Preview: Pressure off but competition intensifying

A year is a hell of a long time in football.

For the Republic of Ireland, 2023 began with the nation gazing towards the unexplored terrain of a first Women's World Cup. By September, the manager who'd guided the Girls in Green to the promised land was gone, and a team left weary by in-house friction required a bit of TLC.

In stepped Eileen Gleeson to take charge on an interim basis while the FAI went hunting for a permanent boss, the experienced Dubliner overseeing a historic first appearance at the Aviva Stadium against Northern Ireland to kick off the UEFA Nations League.

Ireland swept past the North and went on to make light work of the group, winning it - and thus sealing promotion to League A - with two games to spare.

They head into tonight's home clash with Hungary with little to lose and more momentum to gain ahead of the climactic trip to Belfast for an international derby with the North on Tuesday.

"You can improve," Gleeson said at her pre-match press conference as she eagerly played down any suggestions these games are dead rubbers from an Irish point of view.

"Looking at a scoreline is a very reduced way to view a game, but can we win more one v ones, can we get more crosses in the box, can we create more chances, can we deny more crosses at the other end?

"There are lots and lots of details that you can focus on. Do we want to score more goals? Absolutely, and we want to keep clean sheets too. There are lots of ways to measure that."

Ireland have scored 13 goals and conceded one in their four Nations League games. They have unquestionably played with more adventure, pushing their wide players higher up the field while using Katie McCabe centrally more often, to the benefit in particular of Kyra Carusa, who has four