Eileen Gleeson has explained how the Ireland coaches will manage Katie McCabe's recovery ahead of the upcoming double-header of EURO 2025 qualifiers against Sweden.
McCabe's WSL campaign with Arsenal concluded on Saturday - with the Irish captain taking a knock late on in the Gunners' closing day win over Brighton. The squad have since jetted off on a controversial long-haul flight for a post-season friendly in Melbourne.
The post-season game against an A-League All Star side has drawn criticism for the load it will put on players ahead of a packed summer international window. Speaking ahead of Ireland's qualifiers against Sweden, head coach Eileen Gleeson said that Ireland had been managing McCabe's recovery in tandem with Arsenal:
Katie is in Australia. She travelled with the Arsenal squad on Sunday. She’s in good form, she’s fit, she’s rested.
We knew this trip was coming, so we’ve been planning and there’s been a lot of communication with the club around recovery and sleep strategies for when she returns. We planned for it.
We’ve all spoken about the timing of it before. She’s there now but she’ll be back and joining us in the camp.
She’s our captain, she’s a hugely important player as we know but we have to manage these situations. They’re out of our operational control.
We can’t stop it so we have to adapt to it and work with the club, and look to keep Katie safe and have her ready for the game then.
Gleeson previously spoke ahead of Ireland's first window of qualifiers about the "less than ideal" game, saying it would pose huge challenges to international coaches preparing their players for important qualifiers.
Speaking at Wednesday's squad announcement, the Ireland head coach said that issues such as these could be raised with football's governing bodies at future reviews.
It’s a talking point. Player scheduling, game scheduling is a huge talking point - FifPro, UEFA, FIFA. Calendar clashes, calendar loading. All of those topics are always being discussed.
Will it come up? It probably will at a lot of those discussions.
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Eileen Gleeson looks ahead to Ireland WNT double-header v Sweden
Gleeson named her squad on Wednesday for next week's home game against Sweden and the return game in Stockholm on June 4. Niamh Fahey and Heather Payne both miss out through injury, though there are some positives to be taken all the same.
One of the headline additions is Cork City's Eva Mangan, called up for the first time off the back of strong performances in the WNL in recent months.
Gleeson spoke of her excitement to see Mangan adapt at international level.
I’ve watched Eva throughout the years, we had her in some previous home base sessions in a former role. Eva is a very competent player.
For us, and as a developmental pathway going forward, it’s important for me that we develop the LOI and that we take care of players there and provide pathways as well.
Eva’s been doing really well with Cork City and I would like to see her in our environment and see how she copes with the step up in intensity with the environment.
Thankfully for Gleeson, it seems as though the injury Denise O'Sullivan's sustained in a recent NWSL game against Kansas City Current is not as serious as initially feared.
O'Sullivan has sustained a "Grade 1 MCL knee injury," but Gleeson hopes the Cork native will be available for the double-header.
9 April 2024; Denise O'Sullivan of Republic of Ireland in action against Alex Greenwood of England during the UEFA Women's European Championship qualifying group A match between Republic of Ireland and England at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Cork has been in the headlines with the WNT in recent weeks, with the July fixture against France seemingly destined for SuperValu Pairc Uí Chaoímh. The FAI are waiting on UEFA approval for the game to take place in Cork, but Gleeson says it will be an exciting opportunity to connect with Munster fans, should the fixture be confirmed.
For the moment we’re focusing on this camp. We know obviously that Tallaght and the Aviva are not available for the July window. Pairc Uí Chaoímh is one of the strong contenders.
We’ll wait for confirmation on it but it’s a great stadium, we’ll be happy to engage all the Munster fans and get everybody out there supporting [us]! Once it’s confirmed or if it’s confirmed we’ll be able to chat further.
Several of the Irish squad come into this window off the back of success at club level, with Aoife Mannion and Caitlin Hayes earning silverware with Manchester United and Celtic, and several players involved in Crystal Palace's promotion to the WSL.
Eileen Gleeson said on Wednesday that that could only be considered a positive for the squad.
Yeah it’s great, they’ve obviously had their highs…Aoife [Mannion] with the FA Cup, that will give her a big boost, Amber [Barrett] top goalscorer, Leanne [Kiernan] off the back of a hat-trick. That’s hugely beneficial to us as well as the players.
They’re coming in in good spirits, they’re coming in excited. Hopefully, they’re bringing that good luck and talent with them, the goalscoring boots with them! It’s great for us.
Those players may arrive on a high, but captain Katie McCabe will be forced to arrive later than the rest of the squad, with her flight home from Australia only arriving in to London on Sunday night.
She’ll come in a little bit later. We’ll allow her to have rest post the flight. She flies back into London Sunday so probably won’t join us until Tuesday.
As I said, we’ve a very detailed recovery and sleep strategy. We’ve brought in sleep experts and worked with Arsenal on that. It was very detailed. We’ve been planning for it for a long time. We’ll priortise sleep and rest off the flight.
Ireland face Sweden on Friday May 31st in the Aviva Stadium.
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