Injury rules Denise O'Sullivan and Megan Campbell out of opening USA friendly
DENISE O'SULLIVAN AND Megan Campbell will both have their respective injuries assessed to determine whether they can play any part in the Republic of Ireland's friendly double header with the USA in Colorado.
Both players are definitely ruled out of the opening game with the USA in the early hours of Friday morning (2am Irish time) but could return for Sunday's fixture against the team ranked number one in world.
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O'Sullivan picked up a knee injury on club duty last weekend while Campbell is nursing an ankle issue from training.
There'll be no Denise O'Sullivan or Megan Campbell for the Republic of Ireland against the USA on Friday morning (2am, live on @RTEplayer ), but boss Carla Ward tells @Corktod she expects others to embrace the challenge against Emma Hayes' world No 1-ranked team #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/mojnGqdmBS — RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) June 25, 2025
Ireland boss Carla Ward is already missing captain Katie McCabe for the trip Stateside as the Arsenal star was afforded more time off after winning the Champions League with the English club.
Aoife Mannion and Heather Payne have also not travelled as the pair search for new clubs following their release from Manchester United and Everton, respectively.
The second friendly with the USA is on Sunday at 8pm Irish time.
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Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Damian Stack: Damien Duff's account still in surplus despite sudden departure
Against the FAI. Against rival managers (did somebody say Stephen Bradley?). And, eventually, against his own players. He gave them both barrels on Friday evening, by inference questioning both their commitment and professionalism. Those comments went almost beyond the point of no return for a manager in a dressing room. Given all he'd done for them, the heights to which they'd climbed under his leadership, it may have been just about possible for Duff to win the players back round. Evidently, though, the former Chelsea winger was no longer interested in any of that, preferring instead to burn bridges behind him in a manner reminiscent of that meme from The Simpsons. There's always been a certain spikiness to Duff since he's come into the league, nevertheless it's been a bizarre heel-turn. To go from the guy who said literally just a couple of months ago that he'd die for his players, to this. It's less even what he said, and more what he's done. Walking out on his squad mere weeks from the biggest game in their careers, a Champions League play-off tie with Irish League side Linfield. Truly, it's hard to fathom how he could do that. We'll grant you it's a tough gig, and Duff has given body and soul to it for the last three and-a-half years. Probably it was always unsustainable the intensity Duff brought to the role, a relentless emotional rollercoaster. Burn-out is real and it may be simply the case that Duff, as he's reported to have said, brought this bunch of Shels players are far as he could. There's a real sense that he's overachieved in time at Tolka Park. Even if you consider this sudden departure something of a blot on his copybook (assuming, as we must at this juncture, that it's purely a sporting decision), Duff's ledger is still very much in surplus. What he's done for that club and those players, for the League itself is incalculable and invaluable. He raised Shels to heights not seen in decades. He helped put the League on the map. There's part of us that wants to say he owes them nothing, but we really do think he owed it to these players to stick around at least for this forthcoming European campaign. What's more we think he owed it to himself and to his career. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more A European campaign – one that stood a good chance of progressing to a group phase – would have provided invaluable experience, and money. That money wouldn't have motivated Duff on a personal level, but for the club (and squad) it could be transformative. Duff, though, has walked away from it all and not for the first time. That pattern of sudden exits from roles, probably won't stop him getting another, and another after that again, but it will raise questions. If the 'when the going gets tough the Duff gets going' line stings it's became it contains a grain of truth. More than anything else, though, it's just a shame that such a brilliant story, such a brilliant collaboration should end on such a bum note. This Limerick team have been a real joy to behold Limerick aren't the story. They're not. This was Dublin's day. Their greatest day after carrying off the greatest coup in, perhaps, the history of the All-Ireland hurling championship. The Sky Blues deserve all the credit, all the attention. We get that, we do, we really do. Our thoughts, though, keep drifting back to Limerick. The single greatest hurling side we've ever seen in our life-time and arguably the best the game as ever seen. Few sides have given us greater pleasure and satisfaction to watch in full flow. The power, the pace, the precision, the iconoclasm, the refusal to be bound by convention, by tradition, by the established order. They never looked to us a side burdened by what had gone before, forging instead their own path. Only on very rare occasions did they betray any semblance of self-doubt. John Kiely's declaration after winning the 2018 All-Ireland semi-final that he would 'shut down the whole thing' in relation to media coverage if any outlet sought to directly contact a player, about the only evidence for insecurity we can think of. Besides that was early days, relatively speaking. Kiely learned better how to handle the press since then – even by then the chances of a reporter directly contacting a footballer or hurler in the lead up to an All-Ireland final were pretty much nil – as he and his team grew in confidence. Kiely's role in the whole thing has been fairly fascinating. Sure, he happened upon the most gifted generation of hurlers any county has ever produced, but he's kept the show on the road. He's seems to have an almost old-school disposition, a man not to be trifled with. At the same time, though, he's very much a man of his time. As much delegator as disciplinarian, building one of the most formidable back-room teams the game has ever seen. Kiely's partnership with Paul Kinnerk is up there with Brian Clough and Peter Taylor in its effectiveness as Limerick stormed to five All-Ireland titles in a six-year spell. That level of success – nay dominance – hasn't always