THEY MAY HAVE come up short in their bid to qualify for the 2015 Women’s World Cup, but Ireland can hold their heads high going into their final qualifier tonight.
Sue Ronan’s side have already claimed their highest ever points tally and sit third in Group 1 having earned five wins, two draws and two defeats ahead of the meeting with already qualified Germany (5pm kick-off Irish time).
The seven group winners will book places in next year’s finals in Canada while the four runners-up with the best records facing off in play-offs next month. However, even an unlikely win in Heidenheim wouldn’t be enough to see the Girls in Green progress.
That hasn’t dampened the spirits of Irish winger Julie Ann Russell, who has called for a similar performance to the one they produced in the reverse fixture at Tallaght Stadium back in April.
Having taken the lead against the current European champions early on through Louis Quinn, Ireland suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 loss after conceding in the 91st minute.
“I am really looking forward to it and I can’t wait for the game to come around,” Russell told the FAI. “There is really high hopes and good spirit in the camp so hopefully we can do something tomorrow.
“We had a good result and good performance against Slovakia so we can bring that in and we can also draw from our performance against Germany at home where we showed that we can put it up to them. Hopefully, this time, we can get a result.”
UCD Waves star Russell, the younger sister of Sligo Rovers midfielder John, has played every minute in qualifying and scored two of Ireland’s 13 goals — both from free-kicks.
The 23-year-old was also the most fouled player of the campaign in the entire European section — earning a whopping 33 free-kicks over nine games.
I had a feeling that I was being fouled a lot but I didn’t think that I would be the most fouled player in the whole campaign in Europe,” she explains. “However, I have the bruises and the soreness to prove it.
“The fact that it is already the highest points total we have ever got is great but everybody feels they can do better and we’ll try to. We had the little blips against Croatia away and Russia at home but it is good for the future that we can get better and, hopefully, qualify for a major tournament.”
