Denise O'Sullivan and Ruesha Littlejohn out of Ireland's Euro qualifier with Sweden

Eileen Gleeson will have to plan without the talismanic Corkwoman on Friday night. 

Denise O'Sullivan and head coach Eileen Gleeson during a Republic of Ireland women's training session at Aviva Stadium this week. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Ireland will face Sweden at the Aviva Stadium on Friday evening without Denise O'Sullivan and Ruesha Littlejohn.

The pair have failed to win respective fitness battles for the crunch European qualifier. 

Cork native, O'Sullivan reported into camp having sustained a knee injury while captaining North Carolina Courage recently.

Manager Eileen Gleeson indicated on Thursday that O'Sullivan's involvement would be a late call but the she has not now been included in the matchday squad. 

“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,” Gleeson said. “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 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.” 

Despite the setback, Ireland will attempt to get their campaign off the mark following defeats to France (0-1) and England (0-2) in last month’s opening pair of qualifiers.