Friday night was a perfect night to be Irish and in Tiblsi. Six goals without reply put the Girls in Green on their way to the playoff final. Prior to the second leg of Republic of Ireland’s match against Georgia, The Halfway Line had the opportunity to speak with Ireland head coach Eileen Gleeson.
A sell out crowd at Tallaght
Yesterday the FAI announced that Tuesday’s match against Georgia at Dublin’s Tallaght Stadium is officially sold out. Gleeson spoke on the achievement, expressing “It is very exciting, there’s been a flurry for tickets inside as well, lots of families coming, great support for us. It reflects the relationship the players have [with the public].”
Gleeson urged “People please come out and use your ticket if you have bought a ticket!”
Guarding against complacency
When asked about whether the team should be wary about any sense of complacency following their six goal drubbing of Georgia last Friday, Gleeson expressed, “That’s been the message from day one in this camp, and its been repeated several times but it is to come out here and be ruthless for this game, to kill it off.”
Gleeson frequently emphasised the importance of starting quickly, stating “We’ll look to start strong and hopefully score goals.”
When asked about rotation, Gleeson was ardent that, at least to start, its likely to be a strong XI. She said, “We’ll hope to get players on for minutes but we will start strong. We’ve got a few young, inexperienced players, so it will be nice for them to come in, in a good state with less pressure on.”
On first international goals for Mannion, Stapleton and Sheva
Friday night was a special night for three Irish players who all got their first goals representing the Emerald Isle, as Marissa Sheva, Jessie Stapleton and Aoife Mannion wrote their name on the scoresheet for the first time.
Beaming with pride Gleeson noted, “I’m very pleased for the girls. It is great to have different goal scorers all around the team.”
She continued “Jessie Stapleton has always been a threat on set-pieces, very strong aerially. Aoife’s goal was really directive in the last minute of the game, and Marissa had a huge impact when she came in and what a goal to score as well. It is super encouraging to have different goal scorers from both open play and set pieces.”
Praise for the returning Kyra Carusa
Ireland have been boosted with the benefit of Kyra Carusa making her return from injury, coming back into the side for the current international window. We asked Gleeson about how important having Carusa is for the way she wants the team to play, to which she responded “Kyra is a great member of the team both on and off the field. She is a great character, she’s a great leader, particularly in these kind of games with low blocks it’s important to have someone who can stick the ball up there. You know we’ve got lots of runners in Leanne [Kiernan] and Julie-Ann [Russell] so Kyra offers a different set of qualities which are very important.”
When asked about her goal on Friday night Gleeson chuckled “It was a great run to the near post, and Abbie [Larkin] did really well, nice low ball and Kyra was strong in attacking the near post with a nice little finish then.”
Jessie Stapleton making ‘positive steps’
Following Stapleton’s first goals for both Sunderland and Ireland, Gleeson was asked on her thoughts on the exciting youngster. She praised “Jesse is a very mature young player. I think confidence is really underpinned by competence, so to get the goals, to be in the right positions, to be making good decisions, to be playing regularly now with Sunderland. Its really positive steps for Jessie and I think we’ll see her back in the WSL again next season.”
Gleeson eluded to Stapleton’s talent as a six and playing in midfield as well as at centre back, expressing “She’s very good on the ball and can link play so that’s also [the six] another potential position for Jessie.” With the defensive midfield role seeming to be Gleeson’s preferred position for Stapleton, she was introduced as a six on Friday night off the bench.
Potential play off final opponents
When asked whether Gleeson had sent anyone to Cardiff for her to watch their potential final opponents in Wales and Slovakia Gleeson was tight lipped when responding “Em, no.”
Gleeson did confirm that she had watched back the first leg in the opposing tie, stating “I mean I always felt it was going to be tight. Wales are a similar profile to us and Slovakia well, they have always been difficult to beat, physically strong and significantly improved. We played them in previous campaigns, a draw and a win and that time Sweden were in the same group and they only beat them 1-0.”
It is sure to be an entertaining two legs whatever the combination of teams is that meet in that final, with Wales currently chasing a one-goal deficit heading into the tie in Cardiff.
Republic of Ireland will host Georgia at Dublin’s Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday evening, with proceedings set to head underway at 19:30 GMT.
