Christine O'Shea: 'We have the fitness and physicality to beat GB'

O’Shea is an experienced strength and conditioning coach and has been left impressed with the Green Army’s physicality and work rate at this FIH Olympic qualifying event.

Ireland’s Charlotte Beggs, Beth Harper and Katie McKee dejected.

Born into a rugby-loving family in Limerick, Ireland women’s team manager Christine O’Shea will no doubt relish today’s clash with Great Britain should it turn physical.

O’Shea is also an experienced strength and conditioning coach and has been left impressed with the Green Army’s work rate at this FIH Olympic qualifying event, one where they head into the winner-takes-all encounter having conceded one goal in normal time over four matches.

“I think we have been the fittest we’ve ever been,” said the 35-year-old. “We know we can go 60 minutes with any team. It’s about putting in one more performance against GB and physically we can beat them. If it’s still 0-0 with five minutes to go we know we have it in our legs.” O’Shea also concurred with the players over the last week who have been quick to note the cohesive nature of the squad which Sean Dancer has molded for this campaign.

“It's something that has been building for the last year even,” she noted. “And from my own position [on the touchline], I see the small conversations coming off the pitch and how they work together.

“The mood was a bit down after the Spain defeat but now it’s clear as rock and we’re really excited for the match.” Ireland women will take on a Great Britain side vying for their fourth successive Olympic medal this summer. But their form as an England or GB side suggests that today’s match will be evenly contested.

“If we look at it with Belgium playing Great Britain, it would be GB who we would have preferred to play,” admitted O’Shea.

“With the 0-0 we had against Belgium I think it would have been hard to repeat that performance again.” O’Shea joined as Ireland team manager ahead of the 2022 Women’s Cup, while she also provides strength and conditioning work with the Irish women’s development squad.

She was originally hired to the under-21 set up by former coach David Passmore, who guided the USA women to Olympic qualification this week in Ranchi, India.

On her own career, O’Shea stepped away from domestic hockey this season at Catholic Institute, where she has played a key role in the club’s rise to national contention in the EY Hockey League. After 17 successive seasons, the 35-year-old hopes to play again.

Her regional work saw her become Connacht’s development officer in 2022, but O’Shea had to stop in early 2023 with her Hockey Ireland commitments.

O’Shea says that two new pitches will be built in the next five years and hopes to see Connacht representation in the Irish senior squad “in the next five to 10 years”. Meanwhile, four new clubs sprung up in 2022, one being established fully in the leagues.

Should Ireland reach successive Olympics, participation could grow further. Ireland were the fifth-ranked team coming into Olympic qualifying, but Ireland women have set a high mark under Dancer.

“It’s not something we regularly do, to be in medal contention in tournaments, so this is a challenge,” added O’Shea.

Ireland have lost their last six meetings against England, while Great Britain hold a three-game winning streak against the Green Army, at the Tokyo Olympics and over two matches at the 2004 Olympic qualifying tournament. It was also the last time Great Britain failed to qualify for the Olympics.

Meanwhile, their standout forward Tess Howard was in a bullish mood.

Howard said: “We know what we are going to do against Ireland. We know what we have in the locker and nothing but true grit and determination will get us to the Olympics.”