EILEEN GLEESON’S IMMEDIATE reaction to tonight’s scrappy 1-0 Uefa Nations League win over Hungary?
“Happy overall,” the interim Republic of Ireland women’s manager told reporters.
“Five wins from five. Came away with the win, the three points, it’s a nice forward step into Tuesday. In terms of performance, there were definitely aspects that we all agree we need to improve. The first half, we sat off. We never planned to sit off but it evolved into that and we were like, ‘What is this?’
“But these things happen in football. Performance can vary, we saw a bit of that tonight, but to come away with the three points, a goal scored and a clean sheet, we’re happy overall.”
Henrietta Csiszár’s own goal in the 65th minute ultimately settled a frustrating contest at a freezing Tallaght Stadium. Ireland won 4-0 in Budapest in September, with Margret Kratz’s side 18 places below them in the Fifa World Rankings.
Gleeson made four changes to her XI and was pleased with how everything combined amidst a different challenge.
“We’ve got a more competitive squad, more options and within that, there is a lot of youth, so this is also part of it. It’s not linear, the performances won’t be linear, they will go up and down, that is what you’re witnessing right now.
“It’s good that we got a little bit of a test, that is good.”
The Girls In Green had already secured promotion to League A with four consecutive wins, but Gleeson dismissed any notion of subconscious complacency given they had already achieved their goal.
“The short and the final answer to that is no because, we’ve talked all week about being better. And it’s not that we say, ‘Oh can we beat Hungary 5-0?’. We’ve qualified for League A but what we want to try and do is develop so we can compete in League A. So you’re talking about being better in your actions.
“We didn’t manage to do that but it wasn’t complacency. I don’t feel complacency in the group. They work super hard in training and they’re super engaged in all the analysis we do. I think they have a really good intention to come out and represent Ireland to the absolute best they can. You see snapshots with singular games and singular campaigns but it’s always to develop towards the Euros, to develop towards the World Cup.”
Everyone, Gleeson believes, came through tonight unscathed, with Sinead Farrelly a slight concern after a knock to the head.
Attention switches quickly to Northern Ireland at Windsor Park on Tuesday, after Tanya Oxtoby’s side beat Albania 4-0 today as they vie with Hungary for second spot.
“There’s a very competitive second-placed battle going on. There’s been a few asks about whether we’ll be trying to win. Rest assured, we’ll be trying to win.
“I think it’s a nice end to the campaign. It started with the first match in the Aviva which was a lovely representation of an all-Ireland competition, a representation of all Ireland, women’s football in Ireland given it was the Republic and the North. Now it ends in the same way in Windsor Park.
“It’s the first game in there between the Republic and the North in a very, very long time. It’s lovely for us to be involved in that occasion but it is a competitive game.”
After freezing conditions in Tallaght and thunderstorms last time out in Albania, the Dubliner was asked if the new year might bring some sun.
“I’ll go on me holidays for about six months,” she laughed.
“Get my ankles out in the heat!”
