Ireland's team behind the team: Stats, doctors & an eye in the sky

As the Republic of Ireland rumble towards a first ever appearance at a Women's World Cup, the team behind the scenes have been busy greasing the wheels.

Vera Pauw leans heavily on the bank of knowledge her entourage provides - a statistician, analyst, doctor and physio who all are dedicated to finding the extra few per cent that can enhance team performance.

Pauw was thrilled to get through June’s training camp without any fresh injuries as players returned in dribs and drabs after taking a few weeks’ holiday after their club campaigns ended.

"Periodisation" was the buzz word. Everyone was monitored closely on the training pitch, with data collected and pored over to help the manager make important calls.

It's a circle of trust that starts with Niamh McDaid, a former Donegal Gaelic footballer with an undergad in health and performance science. An employee with Northern Ireland-based sports tech company StatSports, McDaid is an expert with the tools of her trade.

"StatSports and the FAI are partners so part of my role within StatSports is every time we’re in camp… I’m the GPS provider for them," she says.

"The girls all wear GPS pods during every session and heart rate monitors so we’re tracking both GPS and heart rate live during every session. We’re tracking through every drill, so every drill is cut in real time and we’ll make decisions there and then.

"We’ll look at things like GPS reports, heart rate recovery and the players will get an insight into that as well which is really important for them.

"[During matches] I’d have two iPads on the go at all times – a StatSports iPad and then we use an app called Polar to track all the heart rates live. I try to go between the two.

"It’s great to make those decisions on the