O'Sullivan feared World Cup dream was over after Bedoya tackle

A fracture would’ve fractured her body and soul but thankfully the South American missed by inches the ankle bone and the impact on her shin was cushioned by the pad.

Sat, 22 Jul, 2023 - 09:12

John Fallon

Denise O’Sullivan admitted she feared her Women’s World Cup was over before it started when Lorena Bedoya implanted studs into her shinbone.

Concern for the Cork woman’s availability spiked when she was hospitalised due to the Colombian’s vicious tackle during what was designed as an uncapped training workout six days before Ireland were to face co-hosts Australia in their opener.

For the first couple of hours at St Andrew’s Hospital while awaiting scan results, anxiety crippled the 29-year-old.

All that she’d worked towards from kicking her first ball in Knocknaheeny in Cork to winning American titles and being elevated to North Carolina Courage captain was in grave jeopardy.

A fracture would’ve fractured her body and soul but thankfully the South American missed by inches the ankle bone and the impact on her shin was cushioned by the pad.

“At the time it happened, I sure thought there was a chance because of the pain felt,” she said when asked about her entire World Cup coming under threat.

“Luckily the scan showed no break and that fear was gone but for that hour waiting alongside the physio Angela Kenneally I was actually shaking from being so nervous and emotional.”

Unlike her manager Vera Pauw, O’Sullivan was saying for certain the damage was inflicted intentionally, only it was consistent with a planned 90-minute game the FAI aborted once O’Sullivan was clobbered 20 minutes in.

“There were a few bad challenges before that,” she recalls about the workout at Meakin Park.

“One on Ruesha was probably the worst.

“She (Bedoya) had body-checked me before the tackle but I can take a bodycheck. She sent me about 10 yards with her shoulder but that’s not hard with my size.

“The tackle came in two minutes later. I don’t know if it was deliberate at all but all I know looking back on it, it was a very late challenge. She kind of wasn’t looking at the ball.”

The incident, compounded by the ballsy reaction from the Colombian camp branding Ireland ‘little girls’, hurtled the story into the global news-space. Even Joe Duffy’s lifeline was consumed by outrage over the maestro’s mistreatment.

“Of course, I want the attention on the team but not for that reason,” she explained about the frenzied fallout. “It’s good that everyone was paying attention but for the wrong reasons, I think. I want people to pay attention to see how good this team is and can see how we are on the world stage.

“I just saw it blow up on Twitter and decided to delete my social media accounts. I stayed away from it for a while.”

O’Sullivan had to devote her concentration to the task of toppling the Matildas as soon as clearance to feature in the blockbuster opening day fixture was forthcoming from the medical team.

A testing evening for the Irish ended with zero points and tired bodies but the narrowest of defeats doesn’t deviate the goal. Four points from the two remaining games against Canada on Wednesday in Perth (1pm Irish time) and Nigeria on Monday week (11am, Irish time) will likely progress them to the last-16 of their debut tournament, probably against England.

“Now the group is wide open again and there’s a big opportunity in our own hands,” O’Sullivan said in the context of their next two opponents playing out a scoreless draw on Friday.

“We gave a really good account of ourselves against Australia in front of 75,000 fans, mostly their own.

“Being number 10 in the world, we really put it up to them. I don’t think nerves took over or we got overwhelmed, I think we looked really relaxed in the game and we want to bring that into Canada.

“We wanted to play that way in our first game but over the next few days of work we'll see if Vera wants us to push on further.

“Canada had eight players on the pitch from the NWSL and the biggest name there is obviously Christine Sinclair.

“She is a massive player and leader, who has scored an awful lot of goals in big tournaments. We’ll be studying them over the next few days.”