Byrne excited to begin the new qualifying campaign

Ireland begin their 2017 European Championship Qualifying campaign on Monday evening when they host Finland at Tallaght Stadium and before the team's training session at the FAI Headquarters in Abbotstown Ireland Skipper Emma Byrne spoke to the assembled media about their clash with Finland.

“I think it’s really important, especially as it's our first home game” she said when asked if it's important to start with a victory on Monday evening. “We want to get off to a winning start, we are very positive about qualifying from the group so the only way to put that in place is to get the three points on the board.”

Unlike Ireland, Finland start their qualifying campaign on Thursday evening when they hosted Montenegro and when asked Byrne was unsure if the extra competitive game would be an advantage or disadvantage, but she is sure the opposition will not enjoy the fortuitous that is Tallaght Stadium.

“I think you can look at it in both ways, it depends on them and how they travel. I know we travel quite well as a team so it would have suited us probably to get a couple of games in before, but they won't like coming to Tallaght Stadium. We trained and played there yesterday, it is definitely a fortuitous and a little bit intimidating.

“Hopefully they will be a little bit tired from the journey, but from us it doesn’t make a difference how they’re feeling because as I said it's down to us and we know that if we play well that we are well capable of beating them.”

During the summer break, Byrne challenged her side to score more goals and for the upcoming qualifier Ireland must plan without influential forward Fiona O'Sullivan - however, the shot stopper believes players like Clare Shine can help to fill the void left by O’Sullivan.

“Fiona is a huge player for us, physically alone, but she has commitments back at home. We’ve got great players, we’ve brought great players. Clare Shine has come in, she played yesterday against Northern Ireland and was terrific. I think we are really positive about these players coming in, it might have to change the team and how we play a bit as we don’t have the target player up front.

“I think that is going to suit us as Finland two centre halves are probably two of the best in Europe. Their goalkeeper is also very very good so we don’t want to be lumping balls up there like we do to Fiona - I think it’s going to suit us in a way.”

Another Young player who has caught Byrnes eye in training is Shelbourne Ladies Katie McCabe and the keeper was quick to praise her impact when asked if her pace could make a difference to the Irish attack.

“I think Katie’s all round game will make a difference for us, she is brilliant on the ball, she’s got a great left foot something I think we’ve been missing, her awareness and football brain will also be great for us. I’m delighted to have her in the team and she’s a great prospect so I’m looking forward to seeing how she does against high standard [opposition].

“I was really keen for her [McCabe] to come over to England to see how she’d get on at the level over there. It didn’t work out, it was the last day of signing and they just didn’t have enough time to get her over there, but she is playing brilliant over here [in the Women’s National League], it’s just a completely different standard from underage to seniors and I think Katie will tell you that herself.

“We just need her to make that step up, she’s well able, she’s flying in training and on the biggest stage I really hope she can show everyone just how good she is because she’s a fantastic player.”

Last May, Byrne was forced to watch on from home as Ireland played USA in San Jose in front of a sold out 60,000 crowd and she was quick to Niamh Reid Bourke who stepped up and pulled off some fantastic save,  but the keeper is not ready to relinquish her number one spot just yet.

“Not too much to be honest” she said when asked if she relished the competition. “She [Niamh] did brilliant I was watching the game. I do like a bit of a challenge and I’ve had it at Arsenal the last couple of years and I’ve enjoyed it. Niamh’s always been a good goalkeeper, she’s proved to everybody else she can do it, but I know she can do it from previous years. I enjoy training with her, but we also have Grace Moloney in [camp] who's doing really well with Reading FC.”

When asked for her thoughts on Ireland's qualifying group, Byrne was happy to have avoided some of the bigger nations, but after speaking to some of her teammates, she is also worried about the challenge of Portugal, a side that continues to improve.

“I thought it was a good group to get until this morning, when I was talking to the rest of the girls and they were saying how Portugal have improved and Finland are one of the top seeds, but in general I was happy with it because we avoided the Germans, French and Sweden. I was happy enough with it, but it doesn't really matter who you get, you have to be consistent and play well yourselves and I think that’s something we need to focus on.”

With changes to the European Championships for 2017 which now sees the group winners and six of the eight best runners up qualifying automatically, Byrne feels her side have a great chance of reaching a first major tournament.

“I think we have got a great chance of qualifying and I think that's the general mood around the camp. We were delighted with the draw avoiding the big guns. It's definitely our focus, our number one aim is to qualify and top the group. We are well capable of it, we’ve played Finland a couple of years ago - [we are] well capable of beating them. We played Spain in the year, they beat us 1-0 we didn’t perform at all. We know we can do better and take points off them easily. We’re well capable of qualifying for the first time and if we’re going to do it, it’s time to do it now.”

In recent years, Women’s football has seen a huge rise in popularity and the Arsenal goalkeeper feels events such as the Women’s World Cup last summer and Stephanie Roche’s Puskas award have helped to grab people's attention and if they qualify for a major competition she feels the whole country will be behind her side.

“I think would be huge, with the likes of Stephanie Roche and the Puskas, the World Cup anybody who watched it, it was fantastic and great display for women’s football. I think we have grasped the attention of the public a little bit and for us to really grab their attention more we really need to be successful.

“In any sport or business you have to be successful to gain that attention and I think if we qualify from the group and get to the finals, I think the whole country [would] be behind us and definitely be more aware. Obviously you guys [the media] would be a lot more interested and be writing more about us.”