Ireland boss Eileen Gleeson admits Denise O'Sullivan injury a concern for Sweden showdown

The Girls in Green welcome their old rivals to Dublin for a crunch Euro qualifier.

Head coach Eileen Gleeson during a Republic of Ireland women's media conference at Castleknock Hotel on Thursday. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Denise O’Sullivan’s inclusion for Friday’s Women’s Euro qualifier against Sweden at Lansdowne Road will be a late call, admits Ireland manager Eileen Gleeson.

The Corkwoman reported into camp having sustained a knee injury while captaining North Carolina Courage recently.

Gleeson had last week expressed confidence of the centurion’s wellbeing for the double-header which concludes in Stockholm next Tuesday, categorising her injury as a “Grade 1 MCL, at most”. However, she was more circumspect at Thursday’s pre-match press conference.

“Denise has been in with us from the start but she’s been on a modified programme so she’s a little bit separate from the group at times so we’re still working towards having her on the field,” said the supremo, seeking to get Ireland off the mark following defeats to France (0-1) and England (0-2) in last month’s opening pair of qualifiers.

“We’ll have to keep assessing and modifying to make sure she can potentially be available then.

“There’ll be late calls. We always knew Denise was going to be on a modified training programme.

“We’re aware and knew we would be [waiting], the same position we were before we came into the camp with Denise.” 

There’s no concerns over Katie McCabe’s readiness, despite the Ireland skipper reporting into camp late due to her end-of-season trip to Australia with Arsenal. As is customary, Gleeson confirmed a full clean bill of health for the opening salvo against a side ranked sixth in Fifa’s standings.

“We haven’t really looked or focused on the game from 2022,” Gleeson said about the 1-1 draw in Gothenburg, a seismic result for Ireland on their path to reaching a first-ever tournament, the World Cup in Australia.

“Lots have happened since then; there’s been World Cups and Nations Leagues, so we would be looking at the more recent games.

“Sweden have evolved as a team, we have evolved as a team, with different players.

“There’s no getting away from the fact that they’ve lost their striker Stina Blackstenius but we know the players that potentially replace them will be of similar ilk.

“We won’t be underestimating that if you lose a big striker it’s going to have an impact on Sweden.

“We would think Sweden will play in a very similar way regardless of what striker they have or don’t have.”