Ireland battle with Australia will be won on the wings

The Women's World Cup is finally here. In just over 24 hours, the Republic of Ireland will take their rightful place in history.

Walking out to a sold-out crowd of over 80,000 fans in Sydney’s Accor Stadium, against co-hosts Australia, Ireland will begin their historic journey on the biggest stage possible.

A tournament of firsts is upon us. The World Cup, women’s or men's, has never before been held in Oceania, with two nations in Australia and New Zealand hosting jointly.

An extended total of 32 nations will participate, improving upon the previous 24 and there will be eight debutants including Ireland.

We will have a leading nation across women’s sports in the shape of the USA vowing to win their third consecutive World Cup title, while there is a new European champion, England, looking to complete the double in major tournaments, as well as many other nations ready to show the quality that women’s football across the world has to offer.

A new champion even? Who knows what’s in store. For Ireland, this is just the beginning. A nation that has been uplifted by the spirit of what they’ve seen in the past, and by the excitement of what the future has to hold.

But here in the present this team has a tough yet exciting group to tackle. Group B is full of strong, successful and talented teams.

First on Thursday, Australia are a host ranked inside the top ten in the world, boasting stars such as Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord, and Hayley Raso to name a few. And they will be feeling the pressure of a nation expecting them to perform and lift silverware on home soil. They are a team which I feel could be an outside contender for the overall title.

The opening game is the one everyone has been waiting for from an Irish and Australian