Ireland Women’s World Cup Squad – Everything You Need To Know
Find out everything you need to know about Ireland Women’s World Cup squad in this post ahead of this summer’s biggest football tournament.
This will be the country’s first-ever Women’s World Cup appearance, and with some real world class players in the team the excitement is starting to build. So why not jump on the bandwagon already!
Ireland Women’s World Cup Betting Odds
Ireland Women are currently priced at 100/1 to win the World Cup and 66/1 To Reach The Final. These odds suggest that Ireland are not expected to reach the latter stages of the tournament.
Ireland are priced at 16/1 to win Group B and at 7/2 T Qualify out of their group.
Ireland are currently ranked 22nd in the world, their highest-ever ranking. In 2023 they have average form with one win, one draw and three defeats, albeit those defeats were against tournament favourites USA and France. This will be Ireland’s debut in the competition.
Victory would see them win their first-ever World Cup.
Ireland’s Women’s World Cup Form
Ireland are making their first-ever appearance at a Women’s World Cup
How Ireland Qualified For The 2023 Women’s World Cup
Ireland started their qualifying journey at home to World Number 2 Sweden, with them losing 0-1 through an unlucky own-goal.
Their next game of the international window was away to Finland, and goals from Megan Connolly and Denise O’Sullivan, along with heroics from Courtney Brosnan in goal, gave Ireland the 1-2 victory and their first points of the campaign.
One month later was another mixed bag with a 1-1 draw against Slovakia at home in Tallaght. However, they were able to follow that up with a record victory by beating Georgia 11-0.
In their remaining matches Ireland did comfortably enough to claim second spot in the group behind Sweden. Their remaining results read as, a 1-1 away draw against Sweden, a 0-9 demolition of Georgia, a 1-0 win against Finland, and a 0-1 win against Slovakia. This earned the team a playoff spot with the opportunity to make the country’s maiden voyage to the Women’s World Cup on the line.
And the Girls in Green were able to do just that as they secured their World Cup dream with a 1–0 win over Scotland in Glasgow in October 2022. The heroes that day were goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan who had a first-half penalty save, and Amber Barrett who scored the goal that sent the Irish fans into elation.
Ireland Women’s World Cup Squad
Goalkeepers
Courtney Brosnan (Everton) (Player profile below)
Grace Moloney (Reading): Moloney qualifies to play for Ireland through her paternal grandfather from County Tipperary and paternal grandmother from County Cavan and has been capped six times since 2010 at Senior Level.
Megan Walsh (Brighton & Hove Albion): Qualifies to play for Ireland due to her Wexford-born grandfather and has been capped once since switching allegiances from England in 2022.
Defenders
Áine O’Gorman (Shamrock Rovers): The most capped player in the squad (118) and one of two home-based players.
Niamh Fahey (Liverpool): The multi-talented sportswoman won an All-Ireland Football title with Galway in 2004 and has been a top footballer at club and international level for a decade. (108) caps.
Louise Quinn (Birmingham City): The third successive defender with over a century of senior caps (105), she is the third-highest scorer in the squad with 15 goals.
Diane Caldwell (Reading): After a 16-year senior career with Ireland, Diane (34) captained Ireland for the first time on February 19 2022, in a 1–0 defeat by Russia at the 2022 Pinatar Cup.
Megan Connolly (Brighton & Hove Albion): Coming from a family steeped in sports Megan could’ve been a GAA star like her brother Luke but opted for soccer as it allowed her to play for Ireland.
Heather Payne (Florida State): Having been originally a forward/midfielder, she has largely been used as a wing-back since her debut in August 2018.
Claire O’Riordan (Celtic): An example to anyone to never give up on your dreams, O’ Riordan never played for Ireland at youth level but has now played for her country 19 times, scoring once.
Chloe Mustaki (Bristol City): Mustaki has an incredible story, overcoming not just an ACL injury earlier in her career but also cancer to become a senior international. Along with being a star footballer, she holds a Master’s Degree in International Management.
Isibeal Atkinson (West Ham): One of the surprise inclusions in the squad, Izzy was a late call-up to the enlarged panel when it became clear Megan Campbell would miss out through injury. Her performances in training and against Zambia resulted in her earning a plane ticket.
Midfielders
Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage) (Player profile below)
Katie McCabe (Arsenal): (Player profile below)
Ruesha Littlejohn (Aston Villa): Having represented Scotland at underage level, she had a three-year hiatus before switching to Ireland. She received her first call-up in February 2012 and has now played 72 times for Ireland, scoring six times.
