Ireland now know that a two-leg playoff with Wales is all that stands between them and a first-ever appearance at a European Championships.
A comprehensive 9-0 aggregate victory over Georgia in the first round of playoffs was secured with a routine 3-0 win in Tallaght on Tuesday, setting up a showdown with our neighbours across the Irish Sea.
It is the second successive tournament for which Ireland will face British opposition in the decisive playoff, having vanquished Scotland in the playoff for a place at the 2023 World Cup.
Though the memories of Glasgow will be fond ones for the Girls in Green, there is more recent and more painful history with Wales which the team will hope to atone for in a month's time.
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Ireland WNT set for playoff reunion with Wales
In February of this year, Ireland were soundly beaten 2-0 by Wales in Tallaght - the first defeat of the Eileen Gleeson era.
27 February 2024; Jess Fishlock of Wales, 10, celebrates after scoring her side's first goal during the international women's friendly match between Republic of Ireland and Wales at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
It was a night on which several key Irish stars were missing, including playmaker Denise O'Sullivan. Speaking to Balls.ie and the Irish media post-match on Tuesday night, O'Sullivan said that plenty had been learned by the squad from that difficult February night.
"I think we all spoke about it," O'Sullivan said, "We didn't really mind who we get in the next round, Wales and Slovakia are two very strong squads.
"Wales we’ve played plenty of times, we played them at the beginning of this year. We lost in that game but I think we’ve improved from that and we’ll look forward to it.
"I think it was just an off night for us, absolutely. The girls learned a lot from that game and we definitely improved from it so we can definitely move on from it, put that in the past, put that behind us, and just focus on this next game. They’re a great team, we’ve played them many a time, we know their strengths. As I said, we’ll focus on us and see what we can do best."
The North Carolina Courage star said that Ireland hoped to be more clinical than they had been in the two games against Georgia, and that the influence of the young talent across this playoff series has been a welcome positive for the squad.
Ireland's squad looks subtly different to the one which lost to Wales that night. Two of the stars of this window were Marissa Sheva and Julie-Ann Russell, both of whom scored in the 9-0 aggregate win.
29 October 2024; Julie-Ann Russell of Republic of Ireland celebrates after scoring her side's first goal during the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 Play-Off Round 1 second leg match between Republic of Ireland and Georgia at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Russell returned to the Ireland setup in July after four years away, and has been an inspired influence since bursting into goalscoring form against England at Carrow Road.
Unlike most of the Ireland team, Galway United striker Russell is now out of domestic action until next year, and explained how she will keep fit in the weeks leading up to the two-legged playoff date with Wales.
For me, I'm going to be training with the boys at Salthill Devon in Galway and I'm really looking forward to that. I love training with boys - they are fitter, faster, stronger genetically and I'll continue with my CrossFit and extra running. I will look to keep match sharp.
Wales are a quality team. They have a lot of players in the WSL and so a lot of the girls here would be playing against them so they will know their strengths and weaknesses. I have full faith in Eileen and the staff to have the tactics for us ready to follow through on.
For Eileen Gleeson, there were positives and work-ons to take from the two games with Georgia.
Nine goals is hard to sniff at, though it could have been more had Ireland had that bit more cutting edge that Denise O'Sullivan referenced. Gleeson hopes to see the new and returning stars continue to make an impact when the Wales playoff rolls around.
Though the Wales performance was one of the lower points of her tenure thus far, she says that the squad has grown and learned from that difficult night.
It's good that we played Wales earlier in the year. I'd go so far as to say the loss was a great learning moment, and it was always about context.
It was the second game of a window of two friendlies. We'd just played Italy... we'd a bit of a lag, and that game, we started a different 11. Players were missing, Denise was missing. There's a lot to learn from that.
Obviously Wales are a solid, strong team. Yeah we had lots to learn from that but I think the squad is stronger and it's just about keeping everybody fit.
It will not be long before the group are back together again, with the first leg in Cardiff set to take place in just over four weeks. The self-belief in this Ireland squad is evident, and they will hope that things will look very different come the full-time whistle in Dublin on December 3rd than it did in Tallaght eight months ago.
Wales host Ireland in the first leg of the Euro 2025 playoff on Friday November 29, before the second leg in the Aviva Stadium the following Tuesday.
