Caitlin Hayes: 'There’s a mental side to being hunted and then becoming the hunters'

ON THE HUNT: Captain Katie McCabe has implored Ireland to jump into attack but Caitlin Hayes prefers the hunt method. Pic: @INPHO/Tom Maher

Whether it’s through a jump or the hunt, Ireland must swifty make a leap if they’re to disrupt the natural order of their European qualification group.

Sweden’s visit on Friday – and the return game next Tuesday in Stockholm - may represent their best chance of avoiding the wooden spoon given England and France are setting the pace.

Captain Katie McCabe – somewhat rested following last week’s Melbourne trip with Arsenal – has implored Ireland to jump into attack but Caitlin Hayes prefers the hunt method.

Either way, without a goal or a point after two of their six qualifiers, something different is required.

The default method of relying on Megan Campbell’s throw-ins to pose threats is now anticipated and counteracted by the opposition.

Eileen Gleeson believes a change of fortune is best engineered by minor tweaks, rather than a radical overhaul, aware the onus is on her Ireland side to entertain an estimated crowd of around 25,000.

“We’re at home and want to bring the game to them,” she said about the gameplan against the reigning Olympic silver and World Cup bronze medallists.

“As a team, we want to be assertive, aggressive and have much more high quality further up the pitch.

“Looking back at the games against France and England, there were points where we were a little bit passive, particularly the first half of England at home.

“It is never the intention to be passive; more about being structured without the ball and if that has to be deep, you can still be deep while being aggressive.

“There’s a balancing act. Are you going to go full tilt and chase from the start or stay in the game as long? In our first two games, the highest risk chances for both France and England came when we pushed out.” 

Such is the downside to sharing company with the top tier of nations. A sprinkling of the world’s best players feature among the three of the top-ranked six in the world.

Sweden, even without McCabe’s injured Arsenal teammate Stina Blackstenius, have a trio of Chelsea’s WSL title-winning team in goalkeeper Zećira Mušović, defender Nathalie Björn and winger Johanna Rytting-Kaneryd.

Ireland are sweating over the fitness of their other elite performer than McCabe, Denise O’Sullivan. A knee injury limited her involvement in Monday’s final training session.

Arguably their most potent threat for the visitors is Champions League winner Fridolina Rolfö. Illness restricted the Barcelona attacker to a mere cameo in Ireland’s famous 1-1 draw against the Swedes two years ago in the World Cup qualifying campaign.

“There’s a mental side to being hunted and then becoming the hunters,” admitted Celtic defender Hayes about the approach to facing powerhouses of this calibre.

“If we’re in a low block, you may wait for a Swedish mistake, pick it off as a pack and move forward together. Ultimately, it has to be done together.” 

They’ll certainly operate in unison to capitalise on Campbell’s catapults. Injury history militates against the left wing-back lasting 90 minutes, especially when her English season finished on April 28, but Gleeson insists she’s “in the conversation” to start.

Sweden boss Peter Gerhardsson will be vigilant. He could see for himself the danger caused by the sideline punts when Campbell was introduced to chase deficits.

“You never know if she (Campbell) starts or then comes in,” he said.

“If Ireland are 1-0 down, maybe they bring her on (but) it’s not unusual. Iceland also had a player like that and they equalised against us with a long throw.” 

Considering the 18 places that separate the nations in Fifa’s rankings, this really is a long shot for Ireland.

The redeeming aspect is the guarantee of a playoff which winning their Nations League group last Autumn secured, yet the team with the worst record across the four mini-groups in July won’t be seeded for the showdowns in October and November. If Ireland can’t accrue points, the next target is dodging goal difference disaster.

“We are focusing on the games in the qualifiers but understand the importance of every single point, as well as goal scored and conceded, in terms of the play-off - if it comes to that,” confessed Gleeson.

“These qualifiers are not isolated. It’s all intertwined, which we have to factor into our approach for the games.”