Ireland strengthened despite USA defeats, says Brosnan

Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan insists that Ireland's two World Cup warm-up defeats to the USA this week are the perfect preparation for the summer’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand.

A first international goal from Alana Cook saw Ireland suffer a second defeat in four days to the USA as they went down 1-0 in St Louis.

Cook's hopeful ball from 45 yards out left the backpedalling Brosnan floundering and although she managed to get fingertips to the ball, she could only follow it over the line.

Ireland had created opportunities before falling behind to the world champions and pressed them hard in the closing stages but were unable to make the breakthrough.

Despite losing twice in the space of four days to the US, there were plenty of positives for Vera Pauw’s side to take from the trip and Brosnan believes that those games will stand to Ireland when the World Cup begins.

"We can be really proud of the performance we put in against the best team in the world," she told RTÉ Sport.

"You can see how we’ve grown from the first game to the second game even so it just shows we’re making steps in the right direction. It’s not the result we wanted but it’s great to see the performance and hard work from the team."

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Despite being at fault for the goal, Brosnan was able to shake off that first-half error and produced a string of fans saves for Ireland in the second-half.

She admitted to being disappointed with the nature of the goal but was able to quickly