O'Sullivan - The breaks didn't go my way

After seeing her side fall to a 2-0 defeat against Finland at Tallaght Stadium on Monday night, Ireland’s Denise O’Sullivan spoke to Extratime.ie about her side’s performance and the upcoming UEFA Women’s Champions League clash with Chelsea.

“We had a lot of chances to be honest and my main one in the twelfth minute, I should have put it away, but it just didn’t happen for me. I went to place it in the left bottom corner, but it just went wide and obviously the other one were Aine [crossed from the right] and the keeper tapped it out - it just didn't happen for me tonight.”

With defeat in their opening game, Ireland’s next game will see them hit the road when they travel to Portugal and O’Sullivan is aware it is imperative they improve on Monday’s performance and collect all three points against the Portuguese.

“Yeah, definitely” she replied when asked if it’s vital Ireland record a victory in October's game “It's a disappointing start for us, but we did create a lot of chances and I thought we played well, so we have to clean up on a few mistakes and get sharper on a few things.

To be honest I never played Portugal before it will be my first time and I’m sure the management will have us aware of what they’re like.”

Despite a wet Monday evening in Dublin, a crowd of 2,905 passed through the turnstiles of Tallaght Stadium and the Glasgow City star was quick to praise their supporters, who roared the girls in green on till the final whistle despite the deteriorating weather conditions.

“It’s been amazing to be honest, the atmosphere was brilliant tonight and the crowd got right behind us. I didn’t think there would be that much there, but seeing it, hearing it and being called out was just fantastic. Please god they come back again next time as we need them.

“I started off playing with Cork, Women’s football wouldn’t have been that big and it's just after growing so much and young girls want to be involved, seeing them all there tonight, it’s just amazing - hopefully it will push on even more.”

With the increased numbers of young girls now taking up soccer, players like O’Sullivan are now looked upon as role models and the attacker remembers the days when she watched on like many young fans from the sidelines as some of her idols donned the green of Ireland.

“It’s a great feeling, I suppose I was like that years ago I was out watching the seniors play in Turners Cross, I think they were playing Kazakhstan and I was just looking down on them and they were my idols and now I’m one of them so I just want to keep pushing on and get better as a player.”

With the international fixtures now on hold for the next four weeks, O’Sullivan can now turn her attention to the UEFA Women’s Champions league, with her side hosting Chelsea in the sane competition in which they reached the last eight during the 2014-15 season.

“We have two very important games coming up against Chelsea [WSL 1 leaders] in the Champions League so we’ll have to prepare for that in the next two, but obviously we have league games as well so we won't forget about them.”

With a huge gap between international and club level, O’Sullivan feels that playing in the Champions league allows her to bridge the gap easier as there is a big step up from domestic leagues to Europe's premier club competition.

“You’re playing at club level and coming into international level is a huge step up, the Champions League is also a big step and it helps coming into internationals when you're playing in the Champions League, it’s good, it’s competitive and you raise your sharpness and fitness so I can’t wait to play in it [again].

“Playing against PSG before they were amazing, there's not much football you can play against them, but it will definitely help me coming into international games and I hope we push on from the last 32 of the Champions League.”