The early stages of the Road to Brazil 2027 are almost set in stone.
Ireland will open their World Cup qualifying campaign against France at Tallaght Stadium on 3 March, before a trip to Utrecht — near Amsterdam — to face Netherlands four days later.
Poland are the other team in Group A2 of League A, from which the winners qualify automatically and playoffs beckon for everyone else. Top three is the goal for Ireland, with more favourable routes for higher finishers.
So the April double-header against Poland is crucial: Ireland are bottom seeds, but ranked just three places below the Poles (24th) in the world rankings.
A positive result in the home game on Saturday, 18 April, could be key, and The 42 understands Aviva Stadium is set to stage that fixture.
It has not yet been announced, but it is believed Ireland will return to Lansdowne Road for the first time since their Nations League playoff win over Belgium last November and play at the venue for the sixth time.
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More pressingly is the Tallaght Stadium date with France. Ward pushed for the game to be staged at the Dublin 24 venue, and has hinted at plans to narrow the pitch, like one predecessor Vera Pauw did against Germany in 2020.
“Look, good teams want space, right? As a club manager, if we came up against the top four, we wanted to play on a horrible, boggy pitch and make it tight and compact. And I’m not saying, by the way, that Tallaght is that.
“But, certainly, when you play on somewhere like the Aviva, it definitely gives the advantage to the better, on paper, the better opposition. So we’ve got to make it difficult.
“We can control it. It’s smaller and you can dictate. Uefa have certain guidelines so there are guidelines you can tap into.”
Ireland had an enjoyable night at the Aviva last November. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh is set to host the other home game against Netherlands in June as Ireland tour the country. The GAA announced last month that permission had been granted to Cork GAA to host a third international women’s match in as many years.
Ward named a familiar and settled 23-player squad yesterday for the opening double-header. Megan Connolly is among the returnees after missing the tail end of 2025 through injury, while Ruesha Littlejohn gets the nod despite limited game-time after serving an extended, five-game ban — a decision Ward found herself defending.
It is viewed as an aging squad, with little new blood. Experience has trumped youth. Sophie Whitehouse (29) is the only player within that Ward has given a debut to since her appointment last January, while there’s just three differing inclusions from her first squad: Jamie Finn (27), Saoirse Noonan (26) and Hayley Nolan (28).
Much of the set-up is around the 30-mark, even after Niamh Fahey, Louise Quinn, Diane Caldwell, Julie-Ann Russell and Megan Campbell retired over the past year.
Ward pointed to Izzy Atkinson (24) and Jess Ziu (23) as part of the “far greater pool” she inherited, but players have been injured or unavailable. She name-checked underage internationals and League of Ireland talent, but warned of the gap, as experienced by 2025 Player of the Year Kelly Brady, who recently moved from Athlone Town to WSL 2 side Crystal Palace.
“Let’s make no bones about it, it’s a huge jump,” said Ward. “Kelly’s a prime example, she’s done tremendously well over here, but getting up to the speed of the English game… the Championship and the WSL, unless you’re in it and you’ve worked in it or you’ve played in it, it’s a completely different league physically, tactically. It’s a massive jump.
“I’ll be probably long gone by the time the Irish league gets to where we want it to get to.”
“You don’t want to bring players in that aren’t ready,” she added in a sit-down interview with the written media. “You can only select what you can select, you definitely can’t bring in players just for the sake of freshening things up.”
Spearheaded by Katie McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan, Ward sees this as the last chance for this particular cohort to qualify the World Cup, having previously done so for the first time in 2023.
“Correct, yeah. When I say there’s a real hunger and desire to make the World Cup, there’s a real hunger and desire that these players will do anything to get there.
Ireland made their debut at the 2023 World Cup. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
“They probably feel that (they have to qualify to cement their legacy). They demand a lot of us. I had a conversation during the week, when questioned by one or two players who don’t do it for their clubs, necessarily. I am thinking, ‘They do it for me in every game.’ They have been exceptional.
“There is a difference when they play for their country, when they put that badge on and wear the shirt with pride. So they want to get everything they can to get to [Brazil 2027].
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“The legacy is hugely important. I would argue more than their club careers, every single one of them.”
Tunnel vision, so. And the plan is to continue finding a compromise between Ward’s previous style and the traditional Irish way — bringing it back to basics if needed — and striking a balance between entertainment and achievement.
“They can work together but the number one thing is the World Cup now,” said Ward on the latter point. “Can we get to the World Cup? Can we get there playing the way that we’ve built in this last year? I’d like to think we can, but we know we’re going to have to be without the ball a lot more. I think you can see from how I’ve set teams up that we want to be entertaining but also there’s going to be an element of who we’re up against here.
“At club level, I was always front-footed, aggressive, high pressing, lot of energy, keep the ball. Everywhere I’ve been even we’ve always managed to have a real clear way of playing and I think now we do. We’ve had to draw back maybe on the intensity without the ball and be a little bit more conservative. But it suits this group and they’re really comfortable in that.
“We want to get to the World Cup – that’s by hook or by crook. If we have to go and play anywhere, whatever we do, we have to gear ourselves up for the extra percent in anywhere we can possibly get them.”
