Oct 29,2024
Eileen Gleeson has promised her Republic of Ireland team will be "ruthless" against Georgia tomorrow night, insisting their 6-0 first-leg victory has not suppressed a collective appetite to impress on home soil.
The Girls in Green actually toiled for a good chunk of Friday's Euro 2025 play-off semi-final in Tbilisi before the floodgates opened late on.
The return game in Tallaght looks like a dead rubber, but the FAI announced on Monday morning that it has sold out, and Gleeson insisted that in itself is motivation for her players to put on a show.
"It's so exciting," said the head coach. "It’s the second leg of the semi-final of the play-off, we’re at home, it’s a sell-out. That has a huge impact on the girls and obviously we want to go out and have a good performance, score goals and really give everybody something to be excited about.
"We've said we want to be ruthless with this game. It’s not to take the foot off the gas and say, 'we’re 6-0 up’. With a strong start we’d be hoping to get some young players or less experienced players in to a nice environment where they can feel free to play then."
It is a golden opportunity to give the likes of Cork City's Eva Mangan and Ellen Molloy - shining at Sheffield United - a decent spin, while Tara O'Hanlon was in the vicinity today as she works her way back to full fitness.
A hugely promising talent, O'Hanlon hasn't featured for Manchester City since moving there from Peamount United last January. She watched the team train on Monday, but did not take part in the session.
"Tara is just in visiting, familiarisation," Gleeson said. "Obviously she's a high potential young player that we’re keeping a strong eye on. She’ll be back training with Man City so it’s just familiarisation.
"We’re exposing her to the environment, introducing her to staff for when we do get her in."
That suggests O'Hanlon could be in the frame to come back into the fold for the play-off final against either Wales or Slovakia in November/December, but for now, others will be keen to stake their own claims.
The result was emphatic on Friday but the performance was not. Ireland were laboured, too predictable and pedestrian at times, with Gleeson accepting they had issues to address during the half-time interval.
"The first half the speed of play was too slow at times, too many sideways passes or three touches when you needed two or one, or a skip pass when you didn’t need that extra pass," she said.
"We’ve talked about all that.
"You sometimes get this against very low blocks but we feel we can be certainly better in those moments and create a lot more in the final third.
"They are 6-0 down so they might throw caution to the wind and chase us so we just have to prepare for that and we did plan for if they go in a high press. I think we will see some of the same on Friday as the game goes on and we will see more of the same."
Captain Katie McCabe echoed the sentiments of her head coach.
The Arsenal star scored a brace in the first leg, including a penalty that broke the deadlock, but admitted there's room for improvement.
"I think from our point of view, we want to start the game tomorrow how we finished it which was a lot more controlled, patient, we connected our play a lot better in the second half, and had a bit more urgency about us, and were clinical as well in the second half.
"For us that's how we want to start the game.
"Georgia, they held their own in the first half, their keeper had some decent saves. For us, it's about concentrating on ourselves and us starting with intensity in our play and the fans.
"It’s a sold-out crowd... our objective is to put on a good show for them as well."
