Carla Ward and Katie McCabe eye Turkish delight to kick off new era

Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe paid tribute to Eileen Gleeson and Colin Healy before setting her sights on a Nations League victory against Turkey tomorrow night as the Carla Ward era begins at Tallaght Stadium.

The Girls in Green spent the winter licking their wounds after the Euro 2025 play-off final loss to Wales. That result ultimately brought the curtain down on Gleeson's reign, with controversy continuing to rumble around the departure of assistant boss Healy, who claims he was given assurances by the FAI that he'd be kept on regardless of how the Welsh clash went.

"From our point of view, given the news that obviously Eileen and Colin weren't going to continue on, it was a shock," said McCabe at FAI HQ on Thursday.

"A lot of the girls were surprised by it, more so from the point of how well we got on and the spirit they had for us, the connection and the good environment they created. I want to say a big thanks to Eileen and Colin for everything they’ve done.

"We’ve had some really amazing moments. Unfortunately for us we didn’t qualify for the Euros and the FAI made a decision off the back of that so for us as players now we need to look forward and, as I said, we need to start looking towards how we’re going to qualify for World Cup in 2027. That starts tomorrow night with our new manager in place."

"I'd like to think we've been very clear in what we want from everybody."

Liverpool attacker Leanne Kiernan is sidelined with a calf injury, but hasn't yet been ruled out of Tuesday's trip to face Slovenia. Bar that, Ward has a fit and healthy squad to choose from, including McCabe, who will captain the Girls in Green for the 65th time.

"I'd like to think we’ve been very clear in what we want from everybody," Ward