‘She’s a tough cookie’ - No O’Sullivan fracture, Pauw hopeful for World Cup opener
Denise O'Sullivan speaks to media after a Republic of Ireland open training session
Ireland manager Vera Pauw is hopeful Denise O'Sullivan can play in next Thursday's World Cup opener with Australia, but admits the Ireland camp feared the Cork woman's tournament might have been over before it had begun.
O'Sullivan was injured by a heavy tackle in Friday's behind-closed-doors friendly with Colombia, causing the match to be abandoned.
There were initial fears the midfielder had suffered an injury that would keep her out of the World Cup. She attended St Andrew's Hospital in Brisbane to have the injury assessed, but following an X-ray and CT Scan, no fracture was revealed. Instead, Pauw confirmed O'Sullivan had suffered a soft tissue injury.
O'Sullivan returned to the team hotel last night (Australian time) wearing a protective boot and will have further treatment on the injury but there is now some confidence she will be ready in time for Thursday's opening match against Australia.
Speaking at the team hotel on Saturday morning (local time) to RTÉ’s Tony O’Donoghue and Sky TV, Ireland manager Vera Pauw explained the situation.
“She went to hospital and we still have hope she can make it. There was risk of a big injury. Doctors feared that last night but that the X-ray showed there is hope.
“The first 48 hours are the most important on soft tissue injury. Being above her ankle is a good thing.
“She is off her feet. We have good hopes. It’s too early to say. Last night we thought it might be over.”
Pauw said it was her first time in 47 years of coaching to see a friendly called off in those circumstances.
“Over physical is not a problem once staying in the laws of games. We know how to handle that.
“There were moments from the other side that Ruesha (Littlejohn) got a huge tackle and could have been injured.
“It took a few minutes to restart and two minutes later a huge challenge on Denise that was not within laws of the game. She was in awful pain.
“That created an atmosphere that I didn’t think from those 10 minutes it would be right.
“Players were extremely upset. I went to their coach to see if we could agree together. The coach only said one sentence. I needed help from them.
“Their team manager came to me. She was calm. You take care of your players and it did not happen.
“I went on the pitch to see how Denise was, something I never do. I took the players away and they felt in big, big danger.
“I said I’d support the players in that. I discussed with the FAI and the referee, then back to Dublin to the chief executive and we had no other option but to stop the game. The referee called off the game at our request.”
A statement issued after the game by the Colombian Football Federation said Ireland simply “preferred not to continue playing” and said their players had played fairly.
"Although all the processes and training of our national teams are framed in the rules of the game, healthy competition and FairPlay, among others, we respect the decision of our rival team.”
But Pauw added: “The statement from Colombia…They didn’t try to convince us to play on.
“That says there was no other way to protect the players. I didn’t think of anything else.
After the build up, not going into details, I didn’t see it getting right.
“We have VAR at the World Cup and that will take care of if itself. I’m proud that I could calm the team down. The players expressed fear. We played a game ourselves. Tom Elmes was ref.
“We analysed seven of Colombia’s games and they were never like that before.
“Everybody stayed professional. It was unfortunate and I hope we’re not in that situation again.”
Asked about the decisions now to be made about O’Sullivan’s selection for next Thursday’s opener, Pauw said: “Her body will guide the decision.
“Denise is Denise and says she’s fine. She’s a tough cookie and will do everything to be on the pitch. It’s a soft tissue injury.”
Asked if there are contingency plans should the Cork woman not make it, Pauw said: “Yes, but not saying yet. First let’s see Denise. We have decisions every day. Some players are crucial but you could add others against Zambia, we have grown. But Denise brings something extra.”
Ireland can call up a standby player to replace O’Sullivan if she is declared unfit ahead of Thursday’s opener.
Pauw admitted: “If she can’t make the first game but the second, we have another decision to make.”
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