Defiant Eileen Gleeson takes positives from nightmare draw

The Republic of Ireland are highly likely to return to the Aviva Stadium for a blockbuster Euro 2025 qualifer after Eileen Gleeson's team were pitted against France, England and Sweden in Tuesday's draw.

The FAI will spend the next 24 hours finalising details around plans for those fixtures, which will take place across three international windows in April, May/June and July.

Should they return to Lansdowne Road for one - or indeed all - of their qualifiers, Ireland will either play on a Friday or Tuesday night - the two slots available to the FAI.

Last September, in Gleeson's first game at the helm, they beat Northern Ireland in front of almost 36,000 fans at the ground. That was the first occasion the Girls in Green played at the Aviva, but it's anticipated they will be returning to the venue after they were drawn in a group with three of the world's top five-ranked countries.

The top two in the group qualify for the tournament in Switzerland, while third and fourth will head for the play-offs.

It's an enormous ask for Ireland - who are ranked 24th in the world - but Gleeson insists it's exactly the type of challenge they've been working towards.

"We have a saying within the team - be where your feet are."

"I was delighted," said the head coach. "I mean, there were cries of 'no' from the Polish when they thought it was them out in our group! There is no escaping it, it is the toughest group we could possibly have got. Did we want to be in it? Maybe not. But we are here now.

"We have a saying within the team - be where your feet are. Our feet are here now and we will plan for that and we will decide on our approach for the games."

When asked about the prospect of taking on Sarina Wiegman's England at the Aviva Stadium, Gleeson