Ireland's hero in Albania, Denise O'Sullivan, admitted that she and the Ireland team would love to play in the Aviva Stadium again sometime next year.
This week, O'Sullivan and the Irish team recorded a tough 1-0 win over Albania in their UEFA Nations League group. O'Sullivan's 88th-minute strike sealed all three points for Ireland in Shkoder on Tuesday evening.
The win now means that Ireland has been promoted from League B to League A with two games to spare. They will now play Hungary and Northern Ireland in the final two games in December. The promotion will also give them a greater chance of making it to Euro 2025 because of improved seeding rules.
The Ireland team's future looks promising with promotion and a debut World Cup appearance. However, O'Sullivan and the team aspire to play more matches at the Aviva Stadium, like they did in their historic fixture against Northern Ireland two games ago.
"You always want to be playing in front of big crowds, but there will be games like that when you're playing in front of a few hundred," O'Sullivan said. "As professionals, you must cope with that, and we dealt with it well.
"Hopefully, we'll play in the Aviva again next year, in front of a massive crowd, but right now Tallaght is our home. Hopefully, people keep showing up to get behind us because the support is massive and really helps push us along."
"It was really difficult"
Ireland's match-winner Denise O'Sullivan speaks to @DAVEKELLY4 about the unenviable first-half conditions as #COYGIG edged past Albania to make it four Nations League wins from four #IRLWNT #ALBIRL pic.twitter.com/xgyU1pi81b— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) October 31, 2023
Ireland could play against improved sides like Spain, England, or France because of their exploits and promotion. A daunting task for many, but according to the Cork native O'Sullivan, it won't matter much to the current Ireland side. However, their focus for now is on getting six points against Northern Ireland and Hungary in December.
"It's massive," O'Sullivan added. "It gives us confidence, but we have big games coming up after a quick turnaround. As happy as we are with promotion, we won’t be going easy, and we'll want the six points in that camp too [against Hungary and Northern Ireland]."
Ireland will play Hungary on December 1 and Northern Ireland on December 5.
