach but she was keen to drive home the motto of this Ireland team - "be where your feet are."
We wanted to be in League A. Now we're here.
There was always the chance that we could end up in a draw [like this].
We wanted to be up in League A, we've here and we've got the toughest draw we could possibly get. We have a saying within the team, 'be where your feet are.' Our feet are here now and we'll plan for that and we'll decide on our approaches then for the games.
We want to win the games. We're in the group - what else would we be doing?
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