Republic of Ireland skipper Emma Byrne believes that Ireland will overcome the absence of Fiona O’Sullivan to qualify for the 2017 European Championships when the team’s latest campaign gets under way against Finland in Tallaght on Monday evening.
“Fiona’s been a really important part of the team over the last few years,” said Byrne ahead of training on Thursday, “and I hope that she’ll be back at some stage, but she has a few things going on in her personal life at the moment. I think we’ll be okay without her, though. We’ll probably have to adapt the way we play but we have good players.
“Stephanie (Roche) is well capable of playing that number nine role, Clare Shine has just joined up with the squad and Katie McCabe has been flying in training. And the Finns have two of the best centre-halves and a really goalkeeper so we’re probably better off not lumping up the way we did sometimes with Fiona.”
After a couple of close calls and a succession of disappointments, Byrne says there is a real belief that the team can make it to a first senior tournament after being drawn against Finland, Montenegro, Portugal and Spain in a group from which two will progress. “I was really pleased with the draw until I got in here this morning, started talking with the other girls and they were all telling me how much Portugal have improved over the last year or so.
“But I think we’re all pleased to have avoided the Germans as well as the Swedes and the other Scandinavians. Obviously it will be important to get a good start but the mood is very much that we can qualify and we want to top the group - if we’re going to do it, the time is now, certainly for me.”
That said, the 36 year-old Arsenal goalkeeper insisted she had no definite plans regarding retirement. “I’ve always intended to play on as long as a I can but I am very conscious of how much time I have left and I desperately want to qualify for a championships.”
More settled
Roche, meanwhile, says she is happy to be more settled on the club front with Sunderland after the turmoil of her ill-fated spells in France and the United States. “I think after the disappointment of the time in America that I had to prove to myself again that I was good player but I think I’ve done that now; I’ve been playing and doing okay.”
As for the Puskas award adventure, she says, “I’m never going to forget what happened but I’m certainly happy to move on from it now and the best way to do that is by playing more games for Sunderland and Ireland.”
