2023 WAS A year like no other for the Republic of Ireland women’s national team.
They hit the highest of highs this summer at the World Cup, appearing at their first-ever major tournament.
Vera Pauw’s reign ended in the wake of their efforts — narrow defeats to Australia and Canada, and a draw with Nigeria — and a messy fallout ensued.
Eileen Gleeson took charge on an interim basis and enjoyed a 100% record through the Nations League, guiding the team to six wins from six and promotion to League A. Last week, she was appointed as the permanent head coach in a somewhat surprising twist.
From Tallaght to Australia, Marbella to the Aviva Stadium, it’s been a whirlwind.
Here’s how some of the players reflect on it all.
Katie McCabe
I mean it’s no question, it’s probably been my favourite year to play in a green shirt. I’m sure the girls will agree on that. Representing Ireland at a World Cup will definitely be the standout thing.
But we don’t want to just look back and be happy with that and be satisfied with that, we want to keep pushing forward. We want to make it a common theme where we’re pushing and playing against top opposition and qualifying for tournaments. As nice as 2023 was, we want more of it and 2024 is going to be massive.
Denise O’Sullivan
It’s been amazing. Like I can’t say anything else. It’s been amazing, but it’s also been tough. It’s been a rollercoaster. The build-up to the World Cup was definitely tough because you’re always thinking of what you can do better and you’re always thinking, ‘Am I doing the right thing?’ It was always anxious before the World Cup to be quite honest thinking that. We were there for so long together, unbelievable experience.
There’s not many people in the world that get to say they were at the World Cup, so I’m very grateful for it. It was tough, obviously, not being able to push on in the group. I think we probably could have done a lot better than what we have done. But again, it was our first time at the World Cup. I think we’ve learned a lot from it and pushing on from the World Cup, I think the campaign has been good.
We’ve obviously played against lower opposition and no disrespect to them, but we’re going to be playing higher opposition in the future and I think we always have that in the back of our minds as a squad but for us, we can only go out and play who we have in the opposition. It’s been good so far, but I know we have a lot of potential in this team and I think we can push on even more.
Megan Connolly
Crazy. The World Cup feels like years ago now honestly, with the amount of games we’ve played with our clubs and the Nations League. Over the last few years we’ve built something amazing. We’ve built a great foundation. Getting to the World Cup was amazing, we built that for years. I think now we’re just trying to keep building, keep adding to that. We’ve always progressed, added foundations and layers.
This campaign, we’ve tried to add on more in terms of in-possession play and everything because we’ve shown over the years how great we are defensively and how we can get people on the counter-attack and set-plays. Every campaign we’re trying to progress based on what we’ve done previously. The year has been good. Six wins from six in the Nations League, a good successful campaign and hopefully move on to next year when we can try qualify for the Euros.
Louise Quinn
The centurion was asked for her personal standout after their final game of the year.
My God, just one. Wow…
Obviously World Cup is the easy answer but for me as well, the US games pre-World Cup back in April, I saw a massive development in the team. The amount of energy that brought to the squad, that we could really compete with one of the top [teams] in the world. That was a big highlight for me in terms of the crowd, the team we were playing.
And just now in terms of how much we’ve turned it and dominated this group, that’s a real change. We’ve set a record for competitive wins in-a-row, we’re setting standards but that’s a very hard question! A lot of highs.
Ruesha Littlejohn
It’s been full-on. It’s been busy, obviously all the lead-up to the World Cup, then the World Cup and the Nations League. I’ve been out for quite a few of the games but it’s been full-on.
It’s great because it’s given people opportunities. We’ve seen how tough it is to be in the squad now and there’s players that are coming back in, experienced players, young players too. It’s competition. No one is safe on this team and you’re going to need to perform to get back into the squad.
Izzy Atkinson
I was only talking to my Dad, at this moment in time it’s the proudest I’ve ever felt playing for Ireland — World Cup, coming into camps. Things at the club [West Ham] aren’t going as I hoped. I come in here and it makes me enjoy football again, just being around everyone. There’s no better feeling than being here. It’s been the best year of my life. I’m really happy.
Chloe Mustaki
It’s been a pretty historic year for us all, and for the history of women’s football in Ireland, obviously. What a fantastic experience. All of us feel privileged to be able to go to [the World Cup]. The Nations League as well has been brilliant and we just hope to keep building on that, and to hopefully keep qualifying for major tournaments.
This has been the start of something really special. I think since qualifying for the World Cup you can really tell there’s real potential coming through in this country, I mean there always has been but all the different pieces haven’t really fit together until last year I’d say. It’s a really exciting time, we’ve got really great and important backing from the FAI now, and if you’re a youngster coming in what a great career you have ahead of you.
We’ve been working hard over the past few years to get to where the national team is today. Though I’ve only played a tiny part in that, it’s really exciting and I’d say you’ll see a lot more from us in the years to come.
Caitlin Hayes
Massive. I was watching that World Cup and willing them to do well. It was just incredible watching them on that stage, it was the stage they deserved to be on. I watched them at Hampden when they played Scotland and qualified and that was a massive high. I actually went to that game and froze but the joy within me heated me up.
It was great obviously, and from September onwards I had slight imposter syndrome that I’m in with this group. I feel like the dork in front of the cool kids! I’m just thankful to be here and to have the opportunity. It’s a massive whirlwind, but I get time off at Christmas and that’ll be my time to kind of unwind and reflect. I’ll probably need the whole of next year to reflect on this last couple of months of being within this squad. Long may it continue.
