The fallout from Eileen Gleeson’s Republic of Ireland failing to qualify for Euro 2025 was immediate and accusatory.
Gleeson noted “provocations” from the Welsh dugout and confirmed that she did not shake hands with opposing manager Rhian Wilkinson after the final whistle at the Aviva Stadium.
“We were all on the edge,” said Gleeson when asked about Katie McCabe coming close to a second yellow card in the first half.
“I am on the edge now. It was a highly-charged game, very emotional and there was a lot of managing emotions.
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“There was a lot of provocation along the sideline from the Welsh bench. There were reactions to that as well. It was a team challenge to manage across the night.”
On the allegation of provocation by Wales, Gleeson said: “Shouting at players, language, aggressive to our staff. It is incidental now, but we were managing it on the pitch and from the sideline.
“It was difficult for the players in the moment. There is obviously high-risk reward from this game but it was important to keep 11 on the pitch and keep Katie calm and not bring any of it on ourselves.”
Wilkinson, in response, revealed one of her players lost a tooth after an “old fashioned dust up” that finished with Wales qualifying for their first ever major tournament thanks to goals from Hannah Cain and Carrie Jones.
“We matched them at their game, their game is physical and direct,” said Wilkinson. “It was one of those patchy games with barely any flow, but we matched them.
“It doesn’t matter how we win, whether we had to get into the ring with them and have an old-fashioned dust-up or get balls wide and find the second phase. It doesn’t matter. We had to find a way to win.
“I have one player with a missing tooth, I have bloody players, I am not very popular with the Irish staff right now.
“But in the end, that is what we saw out there, two teams who gave everything and it was a battle because it means so much to both countries.”
On the wider consequences of missing out on the Euros, Ireland midfielder Ruesha Littlejohn believes there are fundamental flaws at grassroots level for the FAI must address.
“If I’m being honest, we really need to go into the grassroots here, we need to change our game, change our style,” said Littlejohn. “When you look at the best teams, they’re all so comfortable on the ball, they want the ball, they want to play.
“That’s the journey we’re on now, I think it’s going to start with the young ones coming through, everybody has to get better on the ball.
“Yes, we can be hard, we can be resilient, we put our bodies on the line, we’ve got Megan [Campbell]’s throw, we’ve got big girls who come in with headers, but we need more if we want to consistently go to these tournaments. We need more.”
Gleeson refused to be drawn on her contract negotiations with the association’s chief football officer Marc Canham.
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