Ireland are where they craved to be, now to prove they're worthy
This is where Ireland craved to be and here’s the window to prove they’re worthy of staying there.
Hosting England – the European champions, World Cup finalists and nearest neighbours – was the standout fixture from the possible permutations across the 48 opponents they could meet from the field.
Everyone has been excited about the outcome of the March 5 draw; the new head coach, players and especially an association reliant on spiking ticket revenue to chisel away at their debt mountain.
When the fanciful declarations clear, leaving just players staring at each other come kick-off tonight, the task to scale the footballing peak will become apparent.
Granted, Ireland went to the World Cup but didn’t face a European team in Australia.
Only USA inhabit the top seven positions in the world beyond this continent and England are being kept off top spot by a Spanish team that denied them a tournament double last summer.
Eileen Gleeson’s side share this company through a Nations League system Uefa mirrored from the men’s Nations League with the collective aim of quashing meaningless friendlies.
The majority of matches within the calendar carry substance and for Ireland the metric is how far a team ranked 25 can unsettle a superpower like England.
It was similar stakes in France last Friday, when they kept the margin of defeat to a single goal.
Ireland won’t be judged by pushing three of the powerhouses, including Sweden, for two direct tickets to next year’s Euros in Switzerland.
The playoffs at the backend of the year are when the pressure is on Gleeson, her captain Katie McCabe and the rest of the players to brush aside supposedly inferior contenders in two-legged ties.
That description featured in yesterday’s final
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