Eileen Gleeson insists seeds are being sown for Irish improvement

Eileen Gleeson is convinced her Republic of Ireland team have evolved and improved throughout an unforgivingly tough Euro 2025 qualifier campaign as they look to sign off on a high against France in Cork.

Life against three of the world's top six-ranked countries has been hard going for the Girls in Green, who have lost all five of their League A Group 3 games against the French, Sweden (twice) and England (twice).

Julie-Ann Russell's stoppage-time consolation against the Lionesses at Carrow Road last Friday is the only goal they've registered to date, but Gleeson insisted on Monday that she's seen evidence Ireland are moving in the right direction.

"I think what we saw on Friday (in the 2-1 loss to England) was much better transition phases in the build-up," said the head coach.

"We were a lot better, calmer and composed in possession. We were much more aggressive and we can take a lot away from that."

"Our game in Metz (against France in April, which Ireland lost 1-0) was our first game in the group. We were a lot deeper than we were against England. We were solid in that structure, the goal we gave away was from a set-piece that we definitely feel was preventable from our side and how we managed it."

There have been positives within Ireland's quintet of losses but they've been undermined by the concession of soft goals and lapses in concentration.

They could have been five down after 20 minutes against the English in Norwich. Only Courtney Brosnan's excellence and a dollop of good fortune kept them in it. A break in play allowed the coaching staff to tweak their formation and strenuously reiterate the game plan, leading to a much improved showing.

Important lessons were learned as they aim to nick something off a France team