Denise O'Sullivan: 'I love my country and playing for this team'
SPECIAL NIGHT: Republic of Ireland captain Denise O'Sullivan is presented with a bouquet of flowers and a gold cap in recognition of earning her 100th cap before the women's international friendly match between USA and Republic of Ireland at the Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
With a golden cap tucked in her backpack, Denise O’Sullivan made her exit from Q2 Stadium on Saturday evening insisting that her 100th international appearance was an occasion which showed just how far Ireland have come.
The Cork midfielder captained the visitors in their 2-0 defeat against the reigning World Cup holders in Austin and while she was left frustrated with the scoreline, the nature of the performance provided no little comfort. Vera Pauw’s side provided a much sterner test for the world’s no.1 ranked team than previous versions of Ireland.
“Obviously we’re disappointed to lose the game but I think the team put in a great shift, we’re very proud of the performance,” said O’Sullivan.
“We did put in a great shift, we created a lot of chances there in the first half and I think that’s the thing now for this team, to take those chances and also not concede the way we did with the space we gave them on the edge of the box.
“They’re world-class players and if you give a world class player that much space they’ll score. So we’ll learn from it. It was a tight game and that just shows how much we’ve come along, how much we’ve grown.
"That was one of our lowest scores against a US team and I think we can be proud of that one. We still want to raise the standard, we still don’t want to concede, we need to finish our chances but yeah a good performance overall and a quick turnaround now with Tuesday.”
At the full-time whistle Pauw immediately gathered her players in a circle on the field and delivered what looked to be a passioned speech.
O’Sullivan said the manager’s message was that her World Cup-bound team had proven a point, but been reminded of a couple of old lessons too ahead of Tuesday night’s second test against the Americans.
“She said she was very proud of us. She said we’ve grown as a team but we just need to take that next step now in finishing our chances,” said O’Sullivan, who temporarily took the armband from Katie McCabe on a day that the North Carolina Courage midfielder will remember for some time.
“Unbelievable! I said it last night that I’ve always dreamed of playing for Ireland. I love my country and playing for this team,” added the 29-year-old."Whether it was one cap or 100, I would always be proud but it was almost surreal to see that [golden] cap. It was special.”
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