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Ireland set for Aviva return as Ward targets World Cup 'by hook or by crook'
DUBLIN, UTRECHT, GDANSK, Cork and Grenoble.
The early stages of the Road to Brazil 2027 are almost set in stone.
Ireland will open their World Cup qualifying campaign against France at Tallaght Stadium on 3 March, before a trip to Utrecht — near Amsterdam — to face Netherlands four days later.
Poland are the other team in Group A2 of League A, from which the winners qualify automatically and playoffs beckon for everyone else. Top three is the goal for Ireland, with more favourable routes for higher finishers.
So the April double-header against Poland is crucial: Ireland are bottom seeds, but ranked just three places below the Poles (24th) in the world rankings.
A positive result in the home game on Saturday, 18 April, could be key, and The 42 understands Aviva Stadium is set to stage that fixture.
It has not yet been announced, but it is believed Ireland will return to Lansdowne Road for the first time since their Nations League playoff win over Belgium last November and play at the venue for the sixth time.
More pressingly is the Tallaght Stadium date with France. Ward pushed for the game to be staged at the Dublin 24 venue, and has hinted at plans to narrow the pitch, like one predecessor Vera Pauw did against Germany in 2020.
“Look, good teams want space, right? As a club manager, if we came up against the top four, we wanted to play on a horrible, boggy pitch and make it tight and compact. And I’m not saying, by the way, that Tallaght is that.
“But, certainly, when you play on somewhere like the Aviva, it definitely gives the advantage to the better, on paper, the better opposition. So we’ve got to make it difficult.
“We can control it. It’s smaller and you can dictate. Uefa have certain guidelines so there are guidelines you can tap into.”
SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh is set to host the other home game against Netherlands in June as Ireland tour the country. The GAA announced last month that permission had been granted to Cork GAA to host a third international women’s match in as many years.
Ward named a familiar and settled 23-player squad yesterday for the opening double-header. Megan Connolly is among the returnees after missing the tail end of 2025 through injury, while Ruesha Littlejohn gets the nod despite limited game-time after serving an extended, five-game ban — a decision Ward found herself defending.
It is viewed as an aging squad, with little new blood. Experience has trumped youth. Sophie Whitehouse (29) is the only player within that Ward has given a debut to since her appointment last January, while there’s just three differing inclusions from her first squad: Jamie Finn (27), Saoirse Noonan (26) and Hayley Nolan (28).
Much of the set-up is around the 30-mark, even after Niamh Fahey, Louise Quinn, Diane Caldwell, Julie-Ann Russell and Megan Campbell retired over the past year.
Ward pointed to Izzy Atkinson (24) and Jess Ziu (23) as part of the “far greater pool” she inherited, but players have been injured or unavailable. She name-checked underage internationals and League of Ireland talent, but warned of the gap, as experienced by 2025 Player of the Year Kelly Brady, who recently moved from Athlone Town to WSL 2 side Crystal Palace.
“Let’s make no bones about it, it’s a huge jump,” said Ward. “Kelly’s a prime example, she’s done tremendously well over here, but getting up to the speed of the English game… the Championship and the WSL, unless you’re in it and you’ve worked in it or you’ve played in it, it’s a completely different league physically, tactically. It’s a massive jump.
“I’ll be probably long gone by the time the Irish league gets to where we want it to get to.”
“You don’t want to bring players in that aren’t ready,” she added in a sit-down interview with the written media. “You can only select what you can select, you definitely can’t bring in players just for the sake of freshening things up.”
Spearheaded by Katie McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan, Ward sees this as the last chance for this particular cohort to qualify the World Cup, having previously done so for the first time in 2023.
“Correct, yeah. When I say there’s a real hunger and desire to make the World Cup, there’s a real hunger and desire that these players will do anything to get there.
“They probably feel that (they have to qualify to cement their legacy). They demand a lot of us. I had a conversation during the week, when questioned by one or two players who don’t do it for their clubs, necessarily. I am thinking, ‘They do it for me in every game.’ They have been exceptional.
“There is a difference when they play for their country, when they put that badge on and wear the shirt with pride. So they want to get everything they can to get to [Brazil 2027].
“The legacy is hugely important. I would argue more than their club careers, every single one of them.”
Tunnel vision, so. And the plan is to continue finding a compromise between Ward’s previous style and the traditional Irish way — bringing it back to basics if needed — and striking a balance between entertainment and achievement.
“They can work together but the number one thing is the World Cup now,” said Ward on the latter point. “Can we get to the World Cup? Can we get there playing the way that we’ve built in this last year? I’d like to think we can, but we know we’re going to have to be without the ball a lot more. I think you can see from how I’ve set teams up that we want to be entertaining but also there’s going to be an element of who we’re up against here.
“At club level, I was always front-footed, aggressive, high pressing, lot of energy, keep the ball. Everywhere I’ve been even we’ve always managed to have a real clear way of playing and I think now we do. We’ve had to draw back maybe on the intensity without the ball and be a little bit more conservative. But it suits this group and they’re really comfortable in that.
“We want to get to the World Cup – that’s by hook or by crook. If we have to go and play anywhere, whatever we do, we have to gear ourselves up for the extra percent in anywhere we can possibly get them.”
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