EILEEN GLEESON’S INTERIM watch continues under Friday Night Lights, with Albania the opposition at Tallaght Stadium.
The Republic of Ireland are again heavy favourites for this Uefa Nations League clash against the Group B1 minnows [KO 5.45pm, live on RTÉ 2] as they look to continue their bright start to this next chapter.
Gleeson — who the FAI say is out of the running — is remaining tight-lipped on the process of finding Vera Pauw’s successor, with the long-list of 12 being whittled down to three and a replacement anticipated by the end of the year.
The focus is on football over the coming days, with the return fixture in Shkodër on Tuesday. This double-header is far from the highs of the World Cup opener in Sydney or the recent Aviva Stadium showpiece, which attracted attendances of 75,784 and 35,944 respectively.
The FAI say tonight’s game is sold-out, with over 7,000 tickets snapped up, but how sales translates to the crowd will be interesting given the awkward kick-off time.
Gleeson has promised a performance in exchange for support, with a facile win and a handful of goals of anticipated.
But her message remains clear: “Complacency is our enemy,” the FAI Head of Women’s and Girls Football noted in the build-up.
Don’t get caught.
Ireland will not be underestimating Albania. They realise — and embrace — the expectation on them to win all of their games in this group, but certainly won’t take anything for granted. Especially not against obscure opposition, this the first meeting of the sides.
While the Girls In Green sit top of the tree after convincing wins over Northern Ireland (3-0) and Hungary (4-0), a rather surprising 1-1 draw with the latter has Albania third. They also fell to a 1-0 defeat away to Northern Ireland in the first window.
The chasm between the teams in the Fifa World Rankings is 48 places, with the Balkan nation 72nd overall. Only formed in 2011, they’re a relatively unknown quantity. The majority of their current squad are home-based, though a small number of players are dotted across Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Kosovo.
While one needs little reminder of Ireland’s World Cup qualification story, Albania suffered heavy defeats to Norway and Belgium in their group, while also falling short to Poland, enduring a mixed bag against Kosovo, and beating Armenia.
Gleeson and co. know exactly what to expect. “They’ll be well-organised,” the interim manager said yesterday. “They appear to have a very clear playing philosophy, they like to play out from the back. And trying to build up.
“They have some really good players specifically the 10 and the wide right winger. So they’ve got a lot of opportunity to exploit us if we are not 100%. We’re not expecting anyone to roll over for us. The expectation is that we pick up six points but I keep saying that we have to make that happen. They’ll come out and have a go at us and we need to be ready for that.
“The message we are driving is we cannot be complacent.
“Yes, two wins and clean sheets gives us a lot to be positive about. But in every team meeting we talk about Euro 2025, about the importance of these games, and the importance of making the Euros. We really want to be there.”
Gleeson has a fully-fit squad to choose from. Bar alternating Megan Connolly and Lily Agg in midfield, she stuck to the same XI in last month’s games. Whether she will change it up or stay consistent remains to be seen, but she has been boosted by the return of Megan Campbell and Sinead Farrelly to the squad.
Diane Caldwell is in line to earn her 100th cap, but the former could displace her in central defence. The evolution of a more attacking style will continue, with Denise O’Sullivan at 10 and Ballon d’Or nominee Katie McCabe playing further up the field.
The star duo are among the team’s in-form players, with McCabe, Saoirse Noonan (both two), Tyler Toland and Agg on the scoresheet in club action last weekend.
The injury list remains lengthy — Niamh Fahey, Aoife Mannion, Leanne Kiernan, Claire Walsh, Tara O’Hanlon, Roma McLaughlin and Jess Ziu — with Marissa Sheva, Ruesha Littlejohn, Savannah McCarthy, Éabha O’Mahony and Megan Walsh absent from the most recent squad as competition heightens.
There’s a freshness there, as Ireland look to establish a new style of play and philosophy.
“The girls always felt they had a lot more to offer in more forward positions, that they could continue to develop and then add to the game around that creative side,” Gleeson explained. “What we’ve been trying to do as a staff is to try and prove them right and to allow that freedom, make decisions, make mistakes.”
“We are trying new things,” O’Sullivan added. “As an Irish team over the past few years we have always been defensively organised and all that. With the new staff we are trying to be more creative, we are trying to be better on the transition, so I think Eileen and the staff are doing a really good job of adding that in.
“Over the next few games we can keep improving, keep getting better at it.”
While they’re facing much lower-ranked teams in far-from-glamourous games, these are necessary steps along the journey as they look to shorten the road to a second major tournament in Switzerland 2025.
“The discussion around this Nations League is always about the level of the opposition, but we want to be our best selves, and actually the challenge is often greater when you have an expectation on you to maintain your standards,” Gleeson concluded.
“We’ll continue to excite the fans that come out and support us. A sell-out here in Tallaght Stadium: we’ve got Katie McCabe scoring bangers, we’ve got Denise running around training like a mouse…”
Just don’t get caught by the complacency trap.
Onwards, under Friday Night Lights.