2 mins: Early pressure from Turkey who get an early corner which is cleared well by the Irish defence.
Ireland 0 Turkey 0
The teams are coming out on the pitch. Good atmosphere in Tallaght.
An interview with Heather Payne, with the versatile Everton player to pass the half-century mark of international caps against Turkey.
“I’m super proud,” she says. “When you’re playing under-15 for Ireland you don’t really think about 50 senior caps, you just hope that you’ll make the squad. And to have played in a World Cup in those 50 caps is amazing as well.
“But I don’t want to just stop at 50, I want to keep going and get as many caps as possible. There are some players in the squad who’ve reached 100, if I could do that, that would be brilliant.”
[ Heather Payne in the mood to hit more milestones for IrelandOpens in new window ]
A lot of familiar faces in the first side chosen by Carla Ward, not making wholesale changes.
For Turkey, Miray Cin is on the bench, she plays for Freiburg in the GPFBL. The vast majority of the team is home-based otherwise, Midfielder Ebru Topcu has the most caps with 67 and 20 goals scored.
Ireland team to play Turkey: Brosnan; Campbell, Mannion, Patten; Payne, Littlejohn, O’Sullivan, Quinn, McCabe (capt); Carusa, Sheva
Turkey: Akgoz; Sakar, Hiz, Abrahamsson, Civelek; Topcu, Cal, Keskin, Turkoglu, Seker, Pekel
Some quotes from Mary’s piece from captain Katie McCabe and how the defeat to Wales left her in a low place:
“Some of the best feelings I’ve had in my life have been on a football pitch. That day in the Aviva was definitely one of the worst. What we do on the pitch matters for women’s football in Ireland and the future of grassroots football. So yeah, it was devastating.”
On the decision to move away from Eileen Gleeson and Colin Healy:
“A lot of the girls were surprised, from the point of view of how well we got on, the connection and the good environment they created. I want to say a big thanks to Eileen and Colin for everything they’ve done. They brought in a real energy and freshness to the team. We created unbelievable, special moments together – we went on a really nice run in the Nations League and got a massive result down in Cork against France.”
“Unfortunately we didn’t qualify for the Euros and the FAI made a decision off the back of that, so we need to look forward now, towards how we’re going to qualify for the 2027 World Cup. That starts on Friday night with our new manager in place.”
The match preview from Mary Hannigan:
Leanne Kiernan has been ruled out of the game with a calf injury, although Ward hasn’t given up on the Liverpool striker being fit for Tuesday’s game away to Slovenia. She admitted she left several players disappointed by not including them in her first squad, but suggested there would be new faces come April for the home and away games against Greece.
She was impressed by what she saw in Wednesday’s game between the Irish under-19s and a development squad, “the amount of quality coming through is really exciting”, she said. “There are quite a few that I liked, and one or two in particular need to get involved early [with the senior squad] so they’re put in positions that stress them. It’s important that we try to do that as early as possible.”
[ Ireland look to the future as Carla Ward’s reign kicks off against TurkeyOpens in new window ]
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Women’s Nations League game between Ireland and Turkey, in Tallaght Stadium. Kick-off is at 7.30pm. It’s the first game for Carla Ward after replacing Eileen Gleeson at the helm and Ireland are looking to bounce back from missing out on Euro 2025 with a good performance tonight. It’s a chance for some new faces to get a run-out, while still having a lot of quality in the squad with the likes of Katie McCabe and Denise O’Sullivan.
Here is the Ireland WNT Squad:
Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Sophie Whitehouse (Charlton Athletic), Grace Moloney (Unattached).
Defenders: Heather Payne (Everton), Jessie Stapleton (Sunderland – on loan from West Ham United), Anna Patten (Aston Villa), Aoife Mannion (Manchester United), Caitlin Hayes (Brighton & Hove Albion), Megan Campbell (London City Lionesses), Katie McCabe (Arsenal).
Midfielders: Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Megan Connolly (Lazio), Tyler Toland (Blackburn Rovers), Ruesha Littlejohn (Unattached), Marissa Sheva (Unattached), Melisa Filis (Charlton Athletic).
Forwards: Leanne Kiernan (Liverpool), Kyra Carusa (San Diego Wave), Abbie Larkin (Crystal Palace), Amber Barrett (Standard Liege), Izzy Atkinson (Crystal Palace), Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City), Emily Murphy (Newcastle United).
