Denise O'Sullivan has no chance of featuring in the Republic of Ireland's Euro 2025 qualifier against Sweden in Stockholm on Tuesday night, as Eileen Gleeson looks to rally her side for another seismic challenge.
The Swedes ran out convincing 3-0 winners at the Aviva Stadium tonight, ruthlessly punishing the Girls in Green for missed first-half chances.
The world No 6-ranked visitors were missing Stina Blackstenius, Amanda Ilestedt, Lina Hurtig and Rebecka Blomqvist but still posessed too much class for their hosts.
Ireland have no points from their opening three group games and have yet to register a goal, but Gleeson insists they are not far off.
"We're pretty frustrated," she said. "We know the difference in levels. We could have been 2-0 up before they scored. This is the thing with the difference in levels. We wanted to be a bit more aggressive but then it's a hgher risk.
"That's the balancing act. We're still in the development stage in that... being more assertive and playing higher against teams like this, but at the same time when you get chances you need to be clinical in those moments."
Amber Barrett and Lily Agg were both guilty of squandering opportunities when the game was in the balance and Gleeson pulled no punches when assessing the team's shortcomings.
"Put it in the back of the net - just be clinical," she said when asked what Ireland needed to do to find more goals.
"They're msissed chances. These are the things that will win you the game, that will change the game, change the mindset. The effort is there, the intent is there, the want is there - now we have to finish that off.
"These are top teams you’re playing against. You risk that you venture up the field, which is what we want to do, we want to be higher up, we want to be aggressive but this is the trade-off."
O'Sullivan missed out with a knee injury she suffered in action for North Carolina Courage three weeks ago. She has no hope of recovering for Tuesday, while Ruesha Littlejoh - absent tonight due to an ankle issue - is unlikely to make it.
"Did we miss them tonight? Yes, of course, but the other girls gave a great shift, there was great effort."
"Denise has no chance," Gleeson said. "Ruesha is stil in with us but she's a major doubt. It's a big loss to sustain, two of our best players on the ball. Did we miss them tonight? Yes, of course, but the other girls gave a great shift, there was great effort."
Captain Katie McCabe has had a gruelling week having featured for Arsenal in an end-of-season friendly in Melbourne. She only linked up with the Ireland camp on Tuesday and has been adhering to special sleeping patterns to fight jet lag.
The skipper looked jaded in the second half, understandably leggy as the toll of an unforgiving schedule caught up on her, but Gleeson played down any fears she may have suffered a muscle injury towards the end of the game.
"I think she's fine. It’s probably just fatigue at this point of the game. Like I said, we’ll just work on using the whole squad, it is tough, the turnaround is quick.
"We want to have this identity of being assertive and aggressive, and getting forwards in numbers. And I think the girls did do that. But we got caught.
"And this is where we're at in our development as a team. And unless you do it, you can’t get good at it. That is the trade off of course, obviously we didn’t get the three points and not to concede."
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