The final Group game as part of EURO 2025 Qualifying will see the Republic of Ireland Women’s National Team host France in Páirc Uí Chaoimh tonight.
15,000 tickets have been sold already but with pricing of only €25 for adults and €10 for Juniors or €60 for a family, it is hoped that number will nudge upwards in a big week for Cork Sport.
The Hurling team will play in the All Ireland Final against Clare on Sunday and the Ladies Footballers in an All Ireland Semi Final against Galway on Saturday.
Chasing a seeded place for the Play-Offs, Eileen Gleeson’s team will have Katie McCabe back in the fold after her suspension for the game against England last Friday. The aim is to end the Group stage on a high in their first game back in Cork since 2012.
France have already secured automatic qualification for next year’s Euro 2025 Finals in Switzerland. They will be joined from the group by either England or Sweden who also meet tonight.
Ireland are already assured of a place in the play-offs but tonights result could have a bearing on their seeding in the second round of those.
Each of the third and fourth placed teams in League A will play against the five group winners and the three best ranked runners up from Group C. These include Albania, Belarus, Greece, Romania and Slovenia so far.
The eight winners from this first round will then play against the six winner from the second path of qualification, featuring teams from League B including Northern Ireland.
The seven highest ranked teams to emerge from both paths will be seeded and avoid each other. If all eight qualify that competed at the highest level then it will likely come down to a straight fight between Ireland and Poland as to who has the best record.
Both sides have lost their five games so far. Poland are at home to already qualified Iceland tonight, as Ireland are to the similarly qualified France.
As things stand Ireland have scored one and conceded nine goals for a goal difference of -8. Poland have scored four and conceded 16 so our goal difference is better and we only have to match their performance tonight in order to avoid that eighth best finish and a possible play-off against a stronger opponent for a place at next summer’s Euro 2025.
It will be a nervy night watching both games.
Members of the Cork City Football Club female teams will be on hand as ball girls tonight.
“This is going to be a very exciting event for our female players,” said Danny Murphy, Head of the Cork City Women’s team. “Many will be there to support the Irish team but we are delighted that some of our players will be acting as ball girls on the night and others will be mascots for the team.”
The ball girls on the night will be members from the Cork City FC Women’s U17 team. They are: Phoebe O’Shea, Holly O’Hagan, Lauren Balaur, Lexie Kelleher, Ciara O’Driscoll, Kim Forrest, Sophia Redmond, Lucia Lynch, Faye Dunlea, Orla McCarthy, Emma Hurley and Lucy Harrington
Mascots will be Giorgia and Olivia who are current members of the Cork City FC Junior Academy. Olivia plays with Wilton United and Giorgia plays for College Corinthians. Belle plays with Ringmahon Rangers and was previously a member of the Cork City FC Girls Technical Academy. Clara plays with Fermoy AFC and was previously a member of the Cork City FC Junior Academy.
All of the girls frequently attend Cork City FC matches and Giorgia was recently brought into the post-match huddle by the women’s team management after she was spotted in the crowd with a poster supporting the players.
Sport for Business will host its annual Sponsorship Showcase event in Dublin on Thursday morning, October 10th. This is one of many events planned for the remainder of 2024.
Register your interest to attend a Sport for Business event here.
Sky Ireland, the FAI and TG4 are among the 300 organisations, which include all the leading sports and sponsors, as well as commercial and state agencies, that are members of the Sport for Business community.
Find out more about joining us today.
Check out our upcoming events to discover ways of connecting in person with our membership.
