July camp is far from ideal as Ireland’s women’s team aim to finish Euro group on high

As a result of this summer's Paris Olympics, FIFA moved the September international window to July, with Ireland concluding their Euro 2025 qualifying campaign away to England and at home to France this month.

The double-header will mark the end of a remarkably short qualifying campaign with six games packed into three windows across a little over three months.

Courtesy of winning promotion to League A last autumn, Ireland began this year's campaign against three of the world's top six sides, safe in the knowledge they would have the safety net of a Euro play-off later this year.

While four defeats and zero goals scored in the opening four games have put paid to hopes of automatic qualification, results in this double-header will determine whether or not the girls in green clinch a seeded place for the two-round play-offs, with the draw set for July 19.

Heading into this window against the reigning European champions in England, and world No 2-ranked France, is difficult enough, but some of Gleeson's side have not played in almost 10 weeks, while the Women's Super League contingent last lined out seven weeks ago.

Gleeson held a four-day preparation camp for the bulk of her squad last week, but the Ireland head coach admits that having an international window at a time when her players should be recharging the batteries is far from ideal.

Gleeson named her 26-strong squad at FAI HQ yesterday, ahead of England away on July 12 before they host France at Páirc Uí Chaoimh four days later.

"It's very challenging," she said. "We had that stagger from the Championship to Women's Super League players. It's trying to get exposure for some players but also rest for others who have just stopped. That's important physically, mentally and emotionally. It's a long season for players and a tricky time.

"The July window isn't normally there. There's been a lot of discussions [about the calendar] and it is far from ideal for anybody who has had a long season. The qualifiers were frontloaded, which is intense for everybody. Yeah, it's a tricky period. There's a new calendar that's been put out by FIFA to change the windows.

"We have a lot of players playing in the Championship, they finished at the end of April. We have got players in the Women's Super League, which finished at the end of May. Last week we had the girls in for a preparation camp, you've seen England and France doing the same, because to go from nothing to this level of intensity is a lot.

"We all know we're in a direct race with Poland for the final seeded place. They have zero points and a minus 10 [goal difference], we have zero points and minus seven. If we get a point or a win it'll be huge."

While the hard yards will begin when the squad meets up in Dublin this weekend, those involved in last week's camp were treated to golden tickets by the FAI to Taylor Swift's sold-out concert.

"They were the best seats in the house, the press seats," laughed Gleeson. "We had a great pre-preparation camp and they had the highlight of their life to go to the Taylor Swift concert too. The girls commit a lot and it was nice to acknowledge that."

Denise O'Sullivan will captain Ireland against England in the absence of the suspended Katie McCabe, while Niamh Fahey, Marissa Sheva and Julie-Ann Russell all return too. Kyra Carusa is out with a torn hamstring. The FAI say over 10,000 tickets have been sold so far for the clash with France – their first outing in the Rebel county since 2012.​

Ireland WNT Squad Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Grace Moloney (London City Lionesses), Sophie Whitehouse (Lewes)

Defenders: Jessie Stapleton (West Ham United), Diane Caldwell (FC Zurich), Louise Quinn (Birmingham City), Niamh Fahey (Liverpool), Caitlin Hayes (Celtic), Aoife Mannion (Manchester United), Anna Patten (Aston Villa), Megan Campbell (London City Lionesses)

Midfielders: Katie McCabe (Arsenal), Denise O'Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Megan Connolly (Bristol City), Lily Agg (Birmingham City), Ruesha Littlejohn (London City Lionesses), Tyler Toland (Blackburn Rovers), Jess Ziu (West Ham United), Izzy Atkinson (Crystal Palace), Eva Mangan (Cork City), Julie-Ann Russell (Galway United)

Forwards: Amber Barrett (Standard Liege), Leanne Kiernan (Liverpool), Abbie Larkin (Crystal Palace), Emily Murphy (Wake Forest University), Marissa Sheva (Portland Thorns)