THIS IS ONLY the beginning.
That was the overriding message from Denise O’Sullivan in the wake of Ireland’s World Cup exit.
Amidst the heartbreak and pain in Perth, this could have felt like the end of a journey. But O’Sullivan and co. assured it was the opposite as the Girls In Green look to build on their first-ever major tournament.
After narrow defeats to heavyweights Australia (1-0) and Canada (2-1), they round out their World Cup adventure against Nigeria in Brisbane on Monday.
The Super Falcons are eyeing progression from Group B having stunned the co-hosts and shared the spoils with the Olympic champions, but Ireland will be eyeing victory to ensure they finish up with points on the board.
“This is the start of the journey,” O’Sullivan said following Wednesday’s defeat to Canada in Perth, her heart “empty” as she spoke to the Irish media.
“We can see we belong here. That gives us real confidence. I’m gutted honestly that we can’t go further in the group. It’s heartbreaking to be going home.
“Started off well, first goal going in, we thought we were going to do it. Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be. We’re really disappointed but we’ve another game to go so we’re going to go out and look to win that game.
“We’ll regroup. We can be disappointed tonight, and it will linger on. We’ve just got to rally around each other, lift our spirits again. The fans tonight were absolutely fantastic, we’ll try and get back into positive spirits for them and go out and try get a win against Nigeria.”
The defeats were narrow, the Canadian one particularly gut-wrenching having taken the lead through a Katie McCabe Olimpico in the fourth minute.
Two of the goals Ireland conceded were directly from their own mistakes: an unfortunate penalty in Sydney, and an own goal in Perth, while Adriana Leon killed off their progression hopes amidst a poor second half against Canada.
“There’s no regrets,” midfield maestro O’Sullivan added.
“Every single player went out on that pitch and gave 100 percent in both of the games. We can learn from these moments. We can grow from them. We have to refocus, go into the Nigeria game and give absolutely everything.
“We have a fantastic squad, we give 100 percent every time we put on this green shirt and we have the talent there. We have a little taste of tournament football and we’ll want to come back for sure.
“At these tournaments, it’s the little details that matter. We’re playing against world-class opposition and can say we fought by giving it everything. We’ll definitely take the positives. This is a special squad and hopefully we have more experiences.”
The Nations League lies just around the corner in September then, with an historic Aviva Stadium showdown against Northern Ireland on the cards. It’s about bouncing into that now.
This is only the beginning.