High hopes Denise O'Sullivan will be fit to face Australia

The Cork woman was walking unaided around the team’s Emporium Hotel in Brisbane 

BOOT OFF: Denise O'Sullivan takes a walk near the team Emporium Hotel, Brisbane, Australia on Monday

Denise O’Sullivan seems certain to shake off a late injury and take her place in Thursday’s historic World Cup opener before 81,500.

The prospect of the Irish midfield operating without their 102-times capped maestro for the meeting with co-hosts Australia became real when she was hospitalised on Friday following a stamp by Colombia’s Lorena Bedoya.