Pieces fall into place for Ireland to chase the dream

Republic of Ireland boss Vera Pauw said the pieces have fallen into place for her team to make dreams reality in their quest to reach the World Cup finals.

Ireland sealed their place in the play-offs last Thursday with a 1-0 win against Finland but they needed a series of results to go their way to give them a chance to get a bye into the second round.

On Saturday evening England's 2-0 win in Austria completed the trio of results Ireland were hoping for and now they go into their last group match against Slovakia on Tuesday knowing victory will send them straight to round two of the play-offs.

"It's something we dreamt of before and it is reality," Pauw told FAI TV.

"Belgium, Serbia and Austria all lost their games. They were expected (to get) results but there's usually one or two surprises because their opponents, especially England, had already qualified.

"We're now in a situation where if we win in Slovakia, we’re one of the three best second-placed teams. That means we’ll skip the first round of the play-offs.

"It will be extremely difficult because Slovakia is a very good team. They have drawn against Finland - that was the major result - but there were other results were very close. We couldn't get the win against them either [Ireland drew 1-1 with Slovakia in Tallaght last November] and actually were happy with the draw."

There were great celebrations in Tallaght at the final wistle on Thursday but Ireland must refocus now to get past a dogged Slovakia side.

"We're playing another final," Pauw added.

"We have no idea how Slovakia will line up, if they will bring in young players or go with their strongest team, we have no idea.

"We will prepare the same way as we always do. We expect they’ll go full strength because