they lost 3-1 in Cork.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n Even their two victories over the past two years, 1-0 in Metz and 2-1 in Tallaght three months ago, left him with a sense of relief.<\/p>\n
Those one percenters Carla Ward highlighted to gain an edge of superior seeds are on his mind again as the pressure builds on Les Bleues. In sweltering conditions, the only team feeling the heat are the hosts.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarla has won the three last games but also nine of her last 14 games,\u201d the French coach noted of his opposite number.<\/p>\n
\u201cIreland has the chance to qualify and they deserve the position. Carla has some ideas to disturb the opponent – remember her reducing the width of the pitch at Tallaght?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are ready because she probably plans some things that we have to be focused on the game. She can imagine something really difficult for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know she develops a strong fighting spirit into her players.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It took a brace from substitute Malard, and a late goalline clearance from Denise O\u2019Sullivan, to turn a goal deficit into a 2-1 win in March. She\u2019ll start in attack, likely alongside another global star in Lyon striker Marie\u2011Antoinette Katoto.<\/p>\n
France may have Katoto but Ireland have Katie.<\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s skipper McCabe had one of her quieter games in Cork, having just completed a high-profile move from Arsenal to Chelsea, and is determined to end this series by giving her team the best chance of avoiding the play-offs en route to a second successive World Cup.<\/p>\n
Goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan did make some crucial interventions during the Dutch demolition and believes the experience of making it to Australia for a first tournament is contributing to their blaze of form.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe background helps massively coming into a situation with these stakes again,\u201d said the Everton stopper, whose penalty save in the play-off against Scotland was the precursor to Amber Barrett\u2019s extra-time winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe squad as a whole has been unbelievable in this campaign and to see the buy-in from everyone into what we want to achieve and where we want to be is brilliant.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have always had that but only continued to grow stronger along this journey.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both Brosnan and Ward are aware of how they have to replicate the magic mustered last November by the men in winning their final pair of games to stay on track for the showpiece.<\/p>\n
If Troy Parrott\u2019s heroics were the football timestamp of 2025, within the grasp of the women is their own version of Reeling in the Years folklore.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think anything is achievable,\u201d beamed Ward. \u201cWe\u2019ve that mindset, a strong culture and the biggest thing is togetherness. That goes for the staff, the players, everybody. I think if you\u2019ve got those three, there\u2019s a chance of creating more records.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
France only require a draw to secure their ticket but should the game remain in the balance late on, don\u2019t expect Ireland to wilt as occurred in the opening window.<\/p>\n
Late goals by the French and Dutch left them empty-handed but the vitality Ireland showed in finishing off Friday\u2019s cruncher by the Lee with Barrett\u2019s goal wasn\u2019t a fluke.<\/p>\n
Rather, Ward attributes their energy and endurance to a change in the background she initiated.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, I\u2019m going to say fuelling,\u201d she said about the players\u2019 food intake.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m ok with saying it but I think we\u2019ve the best nutritionist in Olivia Patel.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s brought in a high-level, high-performance chef, Ryan Swift, I had the joy and pleasure of working with when I managed Aston Villa to fifth in the Women\u2019s Super League in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do believe that last Friday was the first game where, at 70 minutes, we didn\u2019t see the shift that we had seen. So we\u2019ll put that down to them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The French should be wary of Ireland\u2019s intention to exact revenge by serving them with a cold dish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the most mountainous area of Europe sits Ireland\u2019s ultimate peak expedition. Grenoble\u2019s 20,000-seater Stade des Alpes is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,18998],"class_list":["post-489959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-wnt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}