INTERIM IRELAND HEAD coach Eileen Gleeson wouldn’t be drawn into much talk on her future with the team after their perfect start to the Nations League campaign.
Ireland continued their bright opening to the post Vera Pauw era with a 4-0 win over Hungary and another encouraging performance in Budapest tonight.
When Gleeson took caretaker charge, it was reported that the FAI’s Head of Women’s and Girls Football was not a contender for the job on a full-time basis. But Pauw’s one-time assistant is staying coy, not exactly ruling anything in or out.
Asked about seeing out the remaining Nations League games and staying at the helm until December, at least, Gleeson told RTÉ:
“Well, we’ll have to see what happens. I mean what’s not to love here, but we all know I’m in another role then as well as the Head of Women’s and Girls Football in Ireland.
“This is really enjoyable, but there’s no commitment to anything on that.”
FAI Director of Women’s Football Marc Canham previously said the Association’s “aim is to have an appointment within the Uefa Nations League window”.
On the prospect of throwing her hat in the ring for the full-time job, Gleeson added: “Ah look, nights like this and performances get the heart rate up, you know, so maybe I need to bring that down a little bit before I make any comment on anything!
“It’s always exciting, you’re with your Irish team, you’re proud, passionate, a great group of girls. It’s a really exciting place to be.”
Caitlin Hayes, Katie McCabe, Kyra Carusa and Denise O’Sullivan were the goalscorers at Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium, Ireland living up to their favourites tag and making it two wins from two as they assumed complete control of Group B1.
They have now scored seven goals — four from open play — and kept two clean sheets kept after Saturday’s win over Northern Ireland at the Aviva Stadium. The Girls In Green again played a more attacking, expansive style and it paid dividends, albeit against another weaker opponent.
“Very happy,” Gleeson said. “Three points, that gives us six points out of six. Four good goals, probably could have scored a bit more. But still looking to improve and we always think we can be better. Starting off with some new principles, bringing on some new young players, transitioning those in, overall I thought we did well.”
Star duo Katie McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan shared those sentiments.
“Look, it was very positive tonight,” O’Sullivan, who was at her brilliant best at 10, said.
“We are trying new things, different style of play and there’s loads of positives out there. It just shows the team is coming together and I think we’re really enjoying the football right now.
“Coming off the back of the World Cup, we needed to get off to a good start and just get back together again. We’re trying new style of play, a lot of things have changed and the girls have been absolutely fantastic.
“[The new style of play is] working so far but I think we have a lot to improve on as a team. We have some quality players and we only want to keep getting better and better, that’s the attitude of this team. Happy with the performance but we still have a lot to improve on.”
McCabe, having assisted Hayes for her first international goal on her second cap and followed it up with a stunning strike of her own, also hailed the approach.
“Look, we’re a team developing. There’s players coming on, young players coming in. It wasn’t a perfect performance, the scoreline might look flattering. We are obviously happy with the clean sheet and goals scored, which give us confidence, but we know we can tidy up in some areas.
“I thought we played some some nice stuff at times. It’s about the development of the team, we want to play more attacking football, we want to get higher up and creating chances and we’re well capable of doing it.
“Eileen and our coaching staff have been great since we started camp last week. You can see in how we’re playing, we’re playing with a lot more confidence in terms of our attacking style. We’re not afraid to to get up in the final third and and look to really establish play. And you can see how we build up as well. As I said, it’s not perfect. We are making mistakes at times, but we’re always trying to do the right thing and that’s what I’m really proud of today.”
“At the start of the week we said we wanted two wins from these games,” the captain concluded. “To finish here 4-0, two clean sheets, goals scored, I’m happy. But we want to keep pushing for more and keep developing further.”
