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Mary Hannigan: D-Day for Irish team as World Cup battle with Canada awaits

Megan Connolly toning her free-kick skills; Darragh Ó Sé says hit Dublin with the hammer; Séamus Power focused on Ryder Cup place

Katie McCabe and Courtney Brosnan. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

Mary Hannigan's face
Mary Hannigan
Wed Jul 26 2023 - 09:24

Good morning,

These Republic of Ireland players are no strangers to pressure, they had to cope with a heap of it en route to qualifying for their first ever World Cup. But this afternoon’s meeting with Canada in Perth (kick-off 1.0) has a D-Day feel to it: a defeat would end any hope of Vera Pauw’s team advancing in the tournament.

A draw, then, is required if next Monday’s game against Nigeria is to have any meaning for Ireland. A win? That would be lovely. But, as Gavin Cummiskey reminds us, it’ll be no small task against the reigning Olympic champions.

Their camp was busy on Tuesday talking up Ireland’s “physicality”, like they were about to enter a sumo contest, Canada coach Bev Priestman describing the Irish as a “horrible team to play against”.

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Megan Connolly has been cutting out all that noise in advance of the game, the Cork woman busy fine-tuning her free-kick-taking prowess. “It’s just practise, practise, practise, knowing that if there is that moment in the game, that this could be the one that goes in,” she tells Louise Lawless.

Back home, Darragh Ó Sé is hoping Kerry will be a horrible team to play against in Sunday’s All Ireland final, urging his fellow county men to go “all out Oppenheimer” on Stephen Cluxton. “Put in some high balls under him, test him in the air, crash into him,” he writes, “hit them where it hurts, hammer the hammer.”

This, of course, is the latest chapter in “the most-played rivalry in championship history”, Seán Moran reflecting on the counties’ battles down the years. For so long, Kerry had the upper hand, but when Barry John Keane conceded a free in stoppage-time in the 2011 final, Cluxton converted, heralding a golden decade for the Dubs. Paul Keane was apologetic when he mentioned the moment to the Kerry man, but he hears about it often enough. “Arra, you’d have fellas chirping in the pub all right – my own friends, like!”

So golden was that decade for Dublin, Cluxton, Michael Fitzsimons and James McCarthy will be aiming on Sunday “to become the first players in history to be part of nine Sam Maguire winning teams”. “To be honest with you,” McCarthy tells Gordon Manning, “it’s gone by so fast, it’s just scary how the years flash by.”

And in golf, Philip Reid talks to Séamus Power who is on a two-week break before resuming his efforts to secure a place in September’s Ryder Cup when, with any luck, the United States will find Europe are a horrible team to play against.

Telly watch: It’s time to light more candles – the Republic of Ireland meet Canada at the World Cup this afternoon (RTÉ 2 and UTV, kick-off 1pm).