Denise O'Sullivan believes Ireland still have a lot of work to do to compete with the very best

AN exhausted Denise O’Sullivan was devasted after the Republic of Ireland’s 2-0 loss to England at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night, and she hopes the team stay positive after a winless start to Euro 2025 qualifying.

This follows defeats to the reigning European champions on home soil and a France team fresh from reaching the quarter finals of the World Cup.

The Lionesses game was one of the hardest to take as Ireland went down to early goals from Lauren James and Alex Greenwood.

“It was an absolute shift – we’re disappointed not to come out with any points from two of the games,” O’Sullivan said after the England game.

“This is the level we’re at and we have to stay positive. I think playing without the ball for 90 minutes is mentally tiring. 

"We’ll keep pushing on. We have a quick turnaround, it’s only a few weeks.” 

Before the team goes into a double header against Sweden, they will have to go through what happened against England.

The Girls in Green were comfortably beaten by the Lionesses, and they would have been further behind if not for a succession of Courtney Brosnan saves and a missed Greenwood penalty.

The second half was an improvement, Ireland put England under a lot of pressure but they were unable to test Hannah Hampton.

“In the first half – we were two deep and we went in at half-time and Eileen [Gleeson] told us to push on,” O’Sullivan explained.

“We tend to do that in second halves and we had a right go at them. 

"We created a few chances but I didn’t see much of the ball in the second half. A frustrating second half for me. 

"But I got to get back to my club and play another game on Saturday. It’s non-stop. We’ll come back in and look forward to the Sweden games.” 

The turnaround for O’Sullivan is miniscule, she’s already on her way back to the United States for a game against Portland Thorns with North Carolina Courage.

The midfielder isn’t ready to wash her hands of this international window. 

She knows exactly what happened in the games against England and France, and how Ireland’s defenders kept their Euro dream alive.

“There’s other teams where they scored five or six against so credit to our defenders, they were excellent,” she said.

“They’ve always been brilliant for us. We just have to get together as a squad in a few weeks and take the positives into the next game and try and stay positive ourselves. 

"Hopefully, we try and get points on the board during the next two games.” 

The Girls in Green will be back in action on May 31st against Sweden at the Aviva Stadium, and that is followed by the return game on June 4th at the Friends Arena.