O'Leary eyes semi-final spot in UEFA Women's U19 Championship

Lia O'Leary, the forward for Shamrock Rovers, is already looking ahead to Ireland's decisive Group B match against the Netherlands at the 2024 UEFA Women's Under-19 European Championships.

Having scored Ireland's goal in a 2-1 defeat to Germany, O'Leary is determined to find the back of the net again in Sunday's crucial clash.

Reflecting on her goal, O'Leary shared, "We regained really good possession in the backline and broke down the right-hand side, and then Meabh Russell crossed it into the box. Originally i thought it was too high but I continued on to the back post and it fell to my foot and I was just so happy when it went in."

Her 32nd-minute strike against Germany made her only the fifth Irish player to score at the WU19 EUROs, joining the ranks of Clare Shine, Keeva Keenan, Savannah McCarthy, and Megan Connolly.

Looking forward to the next match, O'Leary is optimistic. "I'm delighted to have scored against Germany but I definitely think that we'll have more opportunities against the Netherlands so I'm hoping to get my name on the scoresheet again in the final group game."

Ireland, having drawn with Spain in their first match, know that a win against the Netherlands would secure them a semi-final spot.

O'Leary expressed confidence in the team's abilities: "I think we've shown as a squad that we can really play against the best teams in Europe and not only just play but really put up a good game against them."

She added, "I think we got unlucky with the Germany result but we're going to definitely being in the positives from the game against Germany and the game against Spain into our final group game against the Netherlands on Sunday.

"As the games have gone on we've grown as a squad - both defensively and attacking wise, so I definitely think going into the Netherlands game I believe we can, as a squad, score more goals and gain more attacking opportunities."

The match against the Netherlands on Sunday will be broadcast live on the RTÉ News Channel and RTÉ Player with kick-off at 12pm.