'I hope we can continue to play in Cork' - Ireland star O'Sullivan vouches for Páirc play-off

Ireland's defeat to France on Tuesday means they will have to go through the play-off system to qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil

Denise O'Sullivan on Ireland playing at Páirc Uí Chaoimh: "Three wins in three in Cork and last Friday was absolutely fantastic. I think the fans stuck behind us for 90 minutes." Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Denise O’Sullivan admits she hopes Ireland’s women return to her native Cork in December for the World Cup play-off final, their last shot at reaching Brazil next year.

Tuesday’s slender defeat to France ended a three-match winning streak in the qualifiers, sending them into the next Wednesday’s draw for a convoluted play-off system.

Success in finishing third ahead of Poland confers seeded status on Ireland, ensuring they cannot meet superpowers like England or Sweden in either the semi-finals or finals of the series.

Ireland will be drawn against a lower ranked team in the semis, due to take place in October, and the form book indicates a nation in the calibre of Scotland or Wales, who they've met successively in the last two play-off finals, await in the shootout in late November.

As with the semi-final, Ireland will be at home for the second leg on December 5.

Lansdowne Road could stage one or both of those legs but given last Friday’s 3-2 victory over fancied Netherlands made it a perfect record of three wins from three at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the Liverpool playmaker can see the merits in the FAI taking the decider south to the home of Cork GAA.

“Yeah, of course,” O’Sullivan said with a giggle about Cork’s attractiveness. “Three wins in three in Cork and last Friday was absolutely fantastic.

“I think the fans stuck behind us for 90 minutes. They were dancing and loud as ever at the end of the game. It's a great atmosphere down there.

“I hope we can continue playing there, whether we do or not is another thing.” 

The playmaker returned from missing the Dutch game through suspension to harness midfield in Grenoble. As the squad’s most experienced campaigner, with over 100 caps, she was self-critical of her own display, while lamenting a litany of golden opportunities squandered to earn a draw or even the victory to usurp leaders France for that direct ticket to South America.

“France were on a different level and it was probably a game too far for us,” she surmised.

“We showed character and fight to keep pushing in the last 15-20 minutes of the game.

“If one of those chances went in, the game could have flipped and we would have ended up winning but no-one would have seen us being in the position of being able to qualify automatically for the World Cup.” 

It’s been a whirlwind year for O’Sullivan, between leaving America behind after a decade to join the Reds.

The football pauses for the summer but she’s got another big day out looming with her wedding to fiancé James, before attention turns to pre-season and the play-offs with Ireland.

“I don't think it's going to be a free hit,” she said of the semi-final against one of Romania, Greece, Kosovo, Hungary, Croatia, Belarus, Kazakhstan or Lithuania.

“It will be a very different game to what we’ve been recently used to, probably playing against a lower block, which at times as a team we've struggled.

“To be up to 21st place in the Fifa rankings is absolutely amazing but we want to keep striving to get higher and higher. 

“Our time under Carla has been fantastic. I think the biggest thing under Carla is she just instils this belief and confidence in the team. We’ve gotten better with every game.”