Ciara Grant (Heart of Midlothian): Away from football, Grant is a qualified medical doctor who returned to her native Letterkenny to volunteer at a local hospital soon after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City): Despite representing Ireland now, she played for Great Britain at the 2017 University Games, earning the golden boot. The same year she played for England at the Women’s Euro Beach Soccer Cup, where she earned the best goalkeeper award.
Lily Agg (London City Lionesses): Agg has a teaching degree and doubles up her football career with working as a Sports Lecturer at Academy 1 Sports in Essex.
Sinead Farrelly (NY/NJ Gotham): Farrelly (33) remarkably retired in December 2016 and only returned in March of this year, and by April, she had received her first Ireland call-up after representing America at underage level.
Forwards
Amber Barrett (Turbine Potsdam): Barrett is one of the main reasons Ireland are at the World Cup following her crucial finish against Scotland. Barrett (27) is getting more prolific for Ireland with age; in her first 22 games, she had 2 goals, but in her last 14 games, she has 5.
Kyra Carusa (London City Lionesses): A prolific striker at university and club level. Carusa represented America at underage level before switching to Ireland after receiving Irish citizenship qualifying through her grandparents.
Abbie Larkin (Shamrock Rovers): The youngest member of the squad at (18), Larkin is already one of the top-forward in our National League, and she seems destined for bigger things abroad sooner rather than later.
Marissa Sheva (Washington Spirit): Sheva alerted the FAI to her eligibility through her maternal grandparents coming from Donegal and Tyrone, and she was called up to a training camp in February 2023.
Head Coach
Vera Pauw: Pauw was appointed as Ireland’s head coach on September 4, 2019, after 20 years of coaching, which included roles at the likes of Scotland and The Netherlands. Vera is the first Irish WNT Coach to guide the team to an International tournament and saw her claiming Manager of the Year at the 2022 RTÉ Sports Awards.
Ireland’s Key Players
Katie McCabe
Ireland’s superstar captain and a genuinely World Class footballer and attacking Full-Back for club and country. Her 3.69 Shot Creating Actions P/90 put her in the 96th percentile, Touches (Att Pen) 2.41 P/90 in the 96th percentile, and 5.18 Progressive Passes Received in the 92nd percentile.
McCabe was not only Ireland’s top-scorer in qualifying with (7) but also the top-scorer in the group. The Arsenal woman’s talismanic talents and leadership qualities will be of paramount importance if Ireland are to be successful in Australia.
“but not past Katie McCabe”
WE’VE GOT MCCABE… pic.twitter.com/3zFs4JwUou
— ruby 🤍 (@rub3z_) July 6, 2023
Denise O’Sullivan
Ireland’s other World Class footballer at 29 years old has already represented her country 102 times, scoring 18 goals. She plays her club football with North Carolina Courage and is one of the top players in the NWSL.
O’Sullivan is an all-action box-to-box midfielder who is an elite passer, with her 85.8% completion ranking in the 94th percentile and her 1.22 Successful Take-Ons P/90 in the 93rd percentile. She is also a more than capable at defending when out of possession with her 1.78 Interceptions P/90 ranking in the 76th percentile.
Denise O’Sullivan and her 100 Caps.#COYGIG pic.twitter.com/bojNCfFRrJ
— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) April 8, 2023
Courtney Brosnan
Ireland’s undisputed Number 1. The American-born Everton keeper Brosnan put in some heroic performances throughout the qualifying campaign earning POTM of the match several times.
Her performance against Scotland will be the one that lives long in the memory as her second-half penalty save from Caroline Weir ultimately meant that Barrett’s goal took Ireland to their first-ever World Cup. Brosnan will be crucial to Ireland’s World Cup efforts.
‘As soon as she was stepping up, I was like “this is mine”‘
Courtney Brosnan speaks about her crucial first-half penalty save in Ireland’s win over Scotland
📺 Watch live – https://t.co/aR8cFzAlWf
📱 Updates – https://t.co/mwmAKKQyjN #rtesoccer #SCOIRL pic.twitter.com/NjmzouhCde— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) October 11, 2022
Ireland Women’s World Cup Group
Ireland have been drawn in Group B of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Joining them in Group B are hosts Australia, 2020 Olympic gold medalists Canada and Nigeria.
For a full preview of Ireland’s Women’s World Cup group check out our Women’s World Cup Group B preview post which takes analyses all the teams, odds and chances of each team.
Ireland’s World Cup Fixtures
Australia vs Ireland – 11am, July 20th | Stadium Australia, Sydney.
Ireland vs Canada – 1pm, July 26th | HBF Park, Perth.
Ireland vs Nigeria – 11am, July 31st | Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.
Click Below For All Ireland’s 2023 Women’s World Cup Odds
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