Friday night in Tallaght didn’t quite produce the rip-roaring start to her reign that Carla Ward would have hoped for, but as midfielder Denise O’Sullivan pointed out after the game, adapting to the new Republic of Ireland manager’s preferred style of play “is not going to happen overnight”.
And there was very little of that style on view in the 1-0 Nations League win over Turkey. Instead of the possession-based attacking football that Ward wants her team to play, it was a disjointed, scrappy display littered with misplaced passes and next to no cohesion up front – apart from the sweet move that led to Kyra Carusa’s winner.
But it’s the earliest of days, of course, Ward only getting to work with the squad for the first time last week. And O’Sullivan insists that Ireland have the players to adapt to her style, while conceding that “it’s going to take months, even a year, to be able to play that type of football”.
“It’s exciting that she wants us to play that way, and we have the players to do it. Lots of us are playing that way at our clubs, at a really high level. The younger players coming through need a lot of time together to be able to do it, but the sessions have been great and we’re working on it.”
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The eternal question: what to do with Katie McCabe? Left-back, left-wing-back, left-winger, further up the pitch, where do you position her to get the best out of her?
“Well, we want to get Katie higher up the pitch and our wingers tucked in so she can bomb on,” said O’Sullivan. “That’s part of Carla’s system and it will take a little time too. But I am happy we are trying it.”
O’Sullivan, meanwhile, doubled down on her criticism of the FAI who, she had said, lacked “class and compassion” in their dealings with Colin Healy, the previous assistant manager of the team.
“The situation is over, but I voiced my opinion because of how strongly I felt about it. I 100 per cent support Colin. He was great for the team. Such a genuine man, a great coach and ultimately it wasn’t good enough in my eyes.”
“But look, it wasn’t my decision,” she said of the FAI opting not to retain Healy’s services, and the manner in which they dealt with him. “It’s never the decision of the players. It was an FAI decision. I had to change my mindset immediately when I came [in to his camp]. I voiced my opinion, but I respect Carla and the staff a lot. I must switch my mindset to move forward.”
Forward means Tuesday evening in Koper, where Ireland will take on a Slovenian side that opened their Nations League campaign with a 2-1 win away to Greece on Friday. Megan Campbell, who came off with “a niggle” against Turkey, and Leanne Kiernan, who missed the game with a calf injury, are the two doubts for the game.
Ward opted for a largely as-you-were team for the Turkey game, picking seven of the players who started Eileen Gleeson’s last game against Wales in the Euro 2025 play-offs, with Niamh Fahey and Julie-Ann Russell no longer options after their retirements.
It was a fair indication of how Ward has yet to have the chance to form her own assessments of the players at her disposal, so, a game in, her selection for the Slovenia game will be interesting. Her search for players comfortable with possession-based attacking football is under way.
