Megan Connolly expecting Poland to 'play on front foot' in Dublin

The sides meet again this weekend.

Thu, 16 Apr, 2026 - 14:30

John Fallon

Megan Connolly foresees Poland coming out ‘all guns blazing’ in Saturday’s sequel to Ireland’s World Cup qualifying victory in Gdansk on Tuesday.

If the popular wisdom prevails, then the two nations are in a battle for third in the group, lagging behind French and Dutch teams with history of driving deep into tournaments.

At the midway stage of the campaign, Ireland hold the upperhand by two points.

In what is effectively a playoff for an easier playoff later in the year, another victory at Lansdowne Road will guarantee Ireland at least third with the concluding qualifiers against Netherlands and France on June 5 and 9 remaining.

This will be the six occasion for the women’s team to grace the national stadium, with ticket sales approaching 20,000 heading into the final 48 hours.

It’s the type of setting that Ewa Pajor has flourished in for Poland and Barcelona. One of Ireland’s biggest successes from Tuesday was suppressing her threat until four minutes from full-time when she lobbed what transpired to be a consolation goal.

Yet hers is the biggest threat to Ireland relinquishing what Carla Ward branded a ‘commanding position’ in the table.

“To come away with three points from such a difficult away game was really important but we know Poland will come out guns blazing,” said Lazio player Connolly, who forms a Cork midfield axis with Denise O’Sullivan.

“They'll be a lot more front-footed and aggressive. I think the spaces that showed up the other night might not happen again for us so it may need different ways for us to try to break them down.”

Likewise, Ireland can’t afford to ignore Ewelina Kamczyk, the Polish midfielder recently headhunted by AC Milan. Connolly and her have already crossed paths in Italy.

“She's a really strong midfielder so I'm glad I was able to cut her space a bit on Tuesday,” added the 29-year-old.

“I don't think Poland showcased their best performance the other night individually and as a team, so I do think that will change on Saturday. I think they'll have learned a lot.

“The beauty and kind of the difficulty of having two back to back games against the same team is we both get to learn and kind of improve and kind of fix the little things.

“I think (Kamczyk) will try to get on the ball more and disrupt us. We'll be ready for that.” Connolly’s first involvement under the Ward era was in defence during the opening window of February 2025. That’s her position too at club level but reverted seamlessly for international duty.

Connolly, O’Sullivan and Marissa Sheva dominated the central area on a bumpy surface in Gdansk.

“At the start of this World Cup campaign it was tough in midfield because I hadn't played that role for a while.

“Since then, I've had that consistency with Maz and Dee in the middle and you get a lot more comfortable. We know how each other plays.” “That's was my position during the majority of my career, firstly at Brighton and Hove Albion and then Bristol City before I gradually kind of transitioned into that defender.

“Even at Lazio, I’m playing a lot in the back three and sometimes back four.

“Yet I still see a lot of the ball at Lazio so that helps when I do make that transition back into the middle, being comfortable receiving the ball under pressure.”