Courtney Brosnan embracing another massive play-off showdown

Courtney Brosnan has good muscle memory when it comes to play-offs.

Two years ago, in a showdown to make the World Cup, the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper brilliantly batted away Caroline Weir's early penalty for Scotland at Hampden Park. That game would ultimately be settled by a famous Amber Barrett toepoke, but it was Brosnan who kept her team in the contest during some ropey periods.

It's likely she'll be needed again when the Girls in Green square up to a dangerous Wales outfit over two Euro 2025 play-off final legs, the first of which takes place in Cardiff on Friday.

Brosnan - crowned the FAI women's international player of the year last week - is well versed in the discipline of focus.

"When I look back, you're 100% in the moment," she said as Ireland gathered in Dublin to finetune preparations.

"You don’t realise until after the game is over, until after you’ve qualified that that just happened. You make a save in the game or you make a penalty save in the game, you’re like, 'well that feels nice’, but you’re like, ‘OK we’re only 20 minutes into the game or whatever it is, we still have this amount of time to go’.

"I feel like you can see the progress we've continued to make."

"You’re not really thinking too far in advance. You’re trying to focus on what you’re doing to obviously accomplish the goal I would say."

That goal was accomplished; this one will require a real effort of guts and guile if it's to be ticked off the list.

Ireland have never made it to a Women's European Championships. Wales have never made it to a major tournament. Something has to give.

"If you look at the squad as a whole I feel like you can see the progress we’ve continued to make," Brosnan added.

"One thing in this squad specifically is, our