Elanor Ryan Doyle happy with Euro preparations

As the Ireland under 17’s squad prepare to set out on their journey to Iceland for the European Championships, Extratime.ie had the opportunity to speak with Peamount United player Eleanor Ryan Doyle about the squad’s preparation for the upcoming tournament before they trained at their Cork base this morning.

“Preparations have been brilliant, we are training every weekend with high intensity, everybody is putting in the work. We all just want to be on the plane”

Although the squad are in the final preparations, Eleanor explained that training is very good as competition for places is extremely high.

“Training in Fota is good, everybody is fighting for their place now because it’s the last 22 and only 18 are going, everybody wants to be on the plane.”

Like many other girls in the squad, Ryan Doyle has made the transition to the Women’s National League with ease, and she revealed that playing against some of the country's top players has given her great experience heading into the Championships.

“It was a good step up the experience of playing national league, it's unbelievable playing against top teams, top players and it was also great to play in a League Cup final.”

Despite Ireland securing qualification, the girls were forced to rely on other results to secure their passage, after allowing their destiny to slip from their hands when they failed to beat Hungary in their final fixture at Turners Cross, an experience which Ryan Doyle found hard to deal with.

“It was heart-breaking” she said, “we were all heartbroken, because we put so much hard work into the training and everything that the final game just didn't go our way. We knew we still had a chance to go through so we just had to wait for the final word.”

Nonetheless, final confirmation did not arrive until several days later and the Peamount player explains that the squad were in constant contact with each other, seeking updates to see if they had qualified.

“I think we were texting each other every day, wondering if we got through.”

As Ireland’s first fixture is just seven days away, Ryan Doyle is convinced that Ireland can go all the way in the tournament and that they are not going to Iceland just to make up the numbers.

“We’re going to the competition to win it, other teams might not think that we’re going to win, but we have a great chance of winning.”

Although having high ambitions of a successful tournament, Eleanor is fully aware that they must concentrate on their opening fixture against France and cannot afford to be complacent if they are to advance.

“We focus on France now, the first match is always going to be the toughest, so we're focusing on France at the moment, so when we get over that we’re on our way out of the group.”

Group Fixtures

June 22: Republic of Ireland -v- France, Kick off 13:00, Kópavogsvöllur, Kópavogur

June 25: Republic of Ireland -v- Switzerland, Kick off 13:00, Vikingsvöllur, Reykjavík

June 28: Norway -v- Republic of Ireland, Kick off 13:00, Kópavogsvöllur, Kópavogur