'I had to put it away' - Kyra Carusa on Jessie Stapeton's wonderful assist

Kyra Carusa made it two goals in as many games against Georgia, but while everyone was talking about her flick in Tbilisi, it was a backheel in the build-up to her Tallaght goal that caught the eye.

The striker made no mistake to double the Republic of Ireland's advantage in their 3-0 Euro 2025 play-off second leg victory, but Jessie Stapleton's assist was the highlight of the routine affair.

Anna Patten played a low pass to the edge of the area, which Stapleton sprinted on to, before flicking a perfect back heel pass into the path of Carusa.

"Class! Class!" was Carusa's assessment. "Everyone was looking around asking 'who flicked that ball?'. Stapo, I mean, it was big time. I had to put it away, it was too good of a ball to put me through."

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"I was just copying her for what she did for her goal on Friday," said Stapleton, on her first assist for Ireland.

Carusa was back in green after a period on the sidelines and she paid tribute to the medical staff at San Diego Wave and Ireland for getting her back on the pitch.

"It's a testament to the staff and people around me who helped me get to this point. It's been a long recovery. And our staff here making sure I was sharp and ready to go," said Carusa, who is desperate to make a second major finals appearance following on from last year's World Cup.

"It's the standard for us. We know this feeling. We have been in this position before and we are hungry for it. We want to put ourselves in the right position. It's our end game."