'Let’s celebrate but not party' — Delighted Vera Pauw urges Ireland to finish job

The Girls in Green boss wants her side to win in Slovakia and possibly shorten the route to the World Cup. 

FOCUS: Ireland manager Vera Pauw after the win over Finland at Tallaght Stadium.

A thrilled Vera Pauw has declared that her Republic of Ireland squad will celebrate the 1-0 defeat of Finland that has secured for them a World Cup 2023 playoff spot while insisting that their work is far from done.

Next up is Tuesday’s final Group A game away to a Slovakian side that has already earned draws against both Ireland and Finland and the Irish know that one more win would make their prospective path to the finals that much smoother.

“Absolutely amazing,” Pauw told RTÉ. “I don’t know what to say and it is a feeling that is so deep inside of the squad, we are so close, and with the fans like this it is just amazing. I want to thank all the people at home at the watch-parties and everyone supporting us.

“Everywhere we go everyone is so warm to us. I have no words. We are not there. We need to win in Slovakia to get a chance to skip the first (play-off) round so we will prepare as serious as we did for this but let’s celebrate today but not party.” 

Pauw has done well to bring her side back to this point after the devastating loss in Ukraine at the end of the Euro 2022 campaign which cost them their shot at those finals. The task facing her now is in capping spirits rather than raising them.

The scenes at the final whistle in Tallaght spoke for the journey so many of her players have been on, and for the historic nature of earning a first-ever World Cup playoff spot for the Irish senior women’s team, but the reality is that the journey is far from done.

“Well, we are not there yet,” said Pauw. “We are halfway. This is such a stepping stone towards the World Cup and I can imagine it is just the first time that, with the crowd like this, we achieve a moment like that and I am so incredibly proud of this team. They are so special.” 

It was a gutsy win. Ireland struggled to find their feet in the first quarter and Pauw suggested that the issue was more to do with a Finnish tactical approach that confounded their expectations rather than any nerves or rustiness.

That they managed to survive such a rocky start and work their way into the game was reassuring and it was Lily Agg’s brave and decisive 54th-minute header that proved the difference between the sides in the end.

“I have no words,” said the Ireland captain Katie McCabe. “I’m speechless. We didn’t play particularly well tonight but, honestly, I couldn’t care less. We got the three points and that was the main thing and we got a play-off to the World Cup.” 

Like her manager, McCabe was happy to embrace the magnitude of the occasion. The Arsenal player spoke of the players who had laid the path before the current squad, and of the generation to come that will be empowered by what they saw in Tallaght.

But there was an echo of Pauw’s business-like manner in all that too. They have come too far now to take their foot from the accelerator. “We’ll be going to Slovakia to get the three points,” said the 26-year old.