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BBC News
07-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Players need to step up in McCabe's absence - O'Sullivan
Republic of Ireland midfield Denise O'Sullivan said that it is "important for other players to step up" in the absence of suspended captain Katie Arsenal midfielder picked up a yellow card after coming on at half-time in the 4-0 Nations League victory against Greece on Friday that rules her out of the home game at Tallaght against the Greeks.O'Sullivan, who is set to skipper the side in McCabe's absence, believes others coming in must try and fill the void left by the influential midfielder, who assisted two goals in Crete despite nursing a calf problem."Katie is a top, top player she is our captain, and you always want your captain around, but I think it is important for other players to step up now," O'Sullivan, who has won 122 caps for her country, told RTE Sport."It's an opportunity for players to step in and represent their country and do their job. "Of course, we'll miss Katie, but we have a lot of other leaders in the team that can come in and make a difference, so I see it as a positive as well and we look forward to it."Shelbourne midfielder Alex Kavanagh has been brought into the squad to replace won her single cap for her country nine years ago in a friendly against of Ireland boss Carla Ward will also be without striker Kyra Carusa for Tuesday night's who scored the Republic's second goal on Friday, had picked up a quad side are second in Group B2, three points behind leaders Slovenia after two wins and a loss in their first three games.
BBC News
24-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Ward targets Nations Cup win over 'top side' Slovenia
Republic of Ireland manager Carla Ward says they will face a Slovenia team with an "abundance of quality" in Tuesday night's Nations Cup game in beat Greece 2-1 in their League B Group 2 opener on Friday while the Republic of Ireland clinched a 1-0 win over Turkey in Dublin."Slovenia are a top side - their age groups are showing that. Every single age group is improving in their rankings," Ward told RTE Sport."The first team are no different. They're a good side, they've got players with Champions League experience. But if I'm honest I think this type of game will be better than the game against Turkey. "Why? Because you've got two teams who want to play football. There will be spaces that open up which naturally makes for a better game. It'll be a very different game but it will be a tough game because they've got an abundance of quality."Kyra Carusa scored the only goal as Ward began her reign as Republic of Ireland boss with victory over Turkey at Tallaght Ward said after the match her team's display "wasn't pretty" and there was room for improvement."The system will never change with me - I have a very clear way of playing, the players can see that," Ward said on Monday."It's trying to continue getting those messages in, but we are going to try and look at something that will allow us to create more because we didn't create enough [against Turkey]."We looked at it - five shots in the first half, none in the second. That's an area that we've focused a lot of our work on the last couple of days, both on and off the pitch."
