Áine O’Gorman, who previously played internationally for the Republic of Ireland, is positive about the prospect of the national team reaching the European Championship finals for the first time. The team is set to continue their efforts to qualify next month.
After failing to progress from the group stages in the Euro 2025 qualifiers, in a group that included Sweden, France, and England (with the last two teams clinching the progression spots), the Irish team is now setting their sights on the playoffs.
The squad is set to journey first to Tbilisi for the initial match against Georgia on October 25th, then will return to host the second leg at Tallaght Stadium just four days later.
Victory against the Georgian team could position Ireland against either Wales or Slovakia in late November or early December. The triumphant team from these home and away matches would then secure a place in next year’s tournament, hosted in Switzerland.
O’Gorman, who retired from international football after the Irish team’s participation in last year’s World Cup, expressed her belief in the team’s strength following their tough qualifying group. O’Gorman, a 119-capped player, shared that life after soccer is a bit of a transition, but she relishes seeing the team’s progress.
O’Gorman’s experience as an international player is now being utilised as part of the In Her Boots initiative. The campaign is a combined effort from FAI and Aviva, aiming to share knowledge on topics such as diet, performance, and injury prevention with the aim of keeping young women involved in football. The initiative has been organised in conjunction with Ireland women’s national team members including physiotherapist Angela Kenneally, performance coach Ivi Casagrande and nutritionist Dr Brendan Egan.
O’Gorman unequivocally supports the programme, emphasizing the necessity of providing female athletes with proper guidance concerning health, nutrition, and performance from an early age. She deems it an essential tool for coaches and parents alike to both ensure female health and retain girls’ participation in sports, stressing that maintaining participation will lead to enhanced performance and participation rates.
The women’s national team’s recent success and increased visibility, she says, aids in promoting female sport participation. Furthermore, hoping to maintain the momentum generated by the World Cup, she believes that qualifying for Euro 2025 would significantly help.
“We’ve made progress, yet there is more work to be done,” she said.
The programme is developed to focus on female players between the ages of 9 to 16, a crucial age bracket amongst girls in sports where dropout rates skyrocket. O’Gorman feels a common approach is required to address this multi-faceted issue which prevails across the board.
Teamwork, she argues, is instrumental to success, whether in sports or other walks of life. This is why collective expertise should be used to keep girls in sports, irrespective of what discipline it may be. As long as everyone is unified in their approach, the outcomes, she believes, will be commendable.