Quinn pleased with progress after 'bit of a comedown'

PARTNERS: Northern Ireland’s Rebecca Holloway with Republic of Ireland’s Lucy Quinn. Pic: ©INPHO/Presseye/William Cherry

Pummelling lower-seeded opposition is the best Ireland could conquer in the middling third of European football but a new manager watching will feel he or she can get more in 2024.

Nations League matches have replaced friendlies as the gap-filler between campaigns and Ireland’s cakewalk against their neighbours racked up a maximum 18-point haul, 20 goals and just two conceded.

Next year is an entirely different ball game.

A scan through the respective squads in Belfast amplified the chasm in club stature but it will be similarly apparent if Ireland draw the likes of England, Netherlands or France in the qualifiers for Euro 2025.

Eileen Gleeson’s insistence that she’s not a candidate to upgrade from temporary gaffer leaves the FAI with a new manager to unveil over the next fortnight.

They’ll take over a squad revived from a turbulent World Cup experience that ended with their manager losing the dressing room and informed by her employers her time was up despite the qualification hoodoo being ended.

“We came back from the World Cup and there was a bit of a comedown - you can't lie,” admitted Lucy Quinn, the Birmingham City attacker whose deflected goal against a team featuring her partner Rebecca Holloway sent Ireland onto their latest landslide.

“You’ve come from one of the best experiences of your life and you have to find a way to go again. I think all of the staff, no matter what job it is, pulled together to progress and that's what we've done.” 

If Vera Pauw was pilloried for being too conservative, being gifted bundles of space in this holding pattern of a campaign was the ideal remedy.

Tanya Oxtoby bemoaned her Northern Ireland team’s inability to close down the threats as time ticked on and her players tired. That won’t be presented against Champions League regulars.

“We are trying to develop a different philosophy of playing,” stressed captain Katie McCabe, scorer of a wonderful fourth goal.

"With not a lot of time together, I’m very pleased with how we have tried to implement (tactics) and try to make the right decisions on the ball.

"When you change the way you want to play, mistakes happen.

"There was talk around us lacking motivation for this game which was incredible to think people were questioning that. We were always motivated, wanting to make sure we finished this campaign with six wins from six.” 

Gleeson, fed up with fielding natural questions about her continuity, will leave a nice legacy if the FAI succeed in headhunting a better option.

“It’s a really positive time for this team,” summarised the mentor due to resume her job as head of women’s and girls’ football in the FAI.

“The story is continuing. I keep saying the longer-term aim is Euro 2025, World Cup 2027 - having consistent qualifications for those tournaments with these talented players coming through.”