Well, I was feeling pretty upbeat after our performance against France on Tuesday; it was hugely positive, but then along comes the news that Denise O’Sullivan will miss the game against the Netherlands with a knee injury. All I hope is that her team-mates don’t feel as deflated as I do about that. It’s a big, big blow.
We often talk about how O’Sullivan, Katie McCabe and Courtney Brosnan are the cornerstones of this Irish team, they are our shining lights. But with that comes a lot of pressure, maybe too much, on the three of them. Take one away and that burden becomes greater, which is the last thing we need.
We don’t really know a world without O’Sullivan, she has missed so few games over the years. She is our box-to-box player and is as important to us defensively as she is in midfield and up front. She is the one who links each part of the team. She is calm playing it out from the back, finding players with her passes and getting up in support of the front two. I think they will find themselves a little more isolated without her. That will probably mean having to release the full backs a bit more, but that brings its own risk.
Ruesha Littlejohn is the obvious replacement. What she lacks in “legs”, she makes up for in composure. We’re unlikely to have a huge amount of possession, which means we have to be clever when we do. Littlejohn brings that kind of guile.
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Carla Ward’s side has become more settled in the last few games, which is welcome, but the one position that remains a problem, and changes too often, is the number six in the centre of midfield. Alongside O’Sullivan, Ward has tried Littlejohn, Tyler Toland and even Jessie Stapleton, who we’re more used to seeing in defence, and it was Megan Connolly against France. She did a good job. She was a bit rushed in possession at times, but that was to be expected against France.
But none of that group really has all the attributes needed to nail down that position, so that’s something that needs to be looked at for the future. But we’re not thinking about the future just now, only this campaign and trying to get to the World Cup.
I was really encouraged by the performance against France, even if the result was a heartbreaker. As we did against Belgium, we played to our strengths. We’re becoming ourselves again. When she first came in, Ward tried to get us playing her way and it didn’t work. It took a little bit too long, but in fairness to her, she acknowledged that and now has the team playing in a way that is more comfortable for them. We don’t need to be reinventing ourselves, especially when we’re playing in Nations League A.
We didn’t have France under the cosh, the possession stats will tell you that, but we played a clever, if safe, game. We didn’t overplay it at the back; when we had to clear it, we cleared it. When we could pick a pass, we did. We worked our way up the pitch smartly and, again, we have improved steadily in attack.
France are a very good side, but they struggled with how resolute we were and had to work probably a lot harder than they expected to win that game. That was a really, really good Irish performance. It gives us something to build on.
Emily Murphy was impressive. You can see how she has matured since she first came into the Irish team, and she’s still only 23. She doesn’t have an easy task; she and Kyra Carusa essentially have to drop into a number 10 role, put in plenty of defensive work and play as our primary outlets. But their partnership is working really well and Murphy brings lots of energy and a physical presence.
As much as the Dutch aren’t as good as France, you still have to approach this game with the same level of caution. Negative as it might sound, if we’re going to be battling it out with Poland for third in this group, it could well come down to goal difference – so that’s a factor when you go into these games against higher-ranked opposition.
But Ireland will take heart from Poland’s draw with the Netherlands on Tuesday, although don’t underestimate the Poles. They have a world-class striker in Barcelona’s Ewa Pajor and they qualified for the last Euros. So, that result doesn’t necessarily tell us the Dutch have weakened, even if they are a team that’s a little bit in transition.
My hope would be that we could nick something from the Dutch game. We have the ability to counterattack now, so let’s try to do that. It won’t be easy, though, and the task has definitely got harder without O’Sullivan.
If we don’t perform well, that will compound how much reliance we have on her. It’s crucial that we have her back for the double-header against Poland next month – and that McCabe doesn’t pick up a booking against the Dutch that would rule her out of the game in Gdańsk. I don’t even want to think about that.
