Time for the football to do the talking as new Ireland era begins

A different form of noise will accompany the Ireland women’s team when they embark on a new era after four years under Vera Pauw.

Previous unfulfilled lofty aspirations on the turnouts ought to apply a health warning to the 38,000 prediction set by the FAI but whatever proportion show up for the lunchtime kick-off will make their presence felt at the national stadium.

Their long overdue switch to the 51,000-seater arena, when the chance was blown two years ago to follow international trends for the visits of Australia and Sweden, needs to be now embraced and utilised as a different direction is charted.

As much as Irish football folk love a dose of controversy, the cloud that hung over Pauw’s future before and during the World Cup was a draining experience for all concerned.

It was fairly clear to anybody around the camp that the Dutchwoman was deemed damaged goods from the moment of her infamous press conference on July 5. Only an unlikely set of results Down Under would salvage her plight and instead she was hurtled overboard.

The recriminations are not over yet – with a mooted Late Late Show appearance sure to keep the story prominent – but the absence of Pauw’s name from Friday’s press conference was evidence the real business is moving on.

And what a show it is, worthy of the cacophony of noise the team’s entrance from the tunnel will generate.

Ireland might be off-broadway in the sense of League B in the Nations League but this is the stage they belong and deserve to inhabit.

Eileen Gleeson, the FAI’s Head of women’s and girls' football installed as a stopgap until a permanent successor is sourced, concurs.

She’s conscious not to repeat the IRFU’s blunder of merely allowing their female team to share the venue as a