Littlejohn hoping gutsy Irish can spoil Swedish party

Ruesha Littlejohn has been around the Republic of Ireland set-up long enough to know the lows aren't worth dwelling on, and the highs are to be treasured.

It's a decade since the Glasgow-born midfielder made her international debut against Hungary at the Algarve Cup. Ten years on, she's still chasing the ultimate dream of qualification for a major tournament.

Ireland are second in Group A behind Sweden, who they face in Gothenburg on Tuesday, and right in the mix to earn a place in the play-offs for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Littlejohn is often on hand to lighten the mood with a wisecrack or a joke, but she know the magnitude of making that breakthrough; particularly after the painful climax to the Euros qualification campaign which saw the Irish stumble on the home straight.

An agonising 1-0 loss to Ukraine - who would go on to lose against Northern Ireland in the play-offs - stung for months.

Now they're in a much better place: new faces, an invigorated squad, and the dream in sight again.

"I'm a bit of a joker, but obviously, I was hurting after that game."

"After that Ukraine game, we were all gutted," said Littlejohn.

"It took us a while to get over. But you move forward and move on. We were on a path and we're still on that path... new people come in and you're back to square one again.

"So at least we know what's expected of us and we can achieve it if Vera [Pauw] believes in us.

"Look, this is football. There are always going to be setbacks and tough days. There are lows in football and after that, it was very low. We were all disappointed, sad and gutted. We had never been so close. We felt like we'd blown it.

"Not being disrespectful, we could have had a lot tougher opposition. So we felt that was