THEY MAY BE facing one of the toughest tests in women’s international football but Ireland have still found time to support a great cause ahead of today’s World Cup qualifier.
Sue Ronan’s team welcome the mighty Germans to Tallaght stadium (3pm kick-off) for a game which sees Group 1′s first and second-placed team face off.
With two wins and a draw so far and games with Russia and Croatia to come in the summer, Ireland will hope to avoid defeat against the current European champions — ranked second in the world behind the US.
Thg visitors have won one all five of their qualifiers so far while scoring a whopping 40 goals and conceding zero.
As part of the ‘Lace Up for a Cure’ campaign, which has been organised by Peamount United defender Susan Byrne, the Ireland squad have been this week been wearing pink laces for breast cancer awareness.
A former Ireland international herself, Byrne lost her mother to the illness last year.
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Another Byrne, current goalkeeper Emma, will set the record for highest number of international caps with Ireland when she captains the side today as the Arsenal stopper equalled Ciara Grants 105 caps against Canada last month.
“It’s a great honour and it’s fantastic that it is happening in a home game in front of my family,” said Byrne. “I’m really looking forward to it. It’s been a long time coming and I thought I’d never catch Ciara.”
Team-mate Meadbh da Burca, meanwhile, says the home crowd can be a huge advantage this afternoon.
Obviously there is a lot of hype around the game given that they have been European champions for so long now,” said the Galway player. ”It would be a really big scalp if we were to get a result against the Germans,” said de Burca.
“We know the quality they have in their team and we know it is going to be our toughest game to game to date but we are just going to go and give it everything we’ve got and try and unsettle them. The fans can play a big part and we hope they will get behind us from the start.”
