Katie McCabe: ‘We need to embrace the challenge of this pressure situation in front of a home crowd in the national stadium’

EURO2025 play-off preview: Republic of Ireland -v- Wales: Macdara Ferris reports from the Aviva Stadium

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

The tantalising prize of a place in next summer’s European Championship in Switzerland is within Ireland’s hands. Having drawn 1-1 in Cardiff last Friday night in the play-off final first leg, the Girls in Green will take on Wales in the Aviva Stadium in the second leg on Tuesday night in front of a crowd in excess of 25,000.

There will be nerves but it is a situation that this team can thrive on – for the last major tournament they secured their World Cup berth by beating Scotland away from home in in the play-off final. Now they can make it to the Euros with either a win – or dare we say it – or a penalty shoot-out victory on home turf.

“We have experience of this position,” said Katie McCabe speaking to the media in the Aviva Stadium on the eve of the match. “One went our way in Scotland and other didn’t. The experienced players can share that knowledge and that is it ok to have some nerves. We know the magnitude of the game. 

“From a players viewpoint, we have wanted to be in this position more regularly. It is our third playoff scenario. We are here now. We need to embrace that challenge. To be in this pressure situation in front of a home crowd, in the national stadium, it is unbelievable.

There wasn’t much between the sides on Friday night in the Cardiff City Stadium and ahead of the second leg extratime.com asked Ireland manager Eileen Gleeson did anything surprise her about Wales’ play in the first leg?

"It was exactly how we thought they'd set up and exactly the rotations they use in midfield, their moves, what they are strong at. It was the picture we expected to see. I am sure they are saying the same about us.

"There were certain things we were unhappy with," she said. "(It was a) scrappy game, a battle between two teams. We want to create more chances and score more goals. We have some areas to work on but the game evolved into what we wanted it to.”

No Ireland fan will be too bothered with how scrappy the second leg is once there is a win for the Girls in Green by around 10pm on Tuesday night.

Ireland Squad
Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Grace Moloney (London City Lionesses), Sophie Whitehouse (Charlton Athletic)
Defenders: Jessie Stapleton (Sunderland, on loan from West Ham United), Diane Caldwell (FC Zurich), Niamh Fahey (Liverpool), Caitlin Hayes (Celtic), Anna Patten (Aston Villa), Megan Campbell (London City Lionesses)
Midfielders: Katie McCabe (Arsenal), Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Carolina), Megan Connolly (Lazio), Lily Agg (Birmingham City), Tyler Toland (Blackburn Rovers), Ruesha Littlejohn (London City Lionesses), Heather Payne (Everton), Marissa Sheva (Portland Thorns), Izzy Atkinson (Crystal Palace)
Forwards: Kyra Carusa (San Diego Wave), Abbie Larkin (Crystal Palace), Amber Barrett (Standard Liege), Leanne Kiernan (Liverpool), Julie-Ann Russell (Galway United)

WALES

Welsh Head Coach Rhian Wilkinson is insisting that the pressure is all on Ireland in Tuesday night’s play-off second leg. “There’ll be a great team stepping out for Ireland, but the pressure will be on them, which is always a good thing for me and my team,” said Wilkinson ahead of the match.

“It’s on the coach of the home nation to talk about the massive advantage of playing at home and having a huge crowd behind them, equally there’s huge pressure on you at home. You love playing in front of huge crowds, but we’re excited to be here in a fabulous stadium.”

Wilkinson has the chance to qualify Wales for their first international tournament. The former Canadian international was appointed to the Heach Coach role of Cymru just prior to their friendly last February in Dublin. She watched on from the stands in Tallaght Stadium as her team won 2-0.

When she took over in the dugout she led her team to top spot in their qualifying group after going through the campaign unbeaten, before overcoming Slovakia over two legs in the play-off semi-final in October.

“I don’t need to mention anything about history. The players know. We’ve talked about the history as we came through the group stages, and now it doesn’t need to be mentioned.”

Cymru captain Angharad James admitted that “it’s probably the biggest game we’ve all played in. It’s a huge moment for Welsh football and a huge moment for this group. Every time that we represent Wales it’s the same feeling that we all have. We represent Wales with such pride and such passion and hopefully you can see that in our performance. If we deliver our game plan then I have every confidence in this group that we will get a result.”

Cymru

Olivia Clark (FC Twente), Laura O’Sullivan-Jones (Gwalia United), Safia Middleton-Patel (Manchester United), Rhiannon Roberts (Real Betis), Josie Green (Crystal Palace), Charlie Estcourt (DC Power), Hayley Ladd (Manchester United), Gemma Evans (Liverpool), Mayzee Davies (Liverpool Feds / Manchester United), Lily Woodham (Crystal Palace – On loan from Seattle Reign), Ella Powell (Bristol City), Anna Filbey (Watford), Alice Griffiths (Southampton), Angharad James (Seattle Reign), Ellen Jones (Sunderland), Lois Joel (Newcastle United), Rachel Rowe (Southampton), Carrie Jones (IFK Norrköping), Ffion Morgan (Bristol City), Jess Fishlock (Seattle Reign), Ceri Holland (Liverpool), Kayleigh Barton (Charlton Athletic), Mary Mcateer (Sunderland), Hannah Cain (Leicester City), Mared Griffiths (Manchester United), Tianna Teisar (Bristol City).

Referee: Marta Huerta De Aza (Spain)

PREDICTION
2-1 home win

MATCH STATS

This will be Ireland senior women’s team fourth match at the Aviva Stadium. Having beaten Northern Ireland 3-0 on their first visit to the Lansdowne Road venue, they have lost their last two matches – against England (2-0) and Sweden (3-0).

The teams have played each other on 23 occasions. Ireland have lost just the two matches – the most recent game in Dublin between the teams back in February this year and a 3-1 defeat in a friendly in Bridgend back in August 1976.

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— extratime.com (@extratime.com) 12 November 2024 at 11:54