Ireland hat-trick hero Denise O’Sullivan focused on tougher tests ahead

Denise O'Sullivan of Republic of Ireland with the match ball after scoring a hat-trick in the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 qualifying group A match between Republic of Ireland and Georgia at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Anastasia Bolkvadze has a tradition of getting selfies with her heroes and the Georgia defender dashed straight to Denise O’Sullivan for her Irish snap on Tuesday night.

O’Sullivan had just bagged a hat-trick in a record-breaking 11-0 win over the World Cup qualification group bottom side at Tallaght, bringing visiting manager Giorgi Chkhaidze to tears.

For the last World Cup tilt in 2019, only the top 30 ranked teams in Europe entered the main qualification phase, joined by five qualifiers from the preliminaries, before this version was opened to the entire Uefa membership of 51 teams. Georgia didn’t make it past the prelims then and their status as one of the minnows trounced during this international window — England also beat Latvia 20-0 — may force Fifa into a format rethink. Ireland manager Vera Pauw has called for the problem to be “solved”.

O’Sullivan and her teammates could only cast aside the substandard opposition before them, getting in some shooting practice for the sterner tests in the new year.

They have collected seven points from a possible 12 by the midway point of the campaign, sitting in the play-off spot, one point ahead of Finland.

A trip to runaway leaders Sweden, the most difficult match of the eight-game series, is the next qualifier on April 12 but Pauw has a bloc of three friendlies planned for March. The Pinatar Cup in Spain, which last year featured Scotland and Northern Ireland, is the target — Covid-permitting.

Tuesday’s stroll doesn’t gloss over the problems encountered in last Thursday’s 1-1 draw against Slovakia, when their struggles to see off opposition of similar standard was exposed. Their return match on the final day of the campaign, five days after Ireland host Finland on September 1, could be decisive in the hunt for that runner-up berth.

“We’re in a good place,” reflected O’Sullivan, a regular at top US side North Carolina Courage. “There’s still a long way to go in the campaign, still having Sweden away and Finland to play at home.

“Finland are a very good team but we’ll be looking to win against them.” 

Time will tell whether the draw against Slovakia ultimately scuppers Ireland’s ambitions of securing their first play-off for a tournament since 2008 but Tuesday’s cakewalk at least left them smiling at the turn of the year and campaign.

“While it was disappointing to drop those two points against Slovakia, it was the performance which most disappointed us,” O’Sullivan said about the comedown from last month’s victory over Finland, in which she’d scored the winner. “After the win in Helsinki, and playing really well there, we expected a performance against Slovakia.

“We were confident before the game but on the night we just didn’t perform. We looked at it afterwards and knew that individually none of us performed on the night.”

Sweden could seal qualification for the 2023 showpiece by winning a sixth straight qualifier when they face Ireland. Sweden have yet to confirm a venue but, be it Gothenburg or Stockholm, another sell-out for the world’s second best team is anticipated.

An own-goal by Louise Quinn separated the sides at Tallaght in September and striker Lucy Quinn believes Ireland are capable of rattling the top seeds. “We can cause them problems,” the Birmingham City striker said. “They’re a top team but they’re the sides you want to test yourselves against. When we perform at our best, we’re a really difficult team to play.”