Floored by emotion, grounded by the challenges still ahead

Several Republic of Ireland players fell to their knees at the final whistle on Thursday night as they closed out a 1-0 win against Finland that sent them to the World Cup play-offs.

And then they rose up. They hugged and danced; some raced towards the stands where their family and friends were waiting; others walked around the pitch, hands on heads, trying to soak it all up.

Pretty quickly though, the elation subsided and minds were refocused. Reaching the play-offs is a big breakthrough for this Ireland team, but the ultimate goal is to make it to the finals.

In that context, Tuesday's final group game in Slovakia is no dead rubber because it could boost Ireland's ranking and earn them a bye to round 2 of a complex play-off format.

"We have a play-off spot and still have a game to go," Vera Pauw said afterwards.

"Who would have said that? We were dreaming about it. It's very special. We are going to Slovakia to win... it will be really difficult to play the same kind of game but we are going to try it.

"That could maybe bring us closer. We will know tomorrow when all the results come in (what round of the play-offs we enter).

"The hard work gets rewarded for this special group. You can see it. Changes were just done by them (at half-time). They gave us so much trust. We have them so much trust. We're not there yet, we're growing and growing and growing."

Pauw told her players to celebrate in the ground but insisted there'd be no party at the team hotel. They'll do some recovery work today and then set their sights on Bratislava.

Katie McCabe also stressed that Ireland must not lose focus ahead of their meeting with a dogged Slovakia, but the Arsenal star could not disguise her sheer relief.

"I ran over and gave my Ma a big hug,"