endeared them to the rest of the hurling community. Coming from Kerry, though, maybe we were better able to look past that (dare we say?) jealousy than people from hurling counties? Or maybe it's that we live in a village that sees an influx of Limerick folk in the summer months? Limerick-on-sea, with oftentimes more green and white flags on view than green and gold. A form of Stockholm syndrome, perhaps? We don't rule it out. More likely, though, is simply that they were a joy to watch in their pomp, epitomised by the finesse of Cian Lynch, the defiance of Seán Finn, the brilliance of Gearóid Hegarty, the Rolls Royce engine possessed of Kyle Hayes. They had it all, they really did. Whether we should be talking about them in the past tense, though, is another question and, on balance, we think it's fair enough. Not all those players are done (Hayes is just 26, Lynch 29, Hegarty 30), but that iteration of Limerick is done. What follows is going to be fascinating to watch. Can Kiely and Kinnerk go again? Can they regenerate the squad? Can they rethink their project? Do they have the desire? The energy? The will? Whether they do or don't, what's already been achieved will stand the test of time. Siege mentality driving Donegal This time, Donegal have a point. A good one. A very good one. It's hardly fair that the last team in action last weekend, should be the first team out this weekend. It means that Donegal will have just a six-day turnaround from their victory over Louth last weekend to prepare for their last-eight clash with Monaghan in Croke Park this Saturday evening, while Kerry will have eight days to prepare for their game with Armagh. Something doesn't add up there. Okay there are other considerations – a balanced TV package, what blend of teams provides the best chance of selling out the stadium – but surely the primary one should be competitive fairness. Instead of eight days for Kerry and six for Donegal, why not seven each? Little wonder the Donegal county board have felt compelled to speak out. They have right to feel aggrieved. We do wonder, though, if it provides at least a certain amount of grist to Jim McGuinness' mill. It's twice in a week Donegal have expressed their displeasure with fixture arrangements. 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Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Carla Ward hoping Ireland can scale new heights against the USA in Colorado
Carla Ward will be hoping her Republic of Ireland squad can reach new dizzing heights when they take on the USA in a friendly double-header this week. The Girls in Green take on the Americans in Colorado on Friday morning Irish time (live on the RTÉ player at 2am) before they meet again in Cincinnati on Sunday (kick-off 8pm Irish time). The two nations have met each other on 15 occasions to date – all on US soil and all in friendly fixtures – and Ireland's record doesn't make for pretty reading, losing all 15 matches, conceding 51 goals and scoring just once in the process. But Ireland, who are ranked 25th in the FIFA World rankings, may be more confident of causing an upset against the team currently sitting top of those standings as they come into these games on the back of completing their Nations League group stage campaign with wins over Turkey and Slovenia. Read More Will Saipan film reopen old wounds between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy ultras? But for Ward, it will be more about the performances of her side as they look to build ahead of more important challenges to come down the line, including their Nations League Promotion / Relegation play-off against Belgium in October. 'Anyone around the world would find it difficult to beat the US," said Ward, whose squad will also have to contend with the altitude at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, which resides over 5,200 feet above sea level. "They've had a programme leading into this, but you can never prepare for altitude without being here. So we've come a day earlier. Today (Sunday), they're going to be doing a bit of work outside walking, more than anything, and tomorrow (Monday) we'll be on the grass. "But you can't prepare until you get here. That's the reality. You can do as much as you want on the grass and training, but we've got to get out there tomorrow, get them at it, and try and get as best prepared as we can. "I'm well aware of the history between the two sides, 15 games with 15 wins for the US and only one goal scored for Ireland. So we know it is going to be difficult. 'The result is not what we're going after. It's more continuing the process and building on what we are doing. 'We'd be foolish to say we are coming here to win these games of football but we have to look bigger than that, where we're at and trying to build. 'We've got quite a young squad here so there will be a few players we'll look at across both games naturally 'We have to make sure we put ourselves in a position to be competitive. So across the two games I'd like to think we can have a look at a decent amount of players.' Republic of Ireland head coach Carla Ward poses for a portrait near their team hotel in Denver. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile. One of those players looking to impress will be Ellen Molloy, whose excellent performances for Wexford on her return to the League of Ireland following a brief spell in the English Championship with Sheffield United, has earned her a first call-up under Ward. 'The League of Ireland is an evolving league, it still has a long way to go,' added Ward. 'It's a part-time league. Let's not be too naïve. International football is a massive step-up. The Championship is a step-up from that let alone the WSL or international football. 'So it's having a look at how Ellen can cope in an international environment. We've had a look at a few other League of Ireland players as well. 'Ellen has done tremendously well and she has been involved her before. So obviously it is now for us to see how she copes at this level. 'I never really want to get involved in what leagues they play in. It's important they're playing football. Confidence is key. She came home for her own reasons. All we want to do is select players who are involved in competitive football, ideally at the highest level. 'When we look at the League of Ireland, the sooner we can make it full-time the better for the future of the game. It's a good opportunity to see where she is at.' Ireland will be without Denise O'Sullivan and Megan Campbell for the first game as both have been ruled out through injury while Katie McCabe hasn't travelling having been granted time off following her Champions League winning excursions with Arsenal.


Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Elusive Olympic success driving Ireland's consistent world beaters
Even now, hurling percolates Michael Blake's world. Brought up in Tuamgraney in East Clare, it's close to fifty decades since the high performance director of Ireland's hugely successful show jumping team put away the hurley and concentrated on the saddle. He remembers well his time at St Flannan's when the Ennis college ended 18 years without a Harty Cup in 1976, and the golden period that followed as they lost two finals and came through again in 1979. Clare's resurrection in the 1990s elicits relief and some regrets. 1996 and the loss to Limerick. The Offaly protest in '98. Ach! This background bubbles to the surface time and again, even when the conversation revolves exclusively around a day job that has seen Ireland enjoy an extraordinary run of success at some of show jumping's most illustrious of events around the world. In recent weeks alone, Irish teams have won two Nations Cups on different continents within five days having already won a prestigious Longines League of Nations Cup event on a third, in Abu Dhabi, only last February. All with completely different riders. This week sees the team in Aachen to defend another prestigious title. Ireland's recent podium finish rate has ballooned to almost 80%. They had eleven Nations Cup podiums last year alone. Other countries would sit in and around the 40% mark. The one fly in this ointment is the inability to get over the line in the biggest of the big ones. They lost the World Championships by six-hundredths of a second. What Blake refers to as an 'eyelash'. A team of Shane Sweetnam, Daniel Coyle and Cian O'Connor couldn't build on a perfect platform on the final day at last year's Olympics in Paris when coming in seventh. Here comes one of those hurling analogies. 'We need to put it in the net all the time,' said Blake. 'I know that's hard to do, but we should put it in the net nine times out of 10 because now we have that kind of ability. We almost have that kind of structure and depth. The constant winning should be soon normal.' He knows better than anyone the tiny margins involved. Working with animals brings with it an added and obvious layer of the unexpected. A horse can step on a stone, or be sold by an owner, and everything can change. Ireland named their squad two weeks earlier than others for the Games, in case of any objections lodged over team selections. How problematic is that? Well, says Blake, Limerick wouldn't name their team seven weeks before an All-Ireland, would they? 'We're bitterly disappointed that we let our nation down. We wanted to do our best and we've bounced back before and after. We've bounced back now. We're the only country in the world that have two five-star wins up this year and so we can't be too bad.' This ability to win often and with multiple riders isn't a fluke. Blake reckons Ireland can call on a pool of riders that may be as large as 30 while powerhouses such as Sweden and Switzerland are struggling having stuck with the same, small gene pool. 'I've created a monster,' he laughed when asked about the selection headaches involved. It's a base he started to build at underage levels back in 2012. Young riders were backed and encouraged to pack their knapsacks and go off and build resilience and careers. They went from being big fish in a small pond here to minnows abroad. A young rider's academy was set up at home in support. They were educated on everything from conduct, to how to get an owner, media training, veterinary, accounting and how to get a lorry licence. All skills essential to this most unique of sporting careers. 'Being able to ride the horse is very important, but it's 50% at most.' The Nations Cup title claimed in La Baule earlier this month was won with two young riders, Seamus Hughes Kennedy and Tom Wachman, riding two young horses. All performed admirably. Blake likens it to minor players mixing it with the big boys. Hughes Kennedy is a 23-year old who, he said, has come from nowhere to be 'the new Ronaldo in this world'. The really exciting part in all this is how much better again this new generation will be when the time comes to tackle the next Games in LA in 2028. There is plenty to be done, and won, before then. Blake speaks of his love for Aachen and Rome and La Baule and a Dublin event that he describes as the Mecca. But that elusive Olympic medal exercises his mind constantly. 'There's only them [Olympic] circles,' he admitted. 'That's what I'm